No car insurance without KTEO
Car owners who fail to ensure that their vehicles promptly pass either state-run or private roadworthiness tests (KTEO) will not be eligible for insurance, according to a draft law being prepared by the government. Sources said yesterday that the bill is due to be submitted to Parliament just after Christmas and will be in effect from the start of the year. It will prevent insurance companies from selling policies to owners of vehicles that do not have a valid KTEO certificate while cars that are submitted to the roadworthiness test will have to be insured. It is expected that the measure could cause about 2 million drivers to rush to get their cars approved at the test centers since a large number of cars on Greek roads have not been tested. According to the Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Ministry, some 45 to 50 percent of vehicles have not been through the test when they should. It is estimated that in Attica and Thessaloniki alone there are 1.2 million vehicles that do not have the KTEO certificate. In May, owners of private KTEO centers revealed that an increasing number of drivers were failing to turn up for their appointments at test centers. In 2006, 45 percent of drivers did not turn up for their tests. In 2007, this rose to 55 percent and last year it reached 65 percent. The owners of the private centers claimed that their state-run counterparts do not carry out proper checks and do not keep adequate statistics. KTEO inspections are carried out four years after a car is first registered and then annually after that. The failure to get cars tested also has financial implications for the government as these 1.2 million cars would bring in almost 14 million euros to state coffers if they are submitted to the KTEO test. Earlier this year, the Transport Ministry said it was in the process of setting up Greece’s first roadworthiness tests for the country’s 700,000 motorcycles and scooters. It is not clear if the current PASOK government will complete this project.
