Italy Driving Speed Ticket Time Limits (Rental Car) Garda / Venice / Dolomites / MArco Polo

What's your basis for believing that there's "dishonest communication" involved?

Foreign countries. Bureaucracy. Sometimes things move slowly with all the variables involved. Not all of the world is 100% as efficient as we all might like.

I figure if you get a ticket, and you believe you did actually commit the infraction, you pay for it. Even if it seems they're late in reaching you.

I have read a few posts about tickets been sent out years after the time limits expire. It's not so much about not paying it, it would just be nice to have some clarity as to whether or not it's coming. The best measure I figure is the timing of the rental car agency fee landing in my bank account.

Oh, and also I have read posts about people getting tickets in places they didn't even visit.

I have been here a long time and have not read the same posts that you have. Never heard of anyone getting a ticket years later. The charge from the rental company for releasing your information generally hits within 6 months or so and that is the first hint. Whether you get a follow up traffic ticket or not is dependent on the agency's attitude towards foreign visitors. Appears that France doesn't pursue foreign visitors but some areas of Italy are very aggressive.

If you are worried about getting a charge to your bank account, sounds like you used a debit card. That is not the smartest practice. And remember logic doesn't allows apply to government actions. However, if you haven't heard anything within a year, you can make the assumption that you are safe.

The day count is not exact. If the authority emitting the fine does not know the name of the driver, they must enquire about the possible driver or the owner of the car. 90 days start from the moment they are able to verify one of them. Day count ends the day the fine is sent (date of the post stamp), not the day the fine is received.

If the car is a rental, the company has 60 days to notify the name of the driver. A 90 days count starts again from the date the name is notified.

BUT - if the driver is a foreign resident, the term to notify him/her (again, date of the post stamp) is 360 days.

So the correct count would be 90+60+360=510 days (in case of a rental car driven by a foreign resident), maybe a few days more for allowing registered mail delivery time.

Please note that a fine sent after the term is not automatically void, you must present an appeal to a giudice di pace or prefetto and have it voided on the ground that terms were not respected.

So, I should expect that within 150 days any/all communication will have taken place with the rental agency and by that time they will have passed my details on.

Therefore I would expect charges to land in my bank account within 150 days (From the rental agency) give or take a few for mailing/invoicing etc.

I understand that if that happens, that I should expect a larger ticket through the post within the following 360 days.

But my question is, if I don't hear anything from the rental agency within that first 150 days, is it fairly safe to assume that no ticket has been generated because by that point they should have handed over my details and charged my card with a 40 euro fee.

Give it 6 months. If you have not received a charge from the car company within 6 mo, I would assume that I was OK. I am not absolutely certain what the concern is. Either you did or your didn't. Nothing you can do about it now so wait. Not a big deal either way. However, if you are trying to find a loophole to get around a potential fine, then I doubt if you will be successful.

Oh, and also I have read posts about people getting tickets in places they didn't even visit.

I have astonishing news for you: People are stupid. One was fined on the Turin-Brescia highway and wrote it was a scam because he did not visit either Turin or Brescia.

The rental agency has 60 days to give cops your details, they have no legal obligation to charge your credit card within the same period of time.

There is no obligation for the rental agency to charge you. You might get the ticket before or after the rental agency charges or doesn't charge you.

If you don’t receive a credit card charge from the rental company (for the admin fee to release your name to the authorities) within 150 days it is likely that you did not incur any traffic violations. There may be exceptions, as others have mentioned (e.g. the rental company forgot to charge you the admin fee o did so much later), but otherwise it is a safe assumption.

So if 150 days have already elapsed, I suggest you uncork your favorite bottle of champagne, and drink it to celebrate. I don’t recommend you drive immediately after that, because you got lucky with the Italian cops, but you may not be as lucky with the American ones.

Is there some reason for you to be worried about receiving a traffic citation?

Is there some reason for you to be worried about receiving a traffic citation?

Sam asked a good question. For those who are thinking about driving in Europe and Italy in particular, be aware of a few things. There's plenty of automated systems that check your speed and record your tag. Also, there is pretty much a zero tolerence regarding speeding. On my daily commute to work on Interstate I set my cruise at 4 mph above the speed limit and the cops I see don't give me a second look. In Europe, I would get a ticket.

Just don't speed. We spent a wonderful 10 days in Tuscany a few years ago and I didn't get any surprises after the trip.

Regarding many of the "horror story" posts, some repeat second and third person stories that are either distorted on just not true. For many of the first person stories, when pressed, it turns out the offender did speed and deserved the fine. My favorite was from some whiner the racked up a number of speeding tickets total several hundred dollars. At first he claimed innocence. Later it came out he let his buddies drive because they were griping he was driving too slow.

My favorite was the indignant person who had racked up multiple very expensive tickets in Germany. They were outraged at (what they complained was) this "scam" being pulled on foreigners. Their excuse was that someone had told them that there were no speed limits in Germany.

Back in the 80s I was staying with family who drove us around parts of Italy. They drove like maniacs! So I understand why the government have cameras just about everywhere, and not always conspicuous. Those little metal boxes along roads will get you when you least expect it.

What really stopped Italians from driving like maniacs is the new vehicle code, introduced I think in 2003, which established the point system. Basically you are given 20 points to start, then any moving violation results in a deduction of points, commensurate to the seriousness of the infraction. After you lose your 20 points, your driver’s license is seized for a certain number of months. Good behavior for an extended period results in crediting some points.
The cameras were introduced before and it was (still is) a very convenient way for local authorities to raise revenue without raising taxes. Italians are hit by those fines much more often than foreigners.