How to pay fine?

[Petri]

We got a speeding fine from New Zealand and we received a nice letter with instructions how to pay it from abroad online.

Now we got a fine from Italy, the copy is not very readable but we probably drove through or parked in a restricted zone in Sienna. Europcar charged 48e for their efforts but the fine itself doesn't have anything about payment but the sum, 86.10e. Only 48e has been charged on the CC yet.

Does anyone know if they'll send a payment notification later or how do the fines work in Italy? Or should we just delegate the problem to our little friend, "Honest Luigi" ?

 

[andynap]

You didn't get fined your rental car did and the agency will charge you what the fine is. I would wait for them. I got a parking ticket in Brazil which didn't get to me for 9 months- it went to Sri Lanka first. LOL.. I paid the rental car directly.

 

[Petri]

I'm not sure ignorance will work as we're within EU..

I found a pretty detailed web site from http://www.bella-toscana.com/traffic_violations_italy.htm

"4) In Italy, the authorities have up to one year after they have obtained the offender's details to issue a traffic ticket to an offender in a foreign country (unlike in Germany, for example, where there is a three month limit). Italian bureaucracy being what it is, the ticket usually does take a year or more to arrive. The first notice will be a "friendly" letter that arrives unregistered. The second notice will be registered."

I believe that's where we are now. Europcar has given our details to the local police and charged 48 € for it.

"It is possible that some car rental agreements might allow the rental company to pay the fine and charge your card for the fine, but this is usually not the case - see the example below - and indeed might never be the case.

Example: the Europcar contract General Conditions number 3 states: " The client undertakes:
c) to directly arrange to pay any fines raised against the hired vehicle during the period of the rental and to refund the Lessor any costs incurred in this respect, in addition to any payments made by the Lessor and the administrative charges quantified in the information sheets available at rental offices." This suggests fairly clearly that at least in this case the car rental company will not charge your card for the fine, only for the administrative charges. READ YOUR CONTRACT if you receive a fine - there seems to be no clear cut rule here. If you are sure the car rental company will not pay and you live outside of the EU, there's not much the Italian municipalities can do about an unpaid fine."

Which means that Europcar (in our case, too) will not charge our card for the fine.

"If you are back home and the dreaded registered letter arrives, EU residents and anyone living in a country where IBAN numbers are used can login to their bank account and pay directly to the bank account given in the citation."

.. so I guess we'll receive the actual fine with the bank details later. The IBAN bank transfer is free to us, just like a local bank transfer.

We'll keep waiting ;-)

 

[Erma]

We got a speeding fine from New Zealand ....
Now we got a fine from Italy

Are we seeing a trend here kids? :blush:

Heck, I can't believe you didn't use the excuse of "we have to go back to New Zealand to pay our ticket" for the next trip

Take care, Erma

 

[Petri]

We got a speeding fine from New Zealand ....
Now we got a fine from Italy

Are we seeing a trend here kids? :blush:

I have a good excuse -- it's not me driving ;-)

Heck, I can't believe you didn't use the excuse of "we have to go back to New Zealand to pay our ticket" for the next trip

I have much better excuse for a new trip, "invitation to apply for a residence". I've been checking RTW ticket prices from Sweden and Poland, and played a few times with Mileage Monkey for a suitable flight path.. and Air New Zealand has promised to comp our frequent flyer status ;-)

Two friends are down there at the moment.

 

[Erma]

I have much better excuse for a new trip, "invitation to apply for a residence"

I wondered if you and Laura were still pursuing that avenue. I am thrilled for you both! Will you keep us in the loop? I think it would be most interesting to follow the process.

I loved New Caledonia but Randy preferred New Zealand. It was duly noted on our trip that both IBM and Schindler had an office in NZ

 

[Petri]

I wondered if you and Laura were still pursuing that avenue. I am thrilled for you both! Will you keep us in the loop? I think it would be most interesting to follow the process.

Yes we are.. we'll see how long it takes but we're working on it. To boldly go pretty far away.

There was an excellent expat writing on Financial Times in July and the guy on the article was so right. Here's a copy: http://www.waterside.fi/Kiwi-FT.jpg
"I should have been born here", he says -- we called it the mother country.

Luckily we don't need or miss pub culture. The medical check we need to do asks if we drink alcohol and if yes, what do we drink -- for the last 6 months we've been drinking pretty much every New Zealand white wine one can get here

Immigration that doesn't look all the stamps in your passport with suspicion but asks which country you liked the best -- and welcomes you to enjoy their country.

 

[Petri]

Haha, we just got another 48 eur charge from Europcar!

First I thought they're double charging but this is for a violation on 29th May at 11:26 in Pisa. That's our lunch break in Pisa on our arrival day.

The other 48 eur charge was for violation on 1st June at 12:23. That was in Sienna.

Laura is such a unlawful driver ;-)

I'm really amazed by the italian parking control! Not that they're very fast to fine as these happened in May/June but how fast they've found our car!

 

[Petri]

INFRINGEMENTS OF THE ITALIAN HIGHWAY CODE

Nature of offence: Circulating in restricted zone without authorisation.

119 €

Within 60 day of the serving of the present infringement notice, the lessee or the owner of the vehicle may instead submit an appeal to one of the following bodies:

to the Prefect or Provincial Governor (Prefetto) of Pisa, submitting it to the Municipal Police Station (Comando Polizia Municipale), or sending it by registered mail with proof of delivery directly to the Prefettura di Pisa;

to the Justice of Peace (Giudice di Pace) of Pisa, filing it with the clerk of the Court, or sending it by registered mail with proof of delivery directly to the Giudice di Pace.

The appeal should be sent in Italian language.


This must one of the very few, or perhaps the only one working thing in Italy.
I have yet to see an italian document (or anything italian) in english this good.
As long as Italy has tourists, they country will not go bankruptcy.