Traffic tickets in Italy

You will eventually get your traffic ticket(s) in the mail from the Italian authorities. By Italian law, they have up to a year to notify you of a violation. Hertz is charging you an "administrative fee" for providing your contact information to the Italian authorities. They are NOT paying your fines for you. When you receive your ticket(s), they will include instructions for paying your fine(s) online. You probably got nabbed by a speed camera or a ZTL camera (parking in a forbidden zone). If you still have your Hertz rental agreement, you'll see in the fine print that you authorized them to charge these fees to you.

Good to get the information! I had imagined that the fine print would play a role here, and it's particularly helpful to know that the charges from Hertz are separate from the actual ticket fine, and that we will receive that at some future date. These are likely appropriate charges -- and it's easier to send the check now that we understand the situation more. Many thanks.

Jessica: did you drive in Florence?

Tom, "ZTL camera (parking in a forbidden zone)" Just to clarify, Zona Traffico Limitato violations are issued for driving through restricted traffic areas (ie: city centres during specific hours), rather than for parking. Automated Cameras capture the vehicle license and other details, and provide a "stamp" for time and date. Parking tickets are another issue.

As Ken mentioned, a very common traffic violation is to drive in a restricted traffic zone. For example, if you entered within the old city walls in Lucca, you would have incurred a fine. You probably were none the wiser, as you saw other cars circulate (with the correct sticker)...

Just FYI regarding speeding and other tickets in the EU now. I can't say that you should just pay everything (I'm AAA has some sketchy fees attached), make be certain the ticket does get paid to the right people. Unpaid speeding/other tickets are now being attached to your passport and in the future, you could be denied entry into the EU due to unpaid fines.

Neko: "Unpaid speeding/other tickets are now being attached to your passport and in the future, you could be denied entry into the EU due to unpaid fines." Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think this is true unless an arrest warrant has been issued - an extremely unlikely circumstance. If I am wrong, please cite a reference confirming what you're saying.

No problem, I found a website that explains it a bit. Basically, the government won't hunt you down in the US for a measly speeding ticket, but it goes a little something like this..... You return to Italy (or Germany, France, etc.) where you get to customs, they scan your passport and up pops a note that you owe 100Euro (or however much) to the government of X country for a violation. This is the part that is sketchy right now; can you just pay the customs guy (doubtful) or promise to pay it later? Will the customs guy tell you you're denied entry and that's too bad, so sad? This probably depends on the country and the violation/amount. With the future implementation of the EUCARIS, though, I would ensure the fine is paid so you aren't hassled going through customs in the future. https://www.eucaris.net/index.php
https://www.eucaris.net/participation.php

Kathy: I read the Eucaris website that you cited and I could not find anyplace where it stated that traffic violation information will be "attached" to the passport of a non-EU citizen, nor could I find anyplace where it stated that non-EU citizens can or will be denied entry into an EU country because of unpaid traffic fines. It looks to me like Eucaris is an online system which will allow a European police officer or other official to instantly check the validity of a drivers license or vehicle registration from a different European country. It is an electronic cross-border information-sharing system. I also note that it's been in existence since 1994. It was initially put in place because of the high number of stolen vehicles being brought into western Europe from central and eastern Europe. The United States does not participate in the system. Correct me if I'm wrong!

"The United States does not participate in the system." This is the operative portion of this thread. Folks, I know most of you mean well, but it is the opposite of helpful when conjecture and shall I say wishful thinking are promoted as facts. In my opinion (not a fact...see how that works?) individual Italian municipalities will gather themselves to enforce their redolent ZTL enforcement schemes, as a famous European person once said, "when shrimps learn to whistle."

Neil, Tom, thanks for adding your perspectives!