Please help with traffic ticket payment

Did you commit the offense? If not, I would not pay it and would dispute the charge with my credit card company.

Also, why is Hertz assessing a fine in addition to the traffic violation issued by the French authorities? Was it part of the contract you signed when you rented the car that you would owe a fee to Hertz IN ADDITION to any traffic citations you might receive?

Also, if they cannot produce the information you need to pay the ticket, then I don't see that you have to pay the ticket until they decide to "issue notice for payment of the fine" as you stated in your post. Also, when you were told "IT is now at the discretion of the French authorities IF AND WHEN they issue notice for payment of the fine itself," that sounds like they may possibly never get around to asking you to pay it at all. If they expect to be paid, then they need to produce that document.

I know others may disagree with me, but that is how I see it.

The car rental companies always access a fee for letting you know about the ticket. The actual ticket may take up to a year to arrive, and yes, then you owe more. Spain and Italy are notorious for sending tickets quite late so perhaps France will be more prompt.

Thank you for your help!

Most likely I exceeded the speed limit for 2 km/hr as they indicated. I don’t want to fight the French government and prefer to pay the fine. Hertz receive the notification on 09/18/2018 and informed me today 10/30/2018, what is not nice, specially if the are charging me 40 euros, but that is a different subject.
What I want is to find a way to pay the 45 euros ASAP to avoid additional penalties and the problem I have is to get the e-payment number. I may have to wait till the French government sends me a letter to my address that Hertz gave them, but that may increase the fine.

Has anybody had a similar experience? Watching the news in France they mentioned tha the French government is generating billions of euros per year in traffic fines, mainly from foreigners, so I assume that there are many Americans contributing to that. 😊😊

Over the years on this website, many drivers have reported receiving similar fines, often from Italy.
Hopefully someone here has experience with how you pay a French fine and will reply to your question.

First we got the notice from EuropCar that we were being charged 25 euros or so for furnishing our info to the local gendarmes. Next, the actual ticket arrived from Limoges a few days or weeks later with info on the back about paying via credit card. So that’s how it usually works if you are driving a car within the country in which it’s registered. The date is from the time the ticket is issued to you, not to Hertz.
I’ve never heard of a car rental agency being involved in ticket payments, but it could be different when crossing a border.
I’d just wait until the ticket arrives.

You’ll have to wait for the fine, but it may not come, 50-50 chance. Even if you don’t pay it, nothing seems to happen and you can rent from the same agency in France on your next visit.

Camera speeding fines are less serious than fines issued by an actual policeman, more like a parking ticket, so don’t equate a US speeding ticket with a camera fine.

Thank you for the responses, one last question: Does anybody knows if the notification sent by the French authorities considers the effective notification date: a. the one used for the letter to Hertz or b. The date of the notification addressed to me?... the difference could b e significant

My one experience with a French ticket was that the payment due date was based on when the French authorities mailed the ticket -- and they provided an online address to pay so I was able to take care of the fine before it escalated. Easy! Civilized!

As far as I know is in France ANTAI the governemental organization that processes the fines. Is this the website you mean? https://www.antai.gouv.fr/particulier?lang=en

The website we were directed to wasn’t a national one, ie this one, but a local one for the city of Limoges, and only in French. The reason I’m putting this info out there is so people know that there’s more than one site.

Just had what some may consider a strange thought. Since the letter stated"..It is now at the discreción of the French authorities...", have you considered contacting the nearest French consulate or embassy? I know full well it's not within the realm of their ordinary business, but perhaps they can point you in the right direction to get the fine paid and the matter resolved. Weird the way the mind works before coffee.

I believe that I will just wait for the letter to arrive. I made several attempts to obtain the payment information accessing the French web page but it looks that the records must be re-entered with my data; the original information sent to Hertz does not work.

Thanks to all the wonderful people that tried to help! You are an amazing group of people, ready to extend your hand and help when required!

Best regards,

We were in France in Sept and just received a speeding ticket in mail as well. Our infraction was on 9/11.
We received the ticket from France and the letter from Europcar on the same day- I believe that was last Thurs so 10/25.
Europcar had charged us a 35 euro fee on 9/18.
I would just wait a day or 2- you should receive the actual ticket soon.

It was very simple to pay online. The url provided took me right to an English site with very clear instructions.
The number they need is only on the actual ticket and there are clear instructions of where to find that on the document. It is a 14 digit number.
Took all of 2 minutes.
FWIW- we were going 87km in an 80km zone. Geesch.

I would just wait a day or 2- you should receive the actual ticket soon.

Don't expect a letter to arrive: it may or may not. It's up to the discretion of the local authority whether they pursue rental car drivers or not, and the French don't always.

For what it’s worth, I was flashed by a speed camera while passing through Limoges last year. I got the letter (and the charge) from the rental company notifying me that they had provided my info to the French authorities but I have yet to hear from them.

Don't expect a letter to arrive: it may or may not. It's up to the discretion of the local authority whether they pursue rental car drivers or not, and the French don't always.<<

I wish it had not for us! That 80euros pushed us over budget. just kidding

I didn't mean to imply that OP would absolutely get the ticket in mail- maybe he gets it in a month or a year or never.
I shared my recent experience.

But seriously- what are the consequences if you know you have an infraction but never get the actual ticket?
Is your name/DL then on record? Would you have issues with car rental again in that country?

Is your name/DL then on record? Would you have issues with car rental again in that country?

No, and no.

good to know, thanks

Months ago I received a similar note from Avis in France and was dinged 25 euros or so on my credit card from them.
That is standard practice as mentioned by others for them giving your information to the authorities.

I was not provided with an actual violation or fine amount for said violation.
I suspect it was speeding, think I know where and when and not planning on disputing it.

I couple of months have since past and still nothing in the mail for the ticket itself. I have been on the lookout for it. Starting to think the city where issued will decide not to send it at all.

Your situation sounds similar though a little odd that in your case Hertz provided you also with the cost of the French violation and the fact that 45 euro's sounds really cheap for any moving violation. Maybe different since you rented from Spain and not France.

In your shoes I would wait for something official to come in the mail.

Thank you for your comments. Based on the experiences you shared with us, I will just wait for the letter from Provence to pay the ticket on line.

Maybe the fine is only 45 euros because I only was driving 2 to 7 km/ hr over the speed limit of 70 km/ hr. In Provence there are so many small villages you go through, and so many changes in the speed limit that it is difficult to avoid making a mistake. I had a Garmin GPS system that alerted me of the speed limit changes but some times it took a minute or so to get to the new speed, what is enough to get caught by the police cameras. I just hope I don' get additional tickets 😊😊😊.

Based on the experiences you shared with us, I will just wait for the letter from Provence to pay the ticket on line.

Yes, that's the best idea. I got a ticket in France last year, and the actual ticket (also 45 euros) came in the mail well after Hertz put their charge on my credit card. When I got the ticket, I was given plenty of time to pay the ticket before the amount increased. And it was a very easy process on-line; the web site has an English portion.