If you are reading this then you reside in Malta, and recently heard that the government had raised an initiative to reduce the yearly road license cost by 35% if you use your car for the weekends only.
This was big news amongst all car enthusiasts on the island, BUT there is a catch and we just confirmed it with Transport Malta.
"The only cars that can benefit from weekend rates are the cars that have a full registration paid."
Up till now, the only way to get weekend plates is if you pay 40% of the allocated registration when you import the car. In addition that the car must be at least Euro 4, and have emissions equal to or higher than 221g/km. After which your car would be recognizable on the road with the red-lettered plates, as opposed to the normal black lettered ones.
However, it seems the government played around with the words and decided you will need to pay the remaining 60% in order to be entitled to pay a reduction in the yearly road license fee.
Meaning if your yearly license is currently €1125 (250g/km at 14 years), you can pay €731.25 (35% reduction).
So for example if you have a 2005 Porsche Cayman already on the red plates, you would need to give TM €6980.40 of your hard-earned cash to benefit of a saving of €393.75 yearly .... and don't worry we already worked it out for you, it will take 17 years to break even.
So the only ones who will really benefit are those with the current daily (black) plates. And yes you would need to pay for the new red plates out of your pocket - approximate €150 in total (€70 per plate, plus admin fees).
This information is up to date as of 15th January, and I will keep it updated if I receive further news.