The obligation to have insurance coverage for electric scooters comes into effect on 16 July, a new development that will affect 1 million private owners. Assoutenti reminds us of this, highlighting the costs for citizens and some critical issues of the measure envisaged by the new Highway Code launched at the end of 2024. The coverage concerns damage to third parties caused while riding the scooter, such as injuries to pedestrians or cyclists or damage to other vehicles, but a generic householder’s liability insurance policy will not be sufficient, warns Assoutenti.
In fact, in order to have legal validity, the compulsory scooter policy must include the code of the vehicle’s identification mark, which effectively excludes generic family policies. Furthermore, there will not be, at least for the first two years, the direct compensation system. Since this is a completely new case, the Mimit circular of 24 April establishes two years to monitor the trend of the actual costs of compensation for accidents caused by scooters, in order to construct a specific lump sum on a national basis. To this end, Ivass will have to inform the Ministry every six months about the trend of claims occurring after the insurance obligation came into force.
In the meantime, the ordinary compensation procedure will be applied for road accidents caused by scooters. The insurance will entail an annual expense of around 50 million euros, considering that the average cost of a basic policy is between 35 and 55 euros, but can reach 150 euros per year if additional guarantees are added, the association calculates. For those who do not comply, fines of 100 to 400 euros, at least on paper: «The real problem is that the wild west still reigns in the scooter sector – says president Gabriele Melluso – New legal obligations are imposed but in our cities it is still not possible to enforce the most basic rules of the Highway Code, such as the use of helmets or the ban on riding two people on scooters. This is because the controls by the police are completely insufficient. We also invite the government to exercise maximum vigilance, in order to avoid that the new obligation lends itself to speculation and above all to discrimination at a territorial level”, concludes Melluso.