Traffic violations

Don't drive in Italy.

The violations are most likely for entering the restricted zones in towns and cities if you truly drove as slow as you state. Pay them. There is no collusion between rental companies and the police to entrap tourists into violating the traffic laws.

I do agree that the charge from the rental company is the scam. $50 each just seems like too much to me for the minimal amount of effort involved by the rental company. But it is what it is. You, and every other renter, agree to those fees when you sign the rental contract.

We know nothing about what your violations were. Other than be careful, what are we supposed to advise? I have only gotten one ticket in four trips (fingers crossed), and it was a parking violation. I am one of the lucky people on this earth who has the ability to travel overseas every year--I just can't work up outrage about it.
The rental fees are an annoyance (like Hertz needs that extra 50 bucks), but how else are they supposed to find those who commit offenses? There is no conspiracy--just a lot of cameras!

How to handle the problem? Pay the fines. If you have been to Italy two years in a row and are planning a third visit, it should not be a hardship.

Until you receive the actual violation notice from the municipality, you won’t know what exactly you did. You may never receive an actual violation, in which case you don’t have to pay. The fee from the rental car agency does seem excessive, but is an administrative cost that must be paid. That notification should have stated where you got the violation, but maybe not what specifically you did.

A number of years ago, I received 3 violations in Germany, two of which I knew about while still in country, and one was paid before leaving. The rental car company charged €25 per violation, even the one that had already been paid. I did hear from the one municipality and sent it a check, but never received anything for the last violation. In Spain, I received 1 violation. No charge from the rental company, but did receive the notification from the municipality. Paid it in a timely manner online.

I saw online this week where one city in Italy installed a radar-camera.
In the first 60 days, it issued 58,000 tickets.
You can see why they're placing such cameras in places where people speed. Big, big $.
They got me on the causeway going over to Venice going 1.8 mph over the 35 mph speed limit. And they want that fine wire transferred in Euros directly into their checking account.
I can easily figure out where the ZTL's are. But they can hide a radar-camera anywhere.

...That notification should have stated where you got the violation, ...... That is inaccurate. The rental company doesn't see the ticket or receive any notification about the violation. All they are asked to is to id the renter of the vehicle at a certain day and time. Seems like a simple data base search that should take more than a couple of minutes. The common charge a few years was $35 but now appears to be closer to $50. Do think it is excessive but assume that there probably is one full time employee handling these requests.

"I saw online this week where one city in Italy installed a radar-camera.
In the first 60 days, it issued 58,000 tickets."

No they did not issue tickets. It was a small town with a major road going through the middle of it. They were trying to figure out how to get the traffic to slow down in town. This was a test to see how bad the situation was. As you can tell, it was very bad. They do need to do something.

More and more, this is why I attempt to discourage Americans from driving in Europe. It's usually not necessary, due to the excellent public transportation.

The issue is the unwritten rules that foreign drivers do not know. In the USA, I know that if I drive 7 MPH over the limit, I will be OK. I also know that in most places, if I drink 2 drinks with dinner, I will be OK.

In various European countries, I do not know these implicit rules. In addition, there are other issues. There are subtle differences in directional signs.

So, I usually suggest the train or bus.

Hmmmm......
I agree public transportation is often the best solution for travel.
I disagree with believing visitors do not know how to deal with traffic laws.
Follow the law and do not seek to learn how to bend the fringes of the law.

Driving in Italy is beyond a doubt the most paranoid driving experience I've ever had. It's not because of the Italian drivers themselves, it's everything mentioned in most of the previous posts. It's the fear of not noticing a ZTL. The fear of receiving a ticket months after your vacation. And being pressured by other drivers to drive faster when you know you'll be exceeding the limit. It's a nerve-wracking experience. Not the happy-go-lucky feel of a leisurely drive thru the Tuscan countryside. I'm sticking with buses and trains.

The fact that you "drove like a snail" and still received tickets likely indicates these were for violating ZTL (limited traffic) zones, which now exist in many Italian towns. Some of these are enforced by cameras so they may even have a picture of your smiling countenance as you drove past the camera. If you were driving in Florence, you could be receiving several more tickets, as the city is just about saturated with automated ZTL cameras. There are also fines for driving in Bus lanes. Until you receive the actual tickets, you won't know what the infractions were.

