Deteriorating Italian car plates can cause inspection failures and costly replacements

Some cars in Italy are failing inspections because their plates have deteriorated, even when the vehicles otherwise work properly.

The problem has been reported in Trento, where ACI staff say they sometimes receive more than ten replacement requests in a day.

Reflective film on some batches of plates can wear down, making the characters difficult for cameras and other electronic readers to recognise.

Replacing the plates and updating the vehicle documents can cost over €200, though the procedure usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

Drivers should not repaint or mark over the characters, because altering a plate can bring penalties and the vehicle may be stopped until the issue is fixed.

A manufacturing defect may qualify the owner for a free replacement if checks confirm the problem came from production rather than damage by the user.