Rented a car in Vienna, and asked about driving it to other countries. Especially since Vienna is cl

Turns out my visit last week coincided with some of the city s worst smog in years. In an effort hotel chandler new york to cut back on pollution, only cars with odd-numbered license plates could drive in the City of Light. Mine had an even number.
But that question — what else do I need to know? — is always a useful one to ask. Additional restrictions may apply, particularly if you re driving overseas. Drivers report being hit with high fines and mysterious tickets, and they don t know whether hotel chandler new york to pay them. There s no easy solution.
Paris is hardly the only city that restricts vehicle traffic. London s $16.50-per-day Congestion Charge affects vehicles operating from 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. If you forget, you ll pay a $214.50 fine, reduced to $107 if paid within hotel chandler new york 14 days, plus an administrative fee if your car rental company handles the transaction.
That s what happened hotel chandler new york to Vanessa Morton, hotel chandler new york a vintner from Dallas, when she drove into the wrong part of London on a recent trip. Five months later, our rental car agency hotel chandler new york sent us a letter advising they had charged our credit card for over $200 in fines, which we discovered hotel chandler new york they were entitled to do under the terms and conditions of the rental agreement, she recalls.
In São Paulo, your car is assigned a day of rest to cut down on traffic. For example, if your plate ends in 1 or 2, you re not allowed to drive in the city limits on Mondays, says Suzanne Garber, who works for a New Brunswick, N.J.-based non-profit hotel chandler new york group. The rules are enforced by cameras, which also catch lead-footed drivers in the act.
Before we go any further, a little hotel chandler new york disclaimer: Most of my columns feature intractable problems and improbable resolutions, thanks to the advocacy work I do on the side. Not this one. I ve never been able to talk my way out of a traffic ticket, let alone someone else s.
But if I could, I would forgive all traffic violations against car rental customers in Italy. hotel chandler new york They are by far the single biggest source of consumer complaints about international car rentals that I receive in my work as a consumer advocate.
For example, Peggy Kroll, an outreach coordinator for a non-profit organization in West Palm Beach, Fla., traveled to northern Italy with three friends in 2012. She was shocked hotel chandler new york when one of her companions, who had rented the car, received two additional bills almost a full year after they d returned the vehicle. The violations, for illegally entering a limited traffic area and for driving in a lane for public transport, didn t make sense to her.
Here s where things get a little fuzzy. Because the notices sometimes aren t in English, it s hard to know who s behind the bill — the municipality or the car rental company. It s also difficult to discern what you re paying — a car rental company processing fee, or the actual ticket, or a combination of both. And then there s the issue of what will happen if you refuse to settle up.
No one knows, says Elizabeth Knight, an American attorney who writes a blog about Rome called RomeIfYouWantTo.com. But I would not risk it if the traveler ever plans on returning to Italy, as fines for those with unpaid tickets can be extraordinary. I have heard of vehicles being confiscated due to unpaid tickets. Imagine being left on the side of the road in Tuscany with your screaming children, having had your rented Fiat confiscated.
I can t. There has to be a better way of handling moving violations for international visitors. At a minimum, motorists should know what laws they ve broken and soon after their trip, not months or years later. And ideally, we should have a clearer idea of what we re paying and our options, including what will happen if we don t.
• Drive defensively. Adopt amore cautious driving style when you re in another country. In many parts of Europe, speed traps are automated with cameras but are easy to avoid if you drive the speed limit.
• Pay the fine. Fighting a traffic ticket from afar is possible but almost never practical. Not paying it at all could land you in serious trouble if you ever return. Besides, you broke the law, even if you didn t know it.
A correction: in São Paulo, the restricted area aren t the city limits, it is something called expanded downtown . It is something like if NYC decides to restrict traffic in Manhattan, but not in Harlem, Queens and Bronx. hotel chandler new york And the restriction isn t for the full day only during hotel chandler new york the morning hotel chandler new york (7 to 10am) and early evening (5 to 8pm). The rest of the day you can drive without problems in the restricted zone.
The black outline in the map shows the city limit; the red area shows the actual restriction zone. The traffic authority is proposing to include hotel chandler new york some avenues outside the expanded downtown to the restriction the red lines show them.
I imagine travelers to the US get hit with traffic hotel chandler new york tickets all the time. The US makes less use of the ISO-standard signage than most countries, making heavy use of US-only English-Language signage hotel chandler new york instead.
