Hire car motoring offence in Italy.

Rappey69

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
1,893
Reaction score
388
Location
hants
Your Mercedes
c220 w204 amg sport
I hired a car in italy back in august.
Yesterday i get a letter from the rental company telling me

"following the mandatory communication of your data relating to the committed violation you will also receive the relative fine notice including the administrative sanction directly from the authorities, conforming to procedures and terms established by italian law! "
:shock:
Err, ok, what "violation" ? the hire company have also taken another £30 from my credit card to send me the letter ???

anyone else had experience with this?
 

paul hayward

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
1,526
Reaction score
3
Your Mercedes
all MB sold..V70R now ;-)
I hired a car in italy back in august.
Yesterday i get a letter from the rental company telling me

"following the mandatory communication of your data relating to the committed violation you will also receive the relative fine notice including the administrative sanction directly from the authorities, conforming to procedures and terms established by italian law! "
:shock:
Err, ok, what "violation" ? the hire company have also taken another £30 from my credit card to send me the letter ???

anyone else had experience with this?



You been ragging the hell out of a hire car again;)...i brought a reno years back..told one owner and it came through on the reg doc as Avic car hire:lol:

£30 for a letter seems pretty steep to me!!!....no idea as never been caught ( abroad:lol:) ...but hope you can get it sorted without too many more £30 letters!!

Good luck...Fingers crossed!!...and dont WORRY...worse things happen at sea;)
 
OP
Rappey69

Rappey69

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
1,893
Reaction score
388
Location
hants
Your Mercedes
c220 w204 amg sport
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
I had the misfortune to hire a smart car (sorry to smart car owners) so dont think i was capable of speading !:lol:
 

Devonian

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
413
Reaction score
3
yes I've had this kind of thing a few times, you've most probably got a parking ticket, sometimes they turn up months after the event, the problem is they will just take fines and costs directly from your card !
 
Last edited:

d215yq

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2008
Messages
2,664
Reaction score
702
Age
39
Location
Valencia, Spain
Your Mercedes
1987 W124 300D 280k miles
Not happened to me but in every rental agreement I've seen they say that by law they need to pass on fines to you and will charge an admin fee to do so (it's not so much the sending you a letter but sending your licence details to the police as well that they have to do).

As I never buy the damage waiver i make sure i can sign to say there is no damage before leaving and you can discharge that but there is no time limit on when the fines, etc (and appropriate admin fee) can be charged directly to the card.

I suppose if you knew you got done you could report the card missing to your card company immediately and get a new one as that's the only way to stop it, and even then they maybe able to legally harass you for it anyway.
 

JEZ.S320L

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2007
Messages
2,804
Reaction score
4
Location
Costa Calida, Spain
Website
www.latorreonline.es
Your Mercedes
Lincoln Navigator and a S320L Business Edition
I hired a car in italy back in august.
Yesterday i get a letter from the rental company telling me

"following the mandatory communication of your data relating to the committed violation you will also receive the relative fine notice including the administrative sanction directly from the authorities, conforming to procedures and terms established by italian law! "
:shock:
Err, ok, what "violation" ? the hire company have also taken another £30 from my credit card to send me the letter ???

anyone else had experience with this?

The solution is quite simple.

Take the matter up with your Credit Card company immediately and raise a dispute with them against the unauthorized charge. They will investigate and - all being well -will reimburse you accordingly.
Fortunately it is the Banks money, not yours :p
 
Last edited:
OP
Rappey69

Rappey69

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
1,893
Reaction score
388
Location
hants
Your Mercedes
c220 w204 amg sport
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
As d215yq states, it is in the rental agreement that they can charge your card after the rental is finished with fines and things :(
Guess ive just got to wait and see what turns up and how much the fine is.
From reading online it seems it has to state the offence(s) and be in a language the recipient can understand.
 

Devonian

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
413
Reaction score
3
The solution is quite simple.

Take the matter up with your Credit Card company immediately and raise a dispute with them against the unauthorized charge. They will investigate and - all being well -will reimburse you accordingly.
Fortunately it is the Banks money, not yours :p

the thing is Jez it is not an unauthorized charge as the hirer will almost certainly have signed authorisation for company to debit his card
 

cleverdicky

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2009
Messages
2,385
Reaction score
2
Your Mercedes
MB
Blimey, that could go on for ever. Another clever legal scam. Or is there a time limit they have to issue any penalties by ?
So what if you dont have a credit card to hire a car with next time? ;)
 
C

clegsr

Guest
ZTL Italy?

I had several of these a few years ago in italy.

Most of them were for driving in ZTL's or the Italian equivalent of the Congestion Zone. The problem is that they are poorly signposted and you cannot buy an exemption (unless you are actually staying within the zone).

Were you in Florence or Pisa ? -both have ZTL's

The authorities can send you these fines up to 365 days afterwards and the Hire car company charges you to supply the information to the authorities - the actual fine ( usually over 100 Euros, will come later).

If by chance you have lost your credit card then you could advise your card company and cancel the card which may have the unfortunate result of preventing your hire company from debiting you the additional charges.
 

d215yq

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2008
Messages
2,664
Reaction score
702
Age
39
Location
Valencia, Spain
Your Mercedes
1987 W124 300D 280k miles
The trouble is the credit card companies don't actually give a damn, you signed the agreement to pay. If you cancel the card they won't fine you directly but may still chase you. In my own car I was caught in Norway going through toll areas without paying and they re-issued it to a debt collection company gettign the address from the DVLA. I wouldn't have paid but as the car was in my mum's name she insisted so don't know if they's have just gone away had I ignored it.

As for hiring a car without signing an agreement for being liable for anything and without a credit card, good luck with finding someone who'll do that! It is worth noting that the liabilities on the insurance of the cars are far reaching too. I hired a W212 in Italy/France and we paid to wave the €800 excess but when you read the terms and conditions if you were even slightly over the drink drive limit or more than 40km/h over the speed limit the comprehensive insurance was invalid and I'd have had to pay €35k for the new car if I'd totalled the car if crashed under such conditions. Given many straight B roads were 70kph/40mph limit and the drink drive limit is lower it would be entirely possible for many to have such a huge bill if the worst came to the worst, particularly as there seems to be a misconceived perception that speeding is more normal abroad and tolerated.

I find speeding/misdemeanours/parking fines are hugely more on the continent than in the UK and the police, whilst sometimes blatantly turning a blind eye/not being bothered, can sometimes be very hard if they want to be. IMO it's also necessary to drive slower off motorways/in busy areas on the continent because of the more laissez faire approach to indicating, random stopping, close overtakes and many weaving motorbikes. These factors make an adaptable (and hence lower speed approach) more necessary.
 
C

clegsr

Guest
They wont charge your credit card for the fine, only for their costs incurred in advising the police of your details.

I successfully appealed some of the fines as they were issued more than 365 days after the hire car company had informed the authorities of my details (which is when the 365 day clock starts)

Can you imagine what it would be like here in the UK if they were allowed to issued speeding tickets a year later? - who can remember who was driving 12 months later?
 
OP
Rappey69

Rappey69

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
1,893
Reaction score
388
Location
hants
Your Mercedes
c220 w204 amg sport
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #13
I have a nasty feeling it will be speed cameras as i didnt stray into any citys, other than pisa airport and the nearest petrol station.
those autovelux cameras, didnt know what they were until i had covered some 1000 miles :(
 

You lost your key ? Or maybe you need a spare! Your vehicle imobilliser does not respond anymore? WE CAN FIX THEM ALL !! Mobile ! Save Time and Increase Profits With us !
Top Bottom