Car Accident in Italy as a Foreigner: How to Claim Compensation

If you were involved in a road accident in Italy and you were not at fault, your compensation comes from an insurer, not from the other driver: the insurer of the vehicle responsible, your own insurer under the direct compensation procedure, or, when the other vehicle was registered abroad, the Ufficio Centrale Italiano (UCI). The claim must be made in writing, the insurer has 60 or 90 days to make an offer or explain its refusal, and the right to claim expires two years after the accident. Everything can be handled from your home country.

Alfredo Esposito International Law Firm assists tourists, expats and foreign residents injured in accidents in Italy, in English and Spanish, and is listed with six diplomatic missions in Italy. This guide explains how the Italian system works, which body to address in each situation, and the mistakes that reduce compensation. For what we do on a file, see our car accident assistance page.

The first hours: what decides the claim later

Three things collected at the scene carry most of the weight afterwards. The first is the accident report. If anyone is injured, or the drivers disagree about what happened, call 112 and wait for the Carabinieri, the Polizia Stradale or the Polizia Municipale: their report (verbale) is the document insurers and courts rely on, and a copy can be requested afterwards with the protocol number. If both drivers agree, the Constatazione Amichevole di Incidente (the CAI form, still called the modulo blu) signed by both is enough for the property damage claim and shortens the insurer’s deadline.

The second is medical evidence. Go to the pronto soccorso the same day, even for apparent minor pain: the emergency room report (referto) is the first document that links the injury to the accident, and injuries documented days later are routinely contested.

The third is the other vehicle’s details: number plate, insurance company and policy number (the insurer appears on the car’s documents, which the driver must show), driver’s identity, plus photos of the vehicles, the road and any marks. Do not sign statements in Italian that you cannot read, and do not accept cash settlements at the roadside.

Who pays: the four situations

You were driving an Italian-registered vehicle, including a rental

Where two vehicles registered and insured in Italy collide, the risarcimento diretto under article 149 of the Codice delle Assicurazioni Private applies: the injured driver claims from his own insurer, which then recovers from the insurer at fault. With a rental car, the vehicle’s insurer is the rental company’s insurer, and the rental contract tells you how damage to the car itself is handled (excess, CDW, deposit retained). Your own injuries as a driver remain claimable from the insurer of the vehicle responsible.

You were driving a foreign-registered vehicle

Direct compensation does not apply. The claim goes to the insurer of the Italian vehicle responsible under article 148 of the same code, with the same deadlines described below.

The vehicle responsible was registered abroad

This is the case that confuses most foreign victims. A German, French or Swiss car insured abroad is covered in Italy through the green card system, and the body that handles the claim in Italy is UCI, the Ufficio Centrale Italiano, which acts for the foreign insurer, usually through an Italian correspondent company. UCI is not an insurer and does not pay out of its own funds, but it is the entity to which the claim is addressed and, if necessary, the defendant in Italy. Writing to the foreign insurer directly is possible but slower and does not stop the Italian deadlines.

You were a passenger, a pedestrian or a cyclist

A passenger is protected by article 141: the claim goes to the insurer of the vehicle the passenger was travelling in, regardless of which driver was at fault, up to the policy limits. Pedestrians and cyclists claim from the insurer of the vehicle that hit them. If the vehicle was uninsured or was never identified (hit and run), the claim goes to the Fondo di Garanzia per le Vittime della Strada, managed by CONSAP; for unidentified vehicles the Fund compensates personal injury, and property damage only alongside serious injury.

How the claim works and the insurer’s deadlines

The claim is a written request, sent by registered mail or PEC to the competent insurer or to UCI, describing the accident, the vehicles and the damage, with the report, the CAI form, photos, medical records and an indication of where the vehicle can be inspected. For personal injury, the request is completed when the medical documentation shows the injury has stabilised, or with a medical-legal report. The insurer must, within 60 days of receiving the complete request for property damage (30 days if the CAI form was signed by both drivers) and within 90 days for personal injury, either make a reasoned offer or explain why it refuses to pay. If you accept the offer, payment is due within 15 days. You may also take the sum offered as an advance and continue to claim the difference, provided you say so in writing: signing a quietanza a saldo (full and final release) closes the claim.

What you can recover

• Vehicle: repair costs or the pre-accident value if repair is uneconomic, plus towing, storage, loss of use and the cost of a replacement vehicle where documented
• Personal belongings damaged in the accident, with receipts or reasonable evidence of value
• Medical expenses in Italy and at home, including future treatment indicated by a doctor, and travel for treatment
• Lost earnings during recovery and, for lasting injuries, reduced earning capacity, documented with payslips, tax returns or accounts from your country
• Biological damage, the injury to health itself, assessed by a medico legale in points of permanent disability and days of temporary disability and valued through the statutory table for injuries up to 9 percent (article 139) and, for more serious injuries, the national table in force since 2025, with an increase for proven suffering

How these figures are calculated is explained in our guide to personal injury compensation in Italy. Reasonable legal costs are also claimable from the insurer when a lawyer’s assistance was necessary, which is normally the case for a foreign victim dealing with an Italian insurer.

Which law applies when you claim from abroad

The accident happened in Italy, so Italian law governs liability and the amount of damages under the Rome II Regulation (EC 864/2007, article 4), even if you sue from your own country under the Brussels I bis Regulation, which lets EU residents sue the insurer at home. In practice this means Italian deadlines, Italian tables and Italian evidence rules apply wherever you bring the claim, and the medical assessment should be done by an Italian medico legale or be compatible with the Italian criteria.

Time limits

Under article 2947 of the Civil Code, the right to compensation for damage caused by the circulation of vehicles expires two years from the accident. If the facts also constitute a crime, such as negligent injury, the longer criminal limitation period applies to the civil claim. A written claim sent by registered letter or PEC interrupts the period and starts it again, so the first letter should go out early even if the medical picture is not settled. A criminal complaint (querela) for injuries must be filed within three months of the accident; it is rarely necessary where liability is clear, and we discuss it with clients case by case.

Mistakes that cost foreign victims money

• Leaving Italy without the accident report number, the other party’s insurance details or the emergency room report
• Accepting the first offer, which arrives before the injury has stabilised and is calculated on the insurer’s own medical assessment
• Signing a quietanza a saldo while still in treatment
• Dealing only with the rental company about the car and forgetting the personal injury claim, which is separate
• Writing to the foreign insurer of the other vehicle and letting the Italian two-year period run

Claiming from your home country

None of this requires travelling back to Italy. The claim, the correspondence with the insurer or UCI, the medical-legal assessment (which can often be organised on documents or during a return trip) and the settlement are handled by your Italian lawyer under a power of attorney, and compensation is paid to your account abroad. We work on a success fee basis for injury claims, agreed in writing at the start, as explained on our fees page.

If you have the accident report or the CAI form, send it to us together with the medical records and the rental contract if there is one. We will tell you which body the claim goes to, what the realistic deadline is and what the insurer will ask for. Contact us, book a 15-minute call or write to us on WhatsApp.