To avoid paying fines and local taxes, more and more Italians are registering their car in Bulgaria. Specialized sites to help them in this combination are growing.
The car registered in Sofia which combines the tickets in the city center of Milan or Rome might not be that of a Bulgarian came indelicate seek a better life in Italy, much less that of a tourist come from “city of roses”. It is indeed an Italian car, owned by an Italian. According to the transalpine media, tend to register his vehicle abroad experiencing a dramatic rise in Italy. And the favorite destination is Bulgaria, for the simple reason that taxes and insurance are paid in Sofia ten times cheaper than if the car was registered in Italy.
Also, every year some 15,000 tickets issued in the boot remain unpaid because they concern vehicles registered abroad: it is very difficult to trace the owner. Add to this, according to many accounts, the unwillingness of the authorities in some countries to collaborate with the Italian police.
The trick is this. Many small Italian companies buy their vehicles in Italy prior to register them at the other end of the European Union, in Sofia. Then these vehicles back in Italy and are available for rent. With a dual advantage: significant savings on taxes and insurance and a certain “invulnerability” on violations of the highway code.
Cars difficult to control
Many Italian Internet sites devoted to formalities Bulgaria testify to the popularity of this dirty trick. We consulted one of them, only in Italian, but with phones and contact addresses in Sofia. The site mentions that although says Italian law on the matter, in particular Article 132 which stipulates that owners of cars registered abroad have a year to register their vehicles in place; beyond that, they face between 80 and 318 euros fine. But considering the benefits, all prefer to take the risk, according to the many testimonials on the site.
Also, it is very difficult or impossible to control the length of stay on the floor of the European Union whose citizens are free to come and go as they please, regardless of borders and nationality. There is also the trick to register the car on behalf of a friend – or most often a girlfriend – resident in Bulgaria. But the site in question goes further, proposing a sustainable solution to circumvent the law for Italian citizens who want to benefit from a Bulgarian registration: register a company in Bulgaria, a very easy process and transfer (or rent) their vehicle This new Bulgarian SMEs.
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With this arrangement, these cars registered in Bulgaria can ride without limitation residence on Italian roads, making significant savings on registration fees, insurance and taxes. Finally, if their owners are in bad faith, they can royally ignore violations, speed limits and other parking fees in major Italian cities. The fine will land – or not – one day to the address of a company registered in Sofia on the Internet, and will probably remain a dead letter.
However, as recalled in the Italian media, the risk for these riders remains considerable – provided they are physically controlled by the Italian police, which is increasingly rare due to the proliferation of virtual radar and other surveillance systems . But if the police find that it is systematic fraud, the perpetrators may heavy fines, confiscation of their vehicle and a misdemeanor passage for aggravated fraud. To date, no cases of this type was in front of the Italian courts, which is, unfortunately, the best encouragement for such practices.