I got a ticket in Venice (not the island part, but the mainland part) for driving in a restricted zone. Had no idea, but a year later the ticket came in the mail. I even remember driving on that street, thinking . oh, not much traffic here finally hotel chandler new york a break . Oops. Apparently a sign that has a circle or something indicates the restricted zone. The ticket came in Italian with a not so very good English translation. But it had an email address, so I emailed asking for proof of my infraction. A couple of days later I received an email with a picture of a car, time and date stamped, that looked like the car I had rented. Paid it
Rented a car in Vienna, and asked about driving it to other countries. Especially since Vienna is close to a few borders. Was told it was no problem, hotel chandler new york as long as it wasn t Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, or Hungary. Germany, Switzerland and Italy (all far away) were no problem. I asked why those countries weren t allowed . and the agent told me they steal cars there. So I had to ask, don t cars get stolen in Austria? The answer was Yes, but not as much .
Always try to ask about the driving restrictions at the time I pick up the car. But the traffic laws you just try to do the best you can. I should have know, in Venice, that something was up when there were virtually hotel chandler new york no cars on that part of the road with me.
Using (again) Sao Paulo as example, I don t believe someone not fluent in Portuguese be able to understand the signs. Worst, I didn t find (and I don t recall seeing) any road sign showing what plates aren t allowed in a certain day. Even in Portuguese. Brazilian people outside Sao Paulo are very likely to have problems too.
PS: It s difficult to translate RODIZIO word. It means alternate or rotation of positions (and it is also used to describe hotel chandler new york all you can eat barbecue places with attendants serving meat slices in the nails )
My one driving ticket I ve gotten a few parking ones after a few dozen trips to Italy was last spring in a small town near Bologna. My rental company notified me that a photocop picture had me running a light, which I don t remember but will accept. Hertz charged me 50 euros for researching my info for the police. I have yet to hear from the police hotel chandler new york they may send the citation to me in the U.S. and I understand that could be more than a year from now. I ll pay it when I get it, because I don t want any problems while driving on future hotel chandler new york trips. Italians now track driver license numbers on computers.
One bit of advice: Always rent a vehicle at an off-airport location (this is true for U.S. as well) because the fees are less and the rental can be significantly lower per day. In Palermo, I always pick up the rental office at the end of my stay in that city before driving elsewhere. hotel chandler new york No reason to have one in the city: transportation is good, the traffic is horrible. And, for Americans, make your reservations through your agency mine is Hertz in the U.S. rather than in an office in Italy. Much cheaper. In Italy, basic theft insurance is required. Always buy the recommended level of insurance.
The parking tickets can be handled by paying at any post office in Italy; you don t have to pay them in the town where you got it if you don t want to. And, pay them! Your car-rental company will give the authorities your info, and the Italians will eventually track you down. If you don t pay, your rental company will eventually pay and charge you for it!
I spend my time between Ireland hotel chandler new york (around Dublin) and NJ/NYC so here is what I find works for me . i) The steering wheel is closest hotel chandler new york to the center of the road (useful if you drive to JFK, get off at DUB and have to drive more!) note where that gas stop is near the airport if you choose to refill a rental it will be your best friend on the return ii) if you travel a lot to a country, get your own toll tag (e.g. EZpass (US)/ eToll (IE) tag) saves a lot of grief! iii) If your credit card provides you with primary, check the limits and value you are covered hotel chandler new york for and where (most US Credit Card insurance wont cover you in Ireland. I think they are scare of leprechauns) iv) if you have an accident, admit nothing, photos and call the cops. (112 works all over Europe)
Have gotten three tickets over the last couple of years and none of them had to do with the ISO signage. One was being nailed by a speed camera I missed on the motorway in France. One was on a small road in Germany where I realized too late I was in a town and the speed had dropped from 70 to 50 kph and I again blundered past a speed camera. The third was a simple parking ticket in Trier where we were fifteen minutes hotel chandler new york late to what we had paid for. As I said the signage had nothing to do with it! Speed cameras, on the other hand, but those go after locals and foreigners alike.
found out it was for an unpaid congestion charge in London. Yeah, we had no clue. We have rented cars all over Europe hotel chandler new york and UK previously and never had a ticket or mysterious charge. I find it odd that this particular charge hotel chandler new york is one that popped up particularly since we al