Europcar and traffic violation fee

adonis10

5 months after hiring a car in Italy europcar decide to charge my credit card €45 for an 'admin fee' relating to an alleged traffic violation in Italy. They gave me no prior warning, just took the money. At first I had no clue so flagged it as fraud to my bank, asked europcar and they told me what it was for. I'm furious. Can they legally just take money without telling me? They've said that the Italian authorities will be in touch about the offence, really?

Anyone experienced anything similar? What are my rights?

richardw

They are there to provide cars for rental, not administer traffic violations.
It's in the small print of the rental agreement.

45 euros is a bit high though.

adonis10

Yeah. Well the bank are investigating and I'm challenging it with Europcar. It's not like that's the only fine, they reckon that Italian authorities will be I touch. Twice for the same 'offence'.

WTFH

Sounds a bit like this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4859148

benjus

It's a standard clause to charge you for the admin involved in passing your details on to the Italian authorities. Last time I thought I might be charged for a violation (hired in my name, but another named driver accidentally entered one of the Italian limited traffic zones) I cancelled my card after the car hire firm had released the pre-authorised block. I decided that even if I did have to pay the fee, they could come and ask me for it rather than just helping themselves to it (in the event nothing happened).

I think the Italian authorities are quite active in pursuing foreigners who have committed traffic offences.

adonis10

benjus wrote: »

It's a standard clause to charge you for the admin involved in passing your details on to the Italian authorities. Last time I thought I might be charged for a violation (hired in my name, but another named driver accidentally entered one of the Italian limited traffic zones) I cancelled my card after the car hire firm had released the pre-authorised block. I decided that even if I did have to pay the fee, they could come and ask me for it rather than just helping themselves to it (in the event nothing happened).

I think the Italian authorities are quite active in pursuing foreigners who have committed traffic offences.

€45 to pass over some details - disgrace. Profit making scheme. Well they didn't even tell me they were taking it so I flagged it as fraud. I'm not paying it.

Oh really? It's been 5 months since the alleged incident. Guess ill hear in due course. It's pathetic, europcar don't even tell you what the incident is.

WTFH

adonis10 wrote: »

€45 to pass over some details - disgrace. Profit making scheme. Well they didn't even tell me they were taking it so I flagged it as fraud. I'm not paying it.

Oh really? It's been 5 months since the alleged incident. Guess ill hear in due course. It's pathetic, europcar don't even tell you what the incident is.

Well, what do they have to do...
First, they get the fine.
Next they have to check the date of the fine and the car reg that is on it
Then they have to look up who the car was rented to
Then they have to dig up your card details.

It's not a 5 second job.

As for it being 5 months, in Italy it can take up to a year for the police to process a fine. It's not pathetic, it's not a disgrace, it's not Europcar's fault.

adonis10

WTFH wrote: »

Well, what do they have to do...
First, they get the fine.
Next they have to check the date of the fine and the car reg that is on it
Then they have to look up who the car was rented to
Then they have to dig up your card details.

It's not a 5 second job.

As for it being 5 months, in Italy it can take up to a year for the police to process a fine. It's not pathetic, it's not a disgrace, it's not Europcar's fault.

Typing in the car reg and date takes how long?
There's only one car with that reg so that computer search would take seconds and my details would come up, presumably with card details and they'd enter the fine and click "take payment", 5 min max. €45 for that. Nonsense.

Up to a year? Well, that seems pathetic to me. Hear about it within weeks over here.

WTFH

You may want to write to the Italian consulate to explain that you think their police force is pathetic.

adonis10

WTFH wrote: »

You may want to write to the Italian consulate to explain that you think their police force is pathetic.

I shall await details of the offence and go from there.

Sorry I've deeply offended you by being angry that a company have taken money without authorisation.

spacey2012

Where people have LBCCA them for illicit penalty charge they have refunded.