We traveled to Florence, for our third time, in the spring of 2025. We have driven in Florence before (Not an easy task!) Never received a violation before and are well aware of the "Zona" situation. This time while there we were attempting to return our rental car and encountered a construction area that was blocked off and required us to take a marked detour. No choice. We tried contacting the authorities and our rental car company and our host to try to contest the tickets, but language barrier plus preoccupation with my 91 yr-old mother have kept us from making any headway. We are very adamant that we broke no rules, but we received two tickets for separate citations all on this same day. So we KNOW it was due to the detour. We are now receiving notices from a collection agency stating that they will send our delinquent notices to Equifax and it will affect our credit score which is immaculate. Has anyone else had this happen to them and how did you handle it? TIA
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
9840 posts
This topic/ problem comes up here occasionally
Do a search and you will find some answers on how to deal with the collection agency.
Here is just one thread
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/repercussions-from-a-speeding-ticket-in-italy
Posted by
217 posts
What do you mean with "we tried to contact the authorities"? Did you receive a registered letter from Florence Cops explaining how to pay and how to appeal? If not, if you did not receive such a registered letter from Florence, tell this collection Agency to stop harassing you.
If, on the other hand, you were duly informed about your rights and you did not either pay or file an appeal it's a question of conscience.
Think at it this way: if the Florence authorities fined cars forced to enter a ZTL because of a detour, rest assured that Florentines and Italian tourists would refuse to pay and the story would make the front pages.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
18317 posts
You must have a received a notice from the Italian authority that issued the fine (Florence Municipal Police) in a registered mail about the violation. Maybe you dismissed that letter and did not pay it or contest it at the time. Florence is one of the jurisdictions that will assign these debts to international collection agencies. The first thing you need to do is to request the collection agency to provide you fro information about the debt. You can also send a Cease and Desist Letter to stop them from bothering you, and in such letter you should state that you dispute the debt (for example if you never received the notice). If they report it to Equifax, they will need to report also that you dispute the debt, but you might need to dispute the credit alao with Equifax to have it expunged. There are many resources online on how to deal with collection agencies. You can start with the one below:
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-should-i-do-when-a-debt-collector-contacts-me-en-1695/
Posted by
10511 posts
Another example of why I haven't rented a car in Italy for 35 years.