The company says this creates additional costs when rental cars are bought or sold in the middle of the year, costs which cannot be refunded.

The company put the figure at €43,000 for 2025.

Bolt development manager, Henri Arras, stated in a letter that Bolt Drive, the car rental arm of the company, replaces 50-60 percent of its fleet annually, coming to nearly a thousand vehicles.

However, the car tax that came into effect this year must be paid for an entire year.

"This means that if we sell or return a car to a dealership in the middle of the year, we will have to have paid the full year's tax, and cannot get it back," Arras said.

This is the case for all vehicle owners, but most people will not be changing large numbers of cars in a year.

"A private individual might be able to swallow this cost. If it's, say, €100, a person may accept it and complete the transaction, but that does not make it fair," he remarked.

"The same applies to all private individuals transferring their cars, but for a company, the impact is amplified – as a result, in 2025, we will lose an estimated additional cost of €43,000, which will affect service development and investment capacity," Arras went on.

"Currently, the calculation is based on the calendar year, and the tax obligation arises on January 1. Naturally, in reality, car transactions take place all through the year, creating an unfair situation where a person or company selling a car in June is still liable for the entire year's tax," Arras went on.

According to Arras, the situation brings additional problems. For example, as the full year's car tax must also be paid for vehicles that are no longer in use, meaning they no longer generate revenue for the company, this has a knock-on effect in reducing investment capacity.

The company also considers it an unfair tax burden.

"The tax system does not take into account the actual period of use of the vehicles, resulting in tax payments even with cars that leave the market before the tax period ends," Arras noted.

As a result, price rises may be passed on to customers, Bolt said, which in turn reduces the attractiveness and accessibility of the service provided.

Additionally, even private individuals can theoretically add the car tax to the resale price, but this is not possible for Bolt, Arras said, as many of their used cars are sold to other countries or returned to dealerships where they were leased.

These actions mean the tax cost cannot be factored into the resale price.

"The result is an unfair financial loss. If the Riigikogu were to discuss possible changes to the motor vehicle tax, we would request that the implementation conditions take into account the actual period of use of cars, to avoid a disproportionate tax burden on service providers who invest in flexible and more environmentally friendly mobility solutions," Arras went on.

"This situation virtually motivates transactions to be completed on December 31, to avoid paying tax unfairly for the period when the car is not actually in use. But everyone understands that this is not a reasonable arrangement. There are probably technical reasons behind why it was done this way. But since we knew that it was possible that the parliament would eventually discuss the car tax – as happens with all new laws that are quite extensive and complex – after they are passed, a review is done to see if any cosmetic changes are needed. Consequently, we have submitted our proposal to the Riigikogu finance committee so that this specific case would be available when discussing these issues," Arras detailed.

It is not known whether the Riigikogu's finance committee is planning any amendments to the car tax law at this point in time, but Arras said he hopes that the law will eventually be reopened.

Arras conceded that timing car purchases within a specific period of the year is not reasonable for a large company, and would lead to fluctuations in rental car quality over the course of the year.

In April 2023, Bolt's founder Markus Villig had said that Estonia was one of the last European countries to lack a car tax and that Bolt strongly supported its introduction.

At the same time, he noted that much would hinge on how the tax is structured, even as in principle, he was very much in favor of it.

Then in February this year, Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise stated that the motor vehicle tax law and the traffic law are not in compliance with the constitution because they lack provisions that consider cases of asset destruction or other situations where a vehicle goes out of use, making it unjustified to charge tax for the entire year in such cases.

Madise recommended that the Riigikogu align the laws with the Constitution.

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