Italy ZTL Fines 2019 Question

It is my understanding that the administrative charge is for Hertz to hand over your contact information to the authorities, so I don't see why the ticket would not be forthcoming as well. In our case, I received an invoice from Hertz about the charge, which was something like 50 dollars. (I paid the parking ticket while still in Italy.)

Can’t speak specifically to Italy, but it’s up to the municipality if it wants to send the ticket. Some may, some may not. In Germany, I was charged the admin fee by Avis (received a letter in the mail), but never received an actual ticket. In Spain, I wasn’t charged an admin fee by Avis, but did receive a ticket. My guess is that notification from the rental agency is now done electronically.

Depends on where it happens. Seems like the City of Florence will engage a collection agency. You'll just have to wait to see what shows up in your mailbox, and it can take a while (months).

We rented a car in Zagreb, Croatia and received 2 speeding tickets while driving to Venice. We were going 1.2 over the limit and the tickets were within 5 miles of each other. Anyway, we got an email from the car company asking for our NY address. We answered and became impatient waiting for the actual ticket The original email had the tickets as an attachment. my husband read the entire tickets, it was in Italian, and realized he could pay them directly. He did that, emailed the rental place, and never received a charge from them. We were in Venice the end of July and received the email end of May.

he could pay them directly

He couldn't. Was the pdf attached to the email in your name or in the rental company's commercial name? I hope the former.

Otherwise, the moment the cops receive the name of the actual offender, the automatic system Cancels the first fine (the pdf) and produces a new one. A new document in the Actual offender's name with a different code and new deadlines to appeal, confess&pay with a 30% discount etc. An human could understand why you paid for somebody else and block the new fine, I'm afraid the electronic system will just go its own way.

Incidentally, there is a 5% leeway so you were not driving at 1.2 mph over the limit. Since there is always a sign before each speed traps either you are blind or you were going so fast that you did not have enough time to slow down before the camera. Twice.

He told me that these days Italian authorities will rarely issue tickets or attempt to collect fines from North Americans

Nonsense. Foreigners' fines go to the back of the heap because most tourists refuse to pay but most times Local traffic police makes at least one attempt to get the money. Remember that Selling uncollectible fines to an international agency for a couple of Euros each is quite easy.

I drove a rental car in Italy in July. In September and October I got two or three admin charges from Hertz. The charge on my card account came first and relatively soon after (a week or two) I got a letter from Hertz with short details of the date of offence, the alleged offence and city. . This week (end of Jan 2020) I got a registered letter, mailed from The Netherlands but from the Municipality of Pisa with the first of the ZTL fines. There are increasing fines to pay depending on days elapsed after receipt of the letter (0-5, 6-60, >60). I paid on the day of receipt via the city website. They had options to pay by bank transfer or by credit card. The city will have no way to know that I paid within five days of receipt of the notice, as USPS did not collect proof of delivery. I am assuming that they will be happy to have collected something and that this will be the end of it. The Pisa website had the capability to display the photographic evidence of the offence.

To answer the question in the last paragraph, Hertz will go ahead and charge your credit card for the administrative fee. You authorized this when you signed the rental contract. The actual ticket will come later, from the commune or municipality. The fine for that will not be automatically charged to your card.

Some local jurisdictions send the fines overseas, some don’t.
It is true that a very small percentage of fines issued to foreign residents get collected by the authorities. Most foreign visitors don’t bother to pay even if they receive them. Even many Italians don’t pay. According to the latest figures available only 40.8% of fines are paid nationwide.
https://motori.virgilio.it/notizie/multe-italia-sono-sempre-piu-quelle-non-pagate/126227/

According to what I've read and discovered, local jurisdictions don't manage the speed cameras or the tickets or the collection. They seek bids from private companies to handle the whole affair, and it's the contract winner and/or the contract terms that determine whether to spend the postage to threaten the alleged offender. One such company is http://www.avenue-srl.it/ that handles the autovelox for the comune of Sesto Campano et al. Their website modestly says they "assicurare la maggior sicurezza possibile sulle strade Italiane tramite la sua rete di autovelox diffusa sull'intero territorio" (ensure the greatest possible safety on Italian roads through its speed camera network spread over the entire territory). What is interesting to me was a .pdf on the Avenue srl site which describes their offered services and there is no mention of active collection procedures after sending notices, they merely prepare reports of payment.

only 40.8% of fines are paid nationwide

Roberto, those reports indicate the fines paid within the terms and not appealed. Saying that only 40% are paid doesn't mean anything, 40% are paid within 60 days from the official notification by registered letter.

the contract terms that determine whether to spend the postage to threaten the alleged offender.

No, a supplier under contract can't change the law and re-draw the city budget erasing a debt. Mike you didn't really get the role of those agencies. Only a cop can change a pic into a fine, co-sign the maintenance report of the speed traps etc. Those agencies make all the side work: you may see civil staff in a marines base working in the supply office, but you do not expect them to use the weapons they bought while landing under fire.

Here in California local jurisdictions make great use of high def cameras to enforce red light violations. Also in this case a contracting company installs, maintains and manage the cameras, but all photos are reviewed by an officer at the police department and the officer decides which to issue. For example in California the face of the driver must be visible and at least the gender of the driver recognizable and matching the gender of the owner or licensed person in the household, hence the use of high definition cameras.