Illegal Y-plate car rentals advertised on Facebook for €1,000 per month

Y-plate vehicles which are used as passenger transport vehicles are being illegally rented to third parties for ridiculously high sums of money, MaltaToday can reveal. 

A Facebook group made up of around 8,600 people which discusses matters relevant to Y-plate car owners is sometimes used as an advertising space for people trying to rent these types of vehicles. 

This practise, although seemingly common, is illegal. Transport Malta, the regulator, has told this newspaper that “LY or GY plated vehicles cannot be rented to third parties.” 

A MaltaToday journalist posing as an interested party reached out to one of the people advertising a Y-plate vehicle for rent to inquire about the conditions for renting the vehicles. 

Upon answering, the woman offering to rent her Y-plate vehicle explained that in order to start renting the vehicle, a lump sum of €3,000 had to be paid. Two thirds of the sum were part of a “deposit,” while the rest of the sum would be the first month’s rent. 

After the first payment is made, the monthly rent would amount to €1,000, with the person renting out the vehicle informing the journalist they would be working “as though you are self-employed.” 

When asked about the requisites for the job, she said the prospective car tenant would have to present a driving licence, and a tag for Y-plate vehicles issued by Transport Malta. 

The vehicle owner said the money received from clients after using the cab service would go directly to her account, and at the end of the month, the earnings would be transferred to the tenant’s account. 

However, she noted, the tenant will need to pay income tax on that sum since they “will be working as if self employed.” 

Y-plate vehicles have been at the centre of a number of controversies during the past months. Earlier this year, a parliamentary question from PN MP Albert Buttigieg to Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia revealed that the number of Y-plate vehicles that have been issued authorisation by Transport Malta had sky rocketed. While in 2013 and 2014, 84 and 81 Y-plates were issued, by 2018, more than 500 vehicles a year were issued Y-plates. Additionally, 2022 saw the highest amount of Y-plates issued with 1,026 new vehicles, while Malta is on track to beat that record by the end of this year. 

In order to quell other forms of abuse while enhancing the quality of Y-plate drivers, the Transport Ministry issued a new set of rules for anyone seeking to become cab drivers. Among the changes, the Transport Malta-issued tag for vehicles with Y-plates will no longer be valid for those from outside the EU; instead, they will now need to pass a local driving test or possess an EU driving licence. 

Prior to this development, non-EU citizens were still eligible for the tag using the driving licence of their country and had a year to apply for and obtain an EU driving licence. 

The new rules are intended to crack down on drivers with dubious qualifications but have also created problems for some transport operators, who are finding it hard to recruit people with EU driving licences.