Speeding tickets

Not only will the fine be "collected", but the rental car company will charge you a substantial fee for giving the police the name and address of the person who rented the car. I have heard of European countries turning the fines over to a US collection agency. Want that on you credit report?

BTW, European countries have a data base of information related to your passport number. Ever plan on going back?

The fine is the same whether you own the car or rent. The difference is if the rental car company pays the fine for you, and the exact policy tends to differ depending on the provider. If they pay the fine for you, you will usually receive a bill that includes the actual fine and a service charge, which is often more than the actual fine. Less commonly, the rental company will forward the fine to the mailing address you provided, and you pay the fine directly (must be done by electronic fund transfer).

The actual amount depends on how fast you were driving and it varies by Bundesland (state).

Now, this comment isn't directed at you per se, but as a general public service announcement to anyone from North America considering renting a car in Europe. Realize that unlike in the US and Canada, where traffic police have the discretion on whom to pull over (usually only the speeders driving the fastest), speed limits in Europe are enforced mostly by radar camera, which will flag EVERYONE going above the speed limit without discrimination. The lesson? Drop the North American habit of using speed limits as "guidelines" and obey them as written.

And, drop the mindset that speeding is not a crime. If you speed enough times, or are enough over the limit, the police can take away your licence on the spot and even put you in prison. If you have a foreign licence they cannot take that away totally (they do not have jurisdiction over foreign licensing authorities), but they can ban you from driving in that country.
The Swiss police do this regularly, catch someone doing a silly speed, take the licence away on the spot and if no-one else in the car is licensed and insured to drive the car, that means a tow truck for the car and a taxi for you, from the roadside, both at your expense.

Ah Chris, that's Switzerland. They are harsh. I even wonder why they don't put the car into a shredder and let the driver watch.

Herb, speeding fines in Germany are low by european standards. And Tom, they are the same everywhere in Germany.
Here's the official »Bußgeldkatalog« http://www.kba.de/DE/ZentraleRegister/FAER/BT_KAT_OWI/bkat_owi_01052014_pdf.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4 It's horribly detailed.

In short: you pay from 10€ to 680€, depending how much you have speeded and if it was in a town or not. Below 20kph over, it's the car rental company's fee which makes you suffer. Also note you may get an additonal fine for tailgating, that's often measured at the same time as speeding.

Hmm... for some reason, the ticket I got in Sachsen-Anhalt was significantly more than the ones I got in Hessen, for about the same violation.

Well (if I have the right one) 118160 and following on page 136, like the others, is graded by how much over the posted limit (after the tolerance) in or out of a town on the autobahn, weather, and for how long you were speeding. Could that be the difference?

or 142630 and following

European countries have a data base of information related to your passport number. Ever plan on going back?

It would be nice to see some data on what really goes on and where. Some countries like Italy and France are huge into pursuing foreigners caught with enforcement cameras driving rental cars, in other countries enforcement seems to be nonexistent and foreigners are let go (like the UK). Based upon what shows up on message boards and who complains about where, it's hard to believe that there is any European consistency in what happens.

I have never heard of a foreigner not paying a camera enforcement fine and having troubles re-entering Schengen. Not that I have any personal experience in that (ahem).

But aren't all those speeding tickets worth it in the end? Just think how much "freedom" you're getting from that rental vehicle...free from the rules and regulations of trains ;-)

I could dispense with that sort of freedom when it's a hassle to pay the ticket, a waste of money and time plus gas by the liter. No need for that car freedom when the train and bus plus an occasional taxi gets me to those esoteric historical sites in Germany that are worthy of tracking down.

Thank you for all replies. Looking at the catalogue of fines - omg that is detailed! Living in British Colombia, we 'crawl along' at 100 km/hr on most divided highways (some allow 110 km/hr) - snail pace as compared to the autobahn. There's the temptation to 'leadfooting' when driving in Germany.