Italian speeding fine. Options

[the_fury_2000]

Hi

Just today received a speeding ticket from Italy
I was on holiday in a Hertz rental.
It was September so I obviously cant remember the event but I was the only one driving the car.

Fine is a little hefty ! €185 (the cheaper fine is within 5 days of the notice which is dated 28/3/19 annoyingly )

Theres no evidence of the speeding. Just this letter sent by the Italian police.
It was a signed for letter that my wife signed

Whats the Advice for this ?

I've read slightly conflicting views on other posts.

I'm not planning to go back to Italy for a number of years if that makes a difference. ??

Thanks in advance

http://imgur.com/a/UrMcBWt

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[Incandescent]

My advice is not to hire a car in Italy ! Drive there in your own car, it only takes a couple of days.

[the_fury_2000]

Anyone able to help??

[Glacier2]

I would ignore it.

[L.Saroyan]

There's only really two options. Pay up while it's cheap to do so, or ignore it.
It is in theory possible for them to recover the money via legal means but it is exceedingly rare for this to happen, the only cases on these forums of it happening involved German authorities.
The favourite excuse used to be that they had to inform you in English or it wasn't valid. They have already done that without any missteps.

If you do nothing it's not likely they will try to get money off you at the border. With the whole leaving the EU malarkey it probably isn't going to get easier for them to recover the money.

You have signed for the letter, so they will probably know it arrived. If you do nothing, do expect to get more.

[cp8759]

I would ignore it. There is a mechanism that is never used, which in theory allows them to pursue this via your local magistrates court. However as the money would go to the magistrates court, rather than back to Italy, they won't bother.

[numb15]

If you ignore it you might run in to a couple of things you should be aware of:

- you might be 'black-listed' by Hertz not just in Italy, but anywhere else (particularly in Europe) and they could refuse to rent to you until you pay up

- Hertz will probably try to charge your card on file if you don't pay.

- If Hertz have tried to take payment from your card but it got declined perhaps because you cancelled it or don't have sufficient funds, they will be 110% certain to pass this debt on to a UK based debt collection agency. Cross-border purchase of debts by debt collection agencies is common, happened to me with a fine I had in Switzerland. If you think you are comfortable with dodging possible bailiffs in the future you can take that risk. I don't know if/how this will impact your credit rating, but it possibly won't.

[Glacier2]

If you ignore it you might run in to a couple of things you should be aware of:

- you might be 'black-listed' by Hertz not just in Italy, but anywhere else (particularly in Europe) and they could refuse to rent to you until you pay up

- Hertz will probably try to charge your card on file if you don't pay.

- If Hertz have tried to take payment from your card but it got declined perhaps because you cancelled it or don't have sufficient funds, they will be 110% certain to pass this debt on to a UK based debt collection agency. Cross-border purchase of debts by debt collection agencies is common, happened to me with a fine I had in Switzerland. If you think you are comfortable with dodging possible bailiffs in the future you can take that risk. I don't know if/how this will impact your credit rating, but it possibly won't.

None of the above will happen.

Hertz have discharged their liability for the notice. They don't care what happens once they hand over your details to the police. If you fail to pay the demand it won't revert to Hertz. There is nothing to worry about in that regard.

[numb15]

If you ignore it you might run in to a couple of things you should be aware of:

- you might be 'black-listed' by Hertz not just in Italy, but anywhere else (particularly in Europe) and they could refuse to rent to you until you pay up

- Hertz will probably try to charge your card on file if you don't pay.

- If Hertz have tried to take payment from your card but it got declined perhaps because you cancelled it or don't have sufficient funds, they will be 110% certain to pass this debt on to a UK based debt collection agency. Cross-border purchase of debts by debt collection agencies is common, happened to me with a fine I had in Switzerland. If you think you are comfortable with dodging possible bailiffs in the future you can take that risk. I don't know if/how this will impact your credit rating, but it possibly won't.

None of the above will happen.

Hertz have discharged their liability for the notice. They don't care what happens once they hand over your details to the police. If you fail to pay the demand it won't revert to Hertz. There is nothing to worry about in that regard.

From Hertz's own website in their terms and conditions: "It is however possible that Authorities, by lack of mandatory information, require Hertz to pay for the traffic fine. In that case, Hertz will charge the amount of the traffic fine + an administration fee." In some countries, such as Belgium, the law requires car rental companies to pay the fine as well as the admin charge up front out of the customer's card. In others, such as Switzerland, they will stop you at the border upon re-entry for non-payment. Italy may be more relaxed. Either way, if you advocate people ignoring fines from abroad, hopefully you're equally comfortable with foreign drivers in the UK ignoring fines from the authorities here.

[Glacier2]

My personal opinion is neither here or there.

I am just calling you out on your scaremongering.

[Churchmouse]

From Hertz's own website in their terms and conditions: "It is however possible that Authorities, by lack of mandatory information, require Hertz to pay for the traffic fine. In that case, Hertz will charge the amount of the traffic fine + an administration fee."

By that language, if Hertz has the driver's (well, the hirer's) "mandatory information", they will pass it on to the authorities, thus discharging their liability, and thus would have no grounds for paying the traffic fine or passing that charge on to the hirer. That appears to have happened in this case. In any event, even if that were to happen, it means that the traffic fine would have been paid, so the only remaining issue would be between the hirer and Hertz, regarding payment.

--Churchmouse

[Glacier2]

Agreed!

[cp8759]

Either way, if you advocate people ignoring fines from abroad, hopefully you're equally comfortable with foreign drivers in the UK ignoring fines from the authorities here.

The police in this country will not, as a general rule, pursue foreign drivers, unless they are physically stopped by an officer (in which case a roadside deposit can be taken). I'm sure very serious offences would be pursued, but for your run of the mill speeding, red lights etc... it also goes into the can't be bothered too much hassle "not in the public interest" pile