This is not a "scam job" as anyone that violates the ZTL areas gets a ticket, whether they're a local or a tourist. Hopefully you were carrying the compulsory International Driver's Permit as you can be fined on the spot for failing to produce one if requested.

Unless you're going to be visiting areas not well served by public transit, the easiest solution is to use the trains (although there are some potentially expensive caveats to be aware of when using public transit as well).

When we lived in Germany from 87-91, I drove down to Italy three times. No tickets then, but the tolls on the autostratda were huge.
Italy has a good rail system and when we go back to Italy (I want to go to Umbria), we will train it.

We rented a car for our four week Wales and England drive tour and it was fantastic. However, a camera nailed me going 35 MPH in a 30 MPH zone to the tune of 40 GBP.

Thank you for all your reply’s, the copy of the violation I just received says the fine is 671,40€. I’m not sure how to read that number or figure it in US dollars?

The comma replaces the period in Europe , hence 671 Euro and 40 euro cents . Current EU to USD = 1.14 USD

Go to google and type: EUR 671.40 = USD
The answer you get varies from minute to minute. Currently it says: 764,19 United States Dollar

They will be expecting you to pay that amount in Euros, and you will not get as good an exchange rate, plus have to pay any banking costs, so it will cost you a little bit more.

In Italian and many other languages they put the symbol after the number, so you will see 671,40 € or 764,19 $. In English it is the other way around: €671.40 or $764.19.

Thank you for all your reply’s, the copy of the violation I just received says the fine is 671,40€.

I'm curious on how you could have amassed a fine that large. What was the ticket for? Where were you when you got it?

There has been some back and forth about driving in Europe, especially Italy. I'm a big proponent of taking public transportation whenever possible, but there are areas where it would be inconvenient or impossible to reach areas of interest. There's a small chapel in Knapdale, near Castle Sween in Scotland. Inside the chapel is the MacMillan Cross. It is in a very remote area of Scotland. I wouldn't have been able to see it without renting a car.

We attended a very moving Vespers service at the Monte Oliveto abbey when in Tuscany. Because of the location of the abbey and the time in the evening there was no public transportation available. I spent a lot of time on the internet researching traffic laws and signage where I have driven. I also assumed if the posted speed limit is 50 km/h, it means don't go faster than 50 km/h. I found ZTLs well marked, yet I opted not to drive in Florence, Rome, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In the States, I've had two speeding tickets since I started driving in 1966. It is possible to drive in Europe without getting tickets.

€670 seems like quite a lot, but I assume that's the total for multiple offences. I'm not very sure about Italian rules, but in most countries you can get a discount if you pay within a fixed period. Equivalent to getting a shorter prison sentence if you plead guilty to murder early on rather than insisting on a trial.

If you're planning to actually pay the fine(s), it might be worth quickly checking if that discount option is available.

That's pretty big, much bigger than any fines I have seen here over several years.

Is that a cumulative amount of several offences or just one?

As asked above, what in the world did they catch you doing?

At least one person on this forum has used transferwise.com to pay a European traffic fine. He reported that the fee was very reasonable. Going to a bank for a money-transfter will almost certainly be much, much more expensive.

However, I think some jurisdictions have set up a way for folks to pay fines online directly to the municipality.

For my Spanish ticket, it was 50% of the stated amount if paid within a certain time period, so my €100 fine was only €50.

Public transportation may eliminate getting tickets, but it can’t get you to places that it doesn’t serve. There are places where renting a car is the best option for getting there. It really depends on what one wants to see and where those places are.

Sorry Frank, but my notifications from Avis Germany stated which towns I received the violations in. They didn’t state the infraction. I never received anything from the Black Forest municipality.

We'll be traveling to Tuscany again. Not having a car just isn't an option. Driving outside the major metropolitan areas was really nice. But once we thought we would park close to Florence and that was a real nightmare. We abanded that attempt and took the train there another day.

Earlier you said it was three violations -- that is 225E each. And that is still high for routine violations even with late payment penalties. There has to be more to the story. Something is going on that we and may you are not aware or clear about the situation.

Charles,

A fine of €671.40 seems a lot for three traffic infractions; that's €223.80 each. Would you be willing to share any details of the tickets, such as what the tickets were for, how many tickets or where the infractions occurred? Also, were the tickets received from European Municipality Outsourcing? If the details are in Italian, some of the forum members can translate for you.

Several forum members have used this service, so this is one way you could make the payment - https://transferwise.com/ca/ . Do the tickets provide any information on payment methods that will be accepted?

