In a company fleet, the roadworthiness inspection — in Italy the revisione, the equivalent of the UK MOT — is the deadline that slips most easily, for a structural reason: no reminder ever arrives. Your accountant reminds you about the car tax (bollo), your insurance broker reminds you about the policy because they earn from it, nobody reminds you about the inspection. The garage flags the servicing when you go there — but if you do not go, it does not.
The short answer before the long one: driving with an overdue inspection in Italy costs €173 to €694, the vehicle is suspended from use until the inspection is done, and the driver loses no licence points. The details that change the bill are below.
How much you pay
Driving with an overdue inspection is punished by article 80, paragraph 14 of the Italian Highway Code (Codice della Strada) with a fine of €173 to €694.
Two points that change the total:
- Paying within five days gives the 30% reduction that applies to administrative fines, bringing the minimum to about €121.
- If the inspection has been skipped more than once against the required intervals, the amount doubles: €346 to €1,388.
A separate and much heavier case: presenting a forged inspection certificate is punished under paragraph 17 with a fine of €430 to €1,731 and withdrawal of the registration certificate — which in the ordinary case, as you will see below, is not withdrawn.
There is no grace period
It is the most common question, and the answer is blunt: there is no margin. Not a day, not a week, not “until you get stopped”.
The reason lies in how the rule is built. What is punished is not having an expired inspection — that in itself is not forbidden: a vehicle parked in a yard with an inspection three years overdue commits no offence. What is punished is driving on a public road a vehicle that should have been inspected. The inspection expires on the stated day, and from the next day the first trip is already the offence.
With a single exception, set by the rule itself.
Where you can still drive
A vehicle with an overdue inspection may move only to reach:
- the place of residence,
- the place where it is usually kept,
- the centre where the inspection is carried out.
Outside these three cases every trip remains punishable. In practice: driving to the garage appointment is allowed, taking the van to the building site via the garage is not. It is worth carrying proof of the booking — not because the law requires it, but because it is what makes the reason for the trip verifiable when someone asks.
Licence points are not affected
Article 80 is not among the offences that deduct licence points. It is worth saying explicitly, because the confusion is common: you pay the fine, the vehicle is suspended, but the licence of whoever was driving stays intact.
In a fleet this has a precise practical consequence: an overdue inspection is a problem for the company, not for the employee who happened to be driving that day. There is no personal points balance acting as a deterrent — and indeed nobody checks spontaneously.
The real cost is not the fine
The accessory penalty weighs more than the amount: the registration certificate is annotated to say the vehicle is suspended from use until a new inspection. As a rule the document is not withdrawn — it is annotated, a difference that matters because the vehicle stays formally registered and insured while it cannot be used.
If the vehicle is driven despite the suspension, you move to another level: administrative impoundment (fermo amministrativo), and on repetition the law goes as far as confiscation.
For a company vehicle this means the van you need tomorrow morning cannot go out, and the planned work must be moved or subcontracted. That is why an overdue inspection is a business-continuity problem before it is a compliance one: you pay the fine once, you pay for the vehicle being off the road every day that passes.
And if there is an accident
A recurring question, with a two-part answer.
The injured third party is compensated anyway. The overdue inspection did not cause the accident and cannot be held against them: whoever suffered damage through no fault of their own is entitled to compensation regardless of the administrative status of the vehicle that hit them.
The problem moves between policyholder and insurer. Many Italian motor policies include recourse (rivalsa) for a missed inspection: the insurer pays the injured party, then asks the policyholder to repay what it paid out. With personal injury involved, it is not a token sum.
It is worth reading your own policy on this specific point — some include a waiver of recourse, others do not, and you discover the difference at the worst moment. If the fleet has different policies on different vehicles, see also the guide on keeping insurance expiry dates under control.
How often it is due
Not every vehicle follows the same interval — a common mistake in a mixed fleet.
| Vehicle | Interval |
|---|---|
| Cars and light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 t | Within 4 years of first registration, then every 2 years |
| Motorcycles and mopeds | Same pattern: 4 years, then every 2 |
| Trucks and trailers over 3.5 t | Every year |
| Vehicles with more than 9 seats | Every year |
| Taxis, private hire (NCC), ambulances | Every year |
The third row causes the most trouble. A company with nine vans under 3.5 tonnes and one truck above it tends to apply the two-year rule to all of them — and on the one different vehicle the inspection is missed with clockwork regularity.
How the next one is counted
The point most often got wrong is the next deadline. The new deadline is counted from the date the inspection was carried out, not from the date it should have been done. Doing it late pushes all later ones forward.
A concrete example: inspection due March 2026, carried out May 2026 → the next one is May 2028, not March 2028.
It is the opposite of how car tax and insurance work: they restart from the previous expiry, not from the day of payment, so paying the car tax late does not move the anniversary. Two opposite rules on the same vehicle are why mental arithmetic fails — the difference is explained in full in how Italian car tax is calculated and in the complete overview of company vehicle deadlines.
How to avoid it in a fleet
With two or three vehicles you can keep it in your head. From four upwards the dates become more than one person remembers, and an Excel sheet helps less than it seems: it holds the data but does not communicate it — nobody opens a file to be reminded. (How to structure one anyway, and where it stops being enough.)
The three things that work:
- One date per vehicle, in one place. Not the accounting software, the garage’s file and a reminder on the driver’s phone.
- A reminder that arrives without opening anything, with at least a month of margin — enough time to book the garage without taking the vehicle off the road.
- Automatic recalculation after the inspection, because that is where manual error creeps in.
Note
Amounts and provisions on this page were checked on 31 August 2026 against article 80 of the Italian Highway Code, in the text published by ACI. Administrative fines are updated periodically: before making decisions with financial consequences, check the official source. This guide is not a substitute for legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fine for an overdue vehicle inspection in Italy?
€173 to €694 (art. 80, paragraph 14 of the Italian Highway Code). Paying within five days gives a 30% reduction, bringing the minimum to about €121. If the inspection has been skipped more than once against the required intervals, the amount doubles: €346 to €1,388.
Is there a grace period after the inspection expires?
No. There is no margin at all. The inspection expires on the date shown on the sticker and from the next day, if the vehicle is driven, the offence has been committed. The fine does not target the expired inspection itself, but driving on public roads a vehicle that should have been inspected.
Can I drive the vehicle to the inspection?
Yes, but only for that. The law allows you to reach your place of residence, the place where the vehicle is usually kept, or the centre where the inspection is carried out. Any other trip is still an offence, and it helps to be able to show the booking.
Does an overdue inspection cost licence points?
No. Article 80 is not among the offences that deduct points. You pay the fine and the vehicle is suspended from use, but the driver’s licence is not affected.
What happens to the vehicle when the offence is detected?
The registration certificate (carta di circolazione) is annotated with a suspension from use until a new inspection. As a rule the document is not withdrawn, only annotated. If the vehicle is driven despite the suspension, it is administratively impounded (fermo amministrativo).
If I have an accident with an overdue inspection, does insurance pay?
The injured third party is compensated anyway: the overdue inspection did not cause the accident and cannot be held against them. The issue lies elsewhere — if the policy includes recourse for a missed inspection, the insurer pays the third party and then asks the policyholder to repay what it paid out.
If I did the inspection late, when is the next one due?
From the date the inspection was actually carried out, not from the date it should have been done. An inspection due in March and carried out in May moves the next one to May two years later, not March.
Written and fact-checked by The Busy People. How we check our sources