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Speed fine Switzerland - german rental

bonosmate · 2015-10-26 15:53:55

hi, i ve got 2 speed fines from switzerland..one local authority, the other a fixed police camera. I had rented a car in switzerland so the swiz authorities have goten my irish address from the rental company. I don't live in this irish address anymore that i gave the rental company but the present residents have contacted…

26-10-2015 03:53PM

#1

bonosmate

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hi, i ve got 2 speed fines from switzerland..one local authority, the other a fixed police camera. I had rented a car in switzerland so the swiz authorities have goten my irish address from the rental company. I don't live in this irish address anymore that i gave the rental company but the present residents have contacted me re - the 2 letters. What should i do...pay up or ignore them?. I dont think i'll be back in switzerland anytime soon. Thanks for your advice in advance.

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#2 26-10-2015 03:58PM

wonski

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bonosmate wrote: »

hi, i ve got 2 speed fines from switzerland..one local authority, the other a fixed police camera. I had rented a car in switzerland so the swiz authorities have goten my irish address from the rental company. I don't live in this irish address anymore that i gave the rental company but the present residents have contacted me re - the 2 letters. What should i do...pay up or ignore them?. I dont think i'll be back in switzerland anytime soon. Thanks for your advice in advance.

They will very likely charge your credit card if you don't pay.

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#3 26-10-2015 04:06PM

bonosmate

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why have they not charged my credit card straight up?

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#4 26-10-2015 04:09PM

MarkAnthony

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bonosmate wrote: »

why have they not charged my credit card straight up?

Some don't. Enterprise France were nice enough to let me pay the fine €45. Enterprise UK pay the fine and charge you an admin fee.

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#5 26-10-2015 04:12PM

wonski

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bonosmate wrote: »

why have they not charged my credit card straight up?

Maybe they already did.

Or maybe they would do it when the fines remain unpaid for a specified amount of time.

I don't know what arrangements are in Switzerland regarding unpaid fines and rental companies, but my friend's card was charged by Italian rental company very quickly and without a warning.

He got a letter weeks later with breakdown of charges.

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#6 26-10-2015 04:38PM

bonosmate

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let me cancel my CC in that case!!

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#7 26-10-2015 05:01PM

Valetta

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bonosmate wrote: »

let me cancel my CC in that case!!

Why not just pay the fines and clear your conscience ?

Also, not sure of the relevance of "German rental" in the thread title?

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#8 26-10-2015 05:03PM

MarkAnthony

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The card would still be charged. Rental companies can charge closed cards and override the credit limit. It's why many require a credit card and won't accept debit cards.

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#9 26-10-2015 07:45PM

Fred Swanson

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This post has been deleted.

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#10 26-10-2015 10:32PM

BuffyBot

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bonosmate wrote: »

let me cancel my CC in that case!!

You're still liable for legitimate charges prior to account closure.

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#11 26-10-2015 10:52PM

CiniO

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bonosmate wrote: »

why have they not charged my credit card straight up?

Because it's the rental company. They don't issue the fines, so they are not going to (probably they even couldn't) pay your fine.
They have given your contact details to authority who issued the fine, and that's all they could do.

It's not Ireland.
In most countries laws are logical, and rental company won't be charged by local authority for your fine, as fine is your's not theirs.

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#12 27-10-2015 12:24AM

Voodoomelon

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Not true. My business partner got a lovely letter from a German car rental crowd (Avis I think) stating that they had charged our card the full speeding penalty amount, plus a hefty €40 odd for the administration of the charge.

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#13 27-10-2015 12:27AM

Fred Swanson

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This post has been deleted.

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#14 27-10-2015 09:07AM

josip

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In my limited experience, the rental company just charges you an admin fee for handing over your details to the police. Data protection laws in certain countries prevent them from handing over your credit card details.
The Swiss police/state hand it over it to an international debt recovery agency to pursue the fines in Ireland; the Dartford Crossing in the UK do this.
As regards entering Switzerland again, I don't think you have much to worry about as long as your passport doesn't have the address at the time of the infringement on it.
Be prepared for a sequence of letters with the fines doubling each time to frightening amounts. These are automatically generated by the computer system. As soon as it gets to human level, (ie court appearance) these will stop.

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#15 27-10-2015 08:48PM

0lddog

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Meanwhile, over at the Travel forum

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057512778

Post 9 ( keep in mind that both Switzerland & Germany are in the Schengen area and that Ireland is not )

"Leaving or arriving in Schengen countries gets a bit more complicated - systems they use have the ability to do a lookup for any convictions, unpaid fines or any other trouble between all zone countries, so generally if you leave for your stag party to Slovakia, be disorderly and think you can get away with unpaid fines/ignored sentences, it might come up in the most inconvenient way possible when traveling next time to some other country within the zone "

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