Has anyone ever received a notification from "European Municipality Outsourcing" many months after a trip? Is this legitimate? "Vehicle crossed a limited hours area outside of authorized hours." The date and city match, but this outsourcing company wants just over 100 Euro. They sent a photo which matches the license of the rental car, but the rest is totally black. How can I find out if this is a scam, and someone just took a photo of the car in a parking lot, or if it's legit? - Carol
Posted by
Nottingham, UK
658 posts
Contact the car rental company. They know what is a legitimate violation and what is a scam and will be able to give guidance on this issue. I'm suspicious of this. Normally the authorities contact the rental company ( because the rental company is the vehicle owner ) and the rental company contacts you ( because you were the driver ) and asks permission to debit your credit card for a traffic violation.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
EMO is a private Italian collection company that according to the German and Austrian Automobile Clubs is legal and authorized. European legislation says the payment of EMO notifications will only be enforced outside of Italy (but within the EU, by local police) if the amount of the bill exceeds €70. There is no enforcement outside of the EU. However, Italian authorities can make you pay the fee plus interest next time you enter the country, rent a car or whatever...
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
Carol, did you get a "certified" or "registered" letter"?
Consumer Unions in Italy will tell you that any letter that you have not received as "registered mail" can be ignored.
If not, I would toss the ticket.
You may receive lots of advice saying that something horrible will happen to you, but I doubt that one person can relate a TRUE story saying that they had to pay the next time they went to Italy, or that the rental car company had debited their account for the ticket.
My brother got a notice that he had been caught in a photo radar trap when he was in Italy. It was not a registerd letter, so he tossed it.
When he went back and rented again he had no problems, either with the rental agency or any police dept.
Posted by
gaston, oregon, usa
842 posts
Carol, here are some posts that were on Trip Advisor. They are both very interesting!
Especially the one with the people that went back to Italy in an attempt to take care of their ticket.
http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187791-i22-k280553-o10-Traffic_Ticket-Rome_Lazio.html
Posted by
Baltimore
104 posts
Check out the "To the Boot - Italy" helpline site. There is a recent thread where a bunch of people also received something similar saying they didn't pay a toll while in Italy.
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
I would be concerned about the ticket only if they had access to my credit card account.