CAR-Penalty abroad

[silviaADAMS3]

I have been on holiday in Austria and I have been send court order to pay car penalty for my rented car. The letter was send in german .
I would like to ask do i have to pay that penalty ? am not asutrain citizen and its not criminal offence ? if i wont pay what they can do ?
while beeing in asutria i never get any paper ticket left on car or i wasnot contacted by anybody.

thanks for advices

 

[seniorjudge]

Where do you live now?

Are you ever going to Europe again?

 

[Duranie]

It is possible they can go after any assets you have in your home country.

 

[silviaADAMS3]

I live currently in USA . I do might return to Europe not sure if to Austria to but I dont plan to drive there.

I am not sure if there is any mechanism whereby a court in one country can enforce payment of a fine for a motoring offence once the driver who committed it has returned to their own country ?

 

[muggsyj]

This is not legal Advice!


Your qoute: "I have been on holiday in Austria and I have been send court order to pay car penalty for my rented car".

This depends on what they are saying the penalty is for? If it is a parking violation and only one ticket was issued then the rental company may end up with the bill and charge your card for the cost but this sounds a bit different to me, I would get the German translated online which can be done for free by yourself and see what your charges are. It seems very unlikley that a Austrian Court would take the time to send you a letter if it was for a minor matter. My advice is make sure 100% before you walk away what this matter is all about.


Take care

Mark.

 

[silviaADAMS3]

Well , the letter been translated . I suposed to overdrive the car on place where was not alowed . As in Austria they have this STVO laws which in one case adding more that you always end up with horrific amount .( They charging for your 1.act plus they always add - 2.you endangered others and you 3.ignore the traffic sign . )

Its looking like that renting company provide them my addres and didnot deduct it from my credit card.

So any suggestion what may happend if i dont pay ?

 

[muggsyj]

This is not Legal Advice!

Are you an Austrian native? or are you an American Citizen?

This is the situation as i see it, although this is only a traffic offence of 1.act plus they always add - 2.you endangered others and you 3.ignore the traffic sign . the underlining factor is it has been brought before the court. Now if you are American and were only on vacation to there country, they will proberbly not persue the situation as no one has been hurt and no accident occured but If you are a local citizen of that country it will be a pending case of which when you return you may well be on file as a fellon awating punnishment for the crime, which in turn makes for not a very nice return.

Answer to your question thus far is, pay if you plan to return to visit again and you will not have to look over you shoulder. If you are American and do not plan to return in the next couple of years then it is you choice to take a chance and not pay and let them try and chase you half way around the world for a violation of which we all agree they would be waisting too much time and money to even bother with.

Anyway, good luck

Take care


Mark

 

[silviaADAMS3]

Thank you

 

[muggsyj]

Your very welcome.

 

[useless_one]

Hi!

I'm fromm Germany and the StVo in Astria and Germany are very close.
Would you mind letting me know, what the amount is they are charging you.

useless one