I've had a strange problem twice now with Avis rental cars in Valladolid, Spain. There was a discussion in this forum of a similar problem in Florence, Italy but it's been closed due to inactivity (the topic, not Florence!) 3 years ago I rented a car in Valladolid for a week. Several months later I got a letter from Avis saying I owed them a $44 service fee because I had gotten a ticket from the local police. I'm a slow, careful driver and had no idea what it could have been for. They said I would get the actual ticket directly from the police and Avis could not tell me any details. I waited the year that they have to "get" me and I never got the ticket. I never found out what it was for or if there really was one at all. So now, in August 2016 I rented a car from the same office in Valladolid. This week, in late December, I got another one of those letters from Avis/Spain saying the same thing. This time they went ahead and charged my credit card without asking. (Can they do that?) I realize there may be fine print in the contract letting Avis so this, but I don't want to pay their fee before I really get a ticket. I'm going to talk with my credit card bank again but I'd like to know if others have had this happen. I go to that area of Spain almost every summer and have to get a rental car, but I don't want to be worrying that I'm going to get these phantom tickets every time I drive there. At that location, Avis seems to be the only game in town, but maybe I could do better renting from a local Spanish company. I like being able to call an American Avis operator to make the reservation and pay ahead to get a good rate. The fact that this has happened twice to me is a red flag. Would appreciate any advice or comments. Traveler in Pittsburgh PA
Posted by
S.F. Bay Area, CA, United States
1878 posts
You have still never gotten the ticket? That's odd. After being on this board for several years, it's very common to get tickets from overseas and routine to get charged a service fee by the rental car company. I have heard of it taking years to get the ticket, you would think it would be soon after the rental car company service fee. It might not be speeding, could be driving in a bus lane or driving into a restricted urban zone (called ZTL in Italy, not sure about Spain). I don't think renting from a local company is going to get you off the hook net time though. The seemingly rampant ticketing, while I am sure it is totally within the law, makes we want to avoid driving in Europe if possible.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
The fee from the credit card company is for their complying with the law to provide your info to the police. It's probably in your rental agreement.
You must have driven in a restricted zone, or lane, or exceeded the speed limit.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10623 posts
We're the world's slowest drivers and even we got a ticket this year--the first one after forty years of driving in Europe. There are cameras and radar everywhere, and according to statistics, Europeans are driving more slowly.
Wait a little longer and your second ticket will arrive. I would check on the first one though. Be sure Avis had your correct address. No, the rental companies don't know what the infraction is, they are just called upon to furnish the info. I don't blame you for not wanting to pay Avis, but normally the ticket shows up sooner or later.
The only ticket mistake I ever had was here in the States, and it was the fault of the University campus police where I worked who had given the wrong information.
If you want a middleman company, you can also rent through autoeurope.com, a consolidator with offices in the States, too.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8319 posts
I also received the $44 charge on my credit card and just under a year later the ticket came in by certified mail from the City of Venice. Yep, the time on the ticket corresponded with the time I drove over the causeway to Venice. And that radar camera gives no leeway--as I was 1.2 mph over the ridiculously low 35 mph speed limit.
What gets most people is that the cities want to be paid in Euros wire transferred to their checking account. You have to go through a European bill pay company which charges your U.S. credit card for the violation and a small service fee.
The car rental company is not billing you for some charge fraudulently. The charge is for their time looking up the license number and providing the renter info to the cities. It doesn't matter whether you're going through Hertz, Avis or some local mom and pop car rental company.
If the ticket comes in after 1 year, I wouldn't consider paying it. Under a year, I'll pay'em.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
...You have still never gotten the ticket? That's odd. ....
That is not odd. The police or ticketing agency just recognizes the difficulty of collecting from a foreign visitor so they just don't pursue it. But they do not know that until they get the information from the rental agency and the rental agency is simply charging you for providing that information. (Somewhere in the fine print of the rental agreement you agree to the fee and the procedure.) From our experience it appears that Italy is the one country that is very aggressive on collection traffic violation fines and go after everyone - no exception. Other countries don't. You just need to be very careful with where your drive in addition to your speed.
Posted by
Portland
3643 posts
In 2015, we traveled in Puglia, with a rental car. Some months later, I received 2 notices of infractions, from the rental company, one for a ztl violation, the other for running a red light. We were in that town, on that date, so I assume I "did the crime." The red light citation came with instructions on payment methods, which included a credit card option. Easily taken care of. The second citation has not yet arrived, 17 months later. A friend to whom I mentioned this, said he had gotten a cc notification 3 years ago, and still had no citation. Maybe, as someone said above, some jurisdictions don't bother to pursue foreigners for some kinds of infractions. Or, whatever.
As to not paying the cc company for ratting you out, lots of luck with that.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16055 posts
Not sure about Spain, but in Italy these are the rules:
The authorities have 90 days to notify the owner of the vehicle (in your case the rental company).
For rental cars, the rental company has 60 days from the above notification to communicate to the authorities the name of the person (the renter) who was driving the vehicle at the time of the recorded infraction.
Once the authorities receive communication of the actual driver from the rental company, the authorities have:
- 90 days to notify the driver of the rental vehicle, if the driver resides in Italy.
-360 days to notify the driver of the rental vehicle, if the renter resides outside of Italy.
If the above time limits have passed, the fine is null and void.
So, technically, a fine could be notified to you after 510 days (90+60+360) from the day you committed the infraction with the rental car.
The rental car company will likely charge your credit card for providing the authorities with your info. A charge of $44 (about 40 euro) sounds about right.
If it were in Italy, the authorities would have an additional 360 days after receiving the info from the rental car company to notify you directly.
However some jurisdictions may decide that it is not worthwhile to pursue a driver who resides across the ocean, since they would be unable to enforce the payment, if you decided not to pay. Hence the reason why you never received the actual fine from the authorities.
I don't think you can get away from the rental car charge to your credit card however. That is clearly stated in any rental contract I've seen when renting a car in Europe.