Car Rental Traffic Violation Fine Italy

Welcome to the club! This has been extensively discussed here, I'll try to find some of the prior discussions and provide a link. Many travelers have reported on this Board that they've received this kind of fine, the most common infraction being for driving their rental car into a ZTL in Florence or other Italian cities that have a restricted zone around the historic core area. The restricted zone means your car license plate had to be listed in the city traffic enforcement computer as authorized to be in the ZTL. The notification of the infraction doesn't reach you for months after your trip, fines have been running around €100 per violation; and yes, some have received multiple violations based on how many times they drove into a ZTL.No one here has figured out a definitive answer to how to manage this: some pay, some don't. One question that has not been answered definitively is: what happens if you don't pay, for example, if you go back to Italy?Here's a link to one prior discussion: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm?topic=11269To get more prior discussions, enter ZTL or other keywords into the search box upper right of this page. Here is a link to another website with general information: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/traffic_cameras_speeding.htm

I don't have the rental agreement for the last car in Italy in front of me, but perhaps you can find yours. I moved my office to another room and everything is scattered about. As I recall from doing earlier research, in the rental agreement we agreed to drive the car in a legal manner and to be responsible for all trafiic violations and fines. As I recall it also allowed the agent to levy and administrative fee for relaying our info to authorities. But I also think it allowed the agent to pay the fine and then pass along the charge to the renter.

If amyone can find their rental agreement, perhaps they can flip it over and read the fine print.

Yes, Kent has it correct... this is NOT the fine, this is the rental agency fee for telling the Italian government WHO to fine.

In every rental agreement I've ever used in italy, the "administrative fees" are usually from €15 - €25, depending on who the rental vendor is. Unfortunately, for every infraction, as Kent states, there will be a SEPARATE charge to your credit card - as per your agreement - then the "tickets" will be sent to you, probably certified mail, from Italy.

Hey, it's one of the few pieces of mail that actually gets to you from Italy! Some take as long as a year to arrive. No one I have met has ever been denied entry to the country, or denied the opportunity to rent another vehicle if the fine is unpaid. That being said, it is your decision on the next step... once the tickets do arrive (and unfortunately they will - eventually).

Ciao,
Ron

Thanks for the input.