Portugese Toll / worried about credit impact

looknohands

I was in Portugal last month and I hired a car,
Avis asked if I wanted the transponder in the car or if I wanted to pay the toll at post office in person, the transponder was 6 euros a day, and I figured a walk to post office was worth saving 18 euros. I was told toll should reach the post office 2 days from when I passed through the first toll, cool I had 8 days left in Portugal after returning the car.

Afterwards I visited the Post Office with the registration plate (and a photo of the reg plate to make sure it was right) and nothing came in, I visited everyday until the last day of my holiday and nothing came through. (Regret that I didn't pay the 18 euros for the transponder!)

So a toll never turned up whilst I was in Portugal, obviously Avis have all my details.
So if it did come through I'd hope it was forwarded on to me.

I'm worried that this toll is sitting unpaid and I'm going to end up being responsible for it, I'd imagine Portuguese government would send debt collectors for unpaid tolls eventually? The toll days were only last month 24th August.

So my concern is the effect anything like this might have on obtaining credit, as I'm looking at getting a mortgage very soon, has anyone experience with foreign fines. Have heard nothing yet but wondering if I should go back to try and set it straight or something?

GingerBob_3

It will not in any way affect you. I've had hire cars on the Algarve recently. We've paid the tolls at the Post Office, but when you take the car back to Faro Airport there's no way you can pay. A hire company like Avis may well pay the charge for you, but in the past I've used hire car companies that take up-front cash payments, so they never had my CC details. I've never heard anything from the Portuguese authorities, and we've used the toll roads every year since they were introduced - and every year the final payment has gone unpaid.

MisterBaxter

If you use your CC or debit as the deposit on the hire car you will almost certainly have signed a contract that says that the hire company can charge your card for any fees, fines etc. If the toll was sent to the hire company as being unpaid then they will most likely pay it and take the payment from the card you left as a deposit, they may also take and admin fee. I would just keep an eye on your statements for a while to see if the hire company takes another payment.

Even if they do track you down personally it would almost certainly be a case of offering you the opportunity to pay, again most likely with a fine or admin fee attached, but providing you paid that would be the end of it.

I wouldn't worry about it but do make sure to check your statements to see if the hire company take out the money; you don't want to get caught out by an unexpected charge.