Does your electric scooter need compulsory insurance in Romania?

What the law says, in two conditions#

Law no. 181 of 13 November 2025 amended Law no. 132/2017, Romania’s compulsory motor liability insurance law, the RCA law. The new vehicle definition, in force since 16 November 2025, covers a self-propelled land vehicle that does not run on rails if it has “a maximum design speed of more than 25 km/h” or “an own mass of more than 25 kg and a maximum design speed of more than 14 km/h”.

All three comparisons are strict. A scooter of exactly 25 kg with a maximum design speed of exactly 25 km/h crosses no threshold; the same scooter at 25.5 kg and 20 km/h crosses the paired one. The form above mirrors that movement: slide half a kilogram past the line and the light changes.

What does maximum design speed mean?#

It is the maximum speed in the vehicle’s design, the figure on the maker’s sheet. The law does not ask how fast you ride on a Tuesday evening, or what limit you set in a phone app. A scooter capped at 20 km/h in an app whose maximum design speed is 30 km/h remains a 30 km/h scooter for the question on this page.

The own mass matters the same way: the vehicle’s weight without rider and luggage. Both values sit in the manual, on the maker’s label or in the official model sheet. Shop listings often round to whole kilograms, enough for models far from the lines; for a model sold as “about 25 kg” the maker’s sheet is the only good source.

A later modification, such as derestricting the speed, changes the data of the vehicle as used. It should be told to the insurer as it is, since classification and price start from the real data of the insured vehicle.

Who this check does not cover directly#

The definition covers self-propelled vehicles. Powered wheelchairs and similar vehicles intended exclusively for a person with a physical mobility disability are expressly outside the notion of vehicle for this law. The law also has a conditional exception for vehicles used exclusively in motor-sport events or activities in a restricted, demarcated area, with equivalent third-party cover in place.

Pedal-assist bicycles sit at the edge of the definition: their motor helps only while pedalling. A large Romanian insurer states expressly that pedal-assist electric bicycles, which cannot accelerate without the pedals being turned, are outside the compulsory RCA cover in its offer. As a page about scooter thresholds, this check gives no verdicts for pedal-assist bicycles; the model data and the kind of propulsion belong in a talk with an insurer.

The penalty provisions in the same law entered into force later than the definition, on 13 December 2025; the delay concerned penalties, not thresholds. Under art. 37(9) of Law 132/2017, breaching the insurance duty is sanctioned with a fine of 1,000 to 2,000 lei and with retention of the registration certificate until proof of insurance is presented, for registered vehicles. The text limits road-police finding and sanctioning “exclusively to the circulation of uninsured motor vehicles on roads open to public traffic” (the law’s word is “autovehicule”), so the fine is tied to motor vehicles without RCA; how a given scooter is classified should be checked separately. By November 2026 both parts have long been in force.

Insurance is one duty; the right to ride is another#

An answer of “RCA required” says only that using the vehicle requires third-party liability cover. It says nothing about where you may ride, from what age, at what speed on public roads, or whether the vehicle is registered somewhere; those are circulation and registration rules with their own texts. Equally, a “below the thresholds” answer lifts no other traffic rule.

At issue, insurers ask for the vehicle data: on its Romanian page, one insurer lists an identity document, proof of ownership, photographs of the vehicle and its identification number and, for vehicles over 25 km/h, a town-hall registration certificate. The list is that insurer’s practice on the day it was read, useful as a picture of the file, not as a general rule.

If your model’s data falls exactly on a line, or the maker’s sheet is missing, put the question to an insurer with the sheet in front of you. A question costs less than a wrong classification discovered after an accident.

Frequently asked questions#

Sources and how they were checked#

• Law no. 181 of 13 November 2025 amending Law no. 132/2017, the Romanian RCA law, on the Legislative Portal, read on 7 November 2026 through a second check
• Law no. 132/2017, consolidated text of 13 December 2025, art. 37(9): the fine and the retention of the certificate
• Law no. 132/2017 on compulsory motor liability insurance, consolidated text on the Legislative Portal
• Directive (EU) 2021/2118, the vehicle definition with the same three thresholds, EUR-Lex
• GRAWE Romania, the page on RCA for electric scooters and bicycles, read on 7 November 2026 (one insurer’s practice, not the legal text)

The thresholds and the entry into force were re-read on 7 November 2026 in the official text of Law 181/2025, which replaced point 27(a) in article 2 of Law 132/2017, Romania’s compulsory insurance law; the same official text was read through a second check, and the European directive independently confirmed the three values. The result covers the thresholds and certifies no policy. Review recommended on any amendment to Law 132/2017 and by May 2027 at the latest.