we went to Rome in Sept of 2014 rented a car at the airport to drive south to Almalfi. New to driving in a foreign country we accidentally missed our exit and ended up in the city of Rome got lost for 3 hours before we found our way back to the autostrada. In Jan of 2015 we received notice from rental agency that we received a fine. They charged us a fee of 51 EU. (this was only for their fees to release our info to Rome.) In Jan. of 2016 (a year later) we received a ticket from the Police stating that we needed to pay a fine of 87 euros within 5 days or 111 euros after 60 days. It is very difficult to appeal this or to communicate via phone or email. my intention of course is to pay the fine. This is also difficult having to go to bank to make a transfer. I finally was able to reach a person by telephone and now the fee is 193 euros. this person could not provide me any documents stating this. Anyway I'm just curious if this is a common problem of paying fines. I want to take care of my ticket because I would like to return to Italy and drive again.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32932 posts
They told you that you had 5 days. Then they also said what it would be in 60.
Expect it to only go up and up and up.
Yes, that is the way that virtually all fines work, all over Europe.
The sooner you fix it, the sooner it goes away.
You say you want to appeal it? You probably lost that right when January turned into February, over 60 days ago.
What grounds would you appeal it? That it wasn't you in the photo that shows you where you weren't supposed to be, no matter if it was a ZTL or bus lane?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23343 posts
Yep !!! Very common and frequently discussed here. It is a terrible Catch 22 situation. The clock is running and no place to get relief. My guess is that you either violated a traffic limited zone (TLZ) or may have driven in a lane restricted for buses. Either way you were captured on camera with little to no room for appeal. One of the disadvantages to driving in major cities in Italy.
Posted by
616 posts
Try to find somebody who know italian call for you.
Vive the référence. Pay Adam so that the fine does not increase continuously. Ask what is their account no, do the bank transfer indicating the reference no of your dossier and make sure that they acknowledge receipt of the funds. A bank transfer take about three days to reach Europe. Also make sure you pay all fees so that they get full fees. Another option, if you go to Italy soon is to go to the Carabinieri with your fine in hand explaining them you want to clear this and would like their help. Of you go in Rome, you should find someone who speaks English.
Posted by
California USA
3969 posts
There should be a SWIFT code to wire funds to the bank in Italy to pay the fine and penalties. Most banks know how (for a fee) wire funds to a SWIFT code.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32224 posts
Barb,
This is one of the risks of driving in Italy and given the fact you were driving around Rome for three hours, I wouldn't be surprised if you receive more tickets. Based on other posts I've seen here, the payment process is not as easy in Italy as in some other countries. The one year delay tends to make it difficult to appeal.
On future trips you might consider using public transit as much as possible, although there are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of with that also.
Good luck!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Yeah, that really sucks. It's one of the (many) reasons we really try to avoid renting a car in Italy, esp. near any major city. The silver lining in this cloud is that you now have an interesting (albeit) expensive story to tell your friends. Sorry it happened to you.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23343 posts
I doubt if you have more tickets coming. The fore warning is the administrative charge for turning your information over to the policy. You would have one administrative charge for each ticket. This is you only violation and it is enough.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
792 posts
France does it differently, you can pay by Visa/Mastercard on a link they send you in the mail along with the fine.. I have personal experience :-)
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
If you have a Visa you can pay online here:
http://www.tributi.comune.roma.it/PagoWEB/application/PagoWEB
I wonder why they didn't write it on the letter you received. You'll have to Google translate that page.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15864 posts
darioalb, that link had a 404 error when I tried to bring it up.
Posted by
Italy
3812 posts
Try this link: https://www.comune.roma.it/pcr/it/serv_pagam.page
Click "Pagamento Utenti non identificati" (non registered users), then the first link "Contravvenzione" (Fines). I'm using Chrome and it works.
This is the payment page you should eventually get to: https://s22.postimg.org/u280oaoxt/Immagine.jpg
Hope it helps.
