Management fee request from Italian rental company

villa852010

Hi

I went to Italy in 2012 and hired a vehicle.

Whilst in Italy I parked in a restricted zone and received a fine about 6 months later, which I paid.

Now almost three years later I receive the following email asking for more money by the car hire company...

*********************************


Dear Miss/Mr.
in reference to the rental agreement n. *** stipulated with our company on the 22/02/2012, we inform you that, in accordance with the general rental conditions that you signed and accepted, we provide to issue a notice of invoice to your attention for the sum of € 48,80, on the basis of the infraction nr. *****/T/2012, committed on the 23/02/2012 under the COMUNE DI FIRENZE with the vehicle with plate *******.

We remind you that the article 4C and 8 about the “General Rental Terms”, that you signed, establishes a charge of € 40,00 + VAT 22% for administrative management and for the expenses relatives to each report we received as a consequence of the infractions committed during the rental. This amount is clearly indicated in the ‘Special Condition’ on the front page of the contract that you received before you rented the vehicle.

Therefore, we kindly request you to provide with the payment of the amount of € 48,80 within ten days from receipt of this letter, by bank transfer, stating the “report nr. ***/T/2012” in the reason for payment, to the following bank details:

Receiver: Locauto Rent S.p.A.
Bank: Credito Artigiano - Rete commerciale del Credito Valtellinese
IBAN Code: IT48X0521601614000000005066
BIC/SWIFT Code: BPCVIT2S
Beneficiary’s Branch Name: Milano Stelline

As an alternative to the bank transfer, the payment can be done by credit card, replying to our email with the following information:

- full number of the credit card and date of expire

Otherwise we will be forced to the debt recovery, plus legal expenses and interest on late payments (ex D. Lgs. 231/02).
*****************

Can anyone advise if I should ignore it or not?

Coupon-mad

I will bump this thread to suggest you ignore it but see what others say.

Stroma

I would ignore them as I cannot see this going beyond a few letters, its their problem if they didn't take an admin fee almost 3 years ago, they won't go to the expense of trying this in a small claims in britain, and if they did get a debt collector here to chase, they would be powerless to do anything.

The_Deep

I think that you are morally bound to pay it.

SevenTowers

I got a parking ticket in 2011 in Milan, when I returned the hire car I said to the Europcar staff, they told me not to worry about it. They explained I could pay it at a post office and there was one in the airport. I searched the airport high and low but couldn't find a post office or anywhere that I could pay a parking fine, so it never got paid, and I never heard a thing about it.

Coupon-mad

The_Deep wrote: »

I think that you are morally bound to pay it.

He has already paid it - didn't you read the OP?

Whilst in Italy I parked in a restricted zone and received a fine about 6 months later, which I paid.

The_Deep

CM I know it was late, but do try to keep up. He paid the parking fine, he has not paid an administrative charge which the car hire company has just sent to him.

I see that two people have thanked you, I will reserve comment on their comprehension skills for the moment.

Guys_Dad

The_Deep wrote: »

CM, do try to keep up. He paid the parking fine, he has not paid an administrative charge which the car hire company has just sent to him.

I am sure that if the hire company were to take court action, they would probably win - as long as Italian courts don't take the same view on jurisdiction as small claims courts in England. So legally, I would check that out.

Then we come to the moral argument. With depressed incomes in Italy and allowing 1 hour maximum for the hire company dealing with this, is the charge a "moral" amount? I would say No.

So that's both legal and moral arguments covered then.

Job done.

fisherjim

The_Deep wrote: »

CM I know it was late, but do try to keep up. He paid the parking fine, he has not paid an administrative charge which the car hire company has just sent to him.

I see that two people have thanked you, I will reserve comment on their comprehension skills.

Personally I have no interest in your comments or your previous job that you keep going on about thinking everyone should be impressed!

The_Deep

Be that as it may fisherjim, the fact remains that, in thanking CM for her ill-considered post, you indicate to us all that either you did not read the OP, or you did not understand it. Neither reflects well on you

Coupon-mad

DP you are a strange one.