There are currently almost 200,000 unknown, missing or suspended entries listed in the Estonian traffic register, whether due to vehicles having been destroyed or resold without documentation. The owners of those vehicles will still be required to pay car tax. However, to remove some of the inconvenience involved, from July, the government will make it possible to delete the vehicle from the register, according to ETV show "Aktuaalne kaamera."

"A person submits an application to the Transport Administration, whereby they then explain that either the vehicle has been transferred and they do not know where it is, that the transfer has not been redeclared, or that the vehicle has been destroyed for some reason," said Margus Tähepõld, head of transport at the Ministry of Climate.

Deletion from the register will be free of charge for vehicle owners until 2026, after which an environmental fee of €800 will be in place.

However, there are a number of vehicles for which their current location is known but that are not in use and have not been road-tested. While up to now, their registration has been automatically revoked, the plan is to remove them from the register on a temporary basis.

"The maximum period is up to two years. If, during that period, it still turns out that you don't want to use [the vehicle], because, for example, you are waiting for repairs, you can temporarily remove it again for the next two years. In that kind of case, you would have to provide proof that the vehicle exists," said Tähepõld.

To enable owners to demonstrate that unused vehicles do exist, the Transport Administration is set to develop a photo application, which will record the time and place where the photo was taken.

The planned change will also apply to scrap vehicles. From now on, scrap metal dealers will be obliged to accept all car wrecks, including those that could become more expensive to dispose of than the revenue they generate. Accepting these vehicles could lead to additional costs for scrap dealers. However, the costs of processing will be borne by the vehicle distributors.

"If scrapping comes at an extra cost, then it's the same as the price of gasoline going up at the gas station, and it will soon be reflected in the price of sausages in the store. It's that kind of cycle," said Silver Havamaa, manager of online vehicle portal Mobile.ee.

Havamaa said this could also lead to higher vehicle prices. "You can't rule that out. Fortunately, we are talking about small numbers today, but if the distributors, and, we are talking about us as car dealers, are being screwed over all the time, then we need to get that back to recoup our costs and start earning," Havamaa said.

Toomas Kollamaa, a board member of scrap metal dealers Kuusakoski, said that in his view, the move would not change vehicle prices. "The fee is so small that when it comes to the price of a single passenger car, which we assume costs tens of thousands of euros anyway, then if we are talking about a new car, then I don't think it will change the price of the vehicle," Kollamaa said.

The plan is currently being coordinated. The car tax law is schedule to enter into force on July 1.

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