There is no way I could have done anything that would cost that much. Especially since I can’t think of one thing I did wrong during the day of the violation.
The copy they sent me is in Italian but it looks like it’s on the autostrada but I have no idea what I did wrong let alone something that bad?

does it have your photo on it with the number plate of the car? If you transcribe the text we can help.

They wouldn't send one ticket for three infractions, they'd send three tickets.

Post exactly what you received and either Dario or I can translate.

If you say that you got those on the autostrada (Freeway) then obviously it’s a speeding ticket. There are no ZTL on the autostrada. You probably exceeded the speed limit in 3 separate segments with the speed tutor system (which calculates the average speed in a segment) or you were caught by 3 separate fixed cameras on the freeway.

If it’s with a Tutor Camera, then you were driving like snail my foot. Those are generally only in 130km/h segments (81mph). The fixed cameras may have been on the divided superstrada where the speed limit is generally 110km/h, or, in some, 90km/h.

The fine for speeding between 10 and 40km/h above the limit is 168€. However if you made that violation at night, between 10pm and 7am, the fine is increased by one third, which comes out to about 224€ each. Not knowing further detail this scenario is my best guess.

You should delete the parts with you personal information.

How long does it take the enforcement officials to issue speeding tickets if caught on a highway camera in Italy? I was there in March 2018 and I am sure I was speeding through several cameras on the highways. I was wondering how long it takes to arrive by mail in the USA if a citation was issued.

leinartjwl,

As I understand it, tickets can take six months to a year to arrive. If you recall speeding through several cameras, there could be tickets on the way.

Disregard advice that tells you not to drive in Europe or Italy.
There is no reason not to. If you are careful, if you follow the signs and laws you should not have any problems...and if you do, pay up and move on.
There are places where having a car is necessary/helpful.
Use public transportation where it makes sense and drive when you need to.
I have driven in Europe for over 40 years and the only ticket I have ever received was for a parking violation...and I knew it when I did it.
I drove in Italy this year without problems and covered most of Umbria and Tuscany...and we went places that we could not have gone with public transportation...literal dirt roads in the hills....we parked when we needed to and walked or used public transportation to and from the car.
We did not use the car in cites like Florence or Rome but we drove through Viturbo, Montepulciano, Orvieto etc....watch the signs.

One key thing: If you're going to drive in Europe, it is absolutely essential to do your homework. There are sections on driving in every decent country guide book to Europe. They are there for a reason. If you rent a car without doing any research, you do not know about things like ZTLs, bus lanes and the like, and you are quite likely to end up with very costly tickets.

Mack mentioned driving on dirt roads. I have never rented a car in Europe so have never read a European rental agreement. However, I have read that documentation for US rentals, and it is pretty much universal that driving on unpaved roads is prohibited. If you go off pavement and have a mechanical problem, you are highly likely to find that, since you were driving in violation of the rental agreement, any insurance coverage you think you have is void.

Are you a city person? Because dirt roads are not exactly uncommon outside of big cities.
Either way I think you may want to re read your rental agreement and then check a dictionary. An unsaved road is still a road and is perfectly fine for driving on in any rental agency in the US I have ever heard of. If you are renting a car that is not allowed on dirt then you may want to find a new rental company.

Driving off road is another thing entirely but dirt roads are still roads.

Heck I encountered a dirt road in France going between two very famous Chateau.

What do dirt roads have to do with speeding tickets on the Autostrada? If this is just notification of charges to your credit card company re charges they made to your card for providing your info to the authorities, then you'll just have to wait for the tickets to arrive.

I am not a lawyer, nor a car-rental-agency employee. I am simply telling you what I read in the tiny print of the rental agreement and was told after I had a disastrous (for the car, not for me) experience on an unpaved road in California.

As noted previously, I was responding to Mack's comment, not the original post.

I stand by my position that driving on an unpaved road in a rental car and assuming you have insurance coverage could be a shockingly costly mistake.

While this doesn't relate to the original question, I can confirm that the comments by acraven are correct, at least with car rental firms in this area. I was considering renting a vehicle to travel into a somewhat remote community and read the "fine print" carefully. Even though the road into that community was a recognized public highway, the rental agreement only said that "driving on unpaved roads was is prohibited". It was rather vague and didn't make any distinction for different road surfaces, such as seal coated roads.