I tried to answer your question on another forum, but somehow it never got transmitted.

From a practical standpointr, if the rental company you used does not have any branches in this country, or if you don't plan to drive again in Austria rent from that company again in Europe, you could skip payment. I can't help you with answering the ethical question of whether this is right.

The likelihood that you would "win" if you contest the charge is pretty remote. The police has the photographic record and, usually, it is "it". In fact, you are lucky that they didn't catch you in flagranti. The last time I got a ticket in Germany, the policeman advised me to pay the fine on the spot; if I were to decide to contest it, he would have to confiscate my (US) drivers license and I would have to go before a judge.

Sending the EUR 70 to Austria is a real pain. You would request a bank here to trensfer the money, in EURO, to the Sparkasse. For that you need the name of the Sparkasse, the name of the international bank that represents it, the bank routing number and the account number. Additionally, and you have to expect to pay $45 in addition to the fine for the transfer.

Per Mikey's suggestion, I looked and I do see a IBAN and BIC number, I'm assuming that those will be the things I need if I decide to transfer the money. I went to Sparkasse's website, as well as salzburg.gv.at, to see if there was any way that I could just pay this and be done with it, but there isn't a "stupid (speeding) American tourist click here" button, and my German is really only good enough to get my face slapped, so wading through either site is sketchy. I'm hoping that whatever evidence, forwarded to me, contains instructions, in English, on how to proceed. Ultimately I will likely just avoid the hastle, pay the fine, and drive slower next time. Honestly I thought, there'd be a ton of people, who are like, oh yeah, I got a ticket and this is what I did... o'well it's the fun part of travel.. and who doesn't like to tell their friends that they are an international criminal.. ;-P

Many locaions in Austria have radar/camera installations to detect speeding. It is contained in a small box along the roadway and the unknowing will never usually see it.

They record the date, time, speed with a clear photo of the auto including its registration plate.

This is very exact information of your speeding and is just about impossible to dispute. The photos are very clear and easily show the plate number without error.

The police have contacted the owner of the auto- in this case the rental firm who has now advised you that they have given the police your name , address etc as the renter of that auto during that time frame.

In most instances the auto rental firm will charge you an administrative fee for the paperwork needed to advise the police of your name.

As the rental firm has your nmae , credit card number etc. they will probably charge your credit card this fee.

I believe they have the right to do this according to your rental contract.

You will receive the actual ticket and payment information in the relative term from the police district involved .

You should pay the ticket. if not paid , the police will probably revert back to the rental firm as the owner of the auto for payment.

hey, the rental firm, must pay and then probably charge you the ticket cost plus some fee for their trouble, paperwork etc. The auto firm again can charge your credit card so it is not hard for them. the ticket you receive by mail should include all info for payment -bank name - in this instance - Sparkasse their BLZ -( Bank number) - a five number like 20200 for example - the account number at the bank for payment ( Konto # ) and perhaps a swift code.

Most any larger Bank in the USA can do this transfer for a good fee as mentioned above or will have a correspondent bank in the USA that can do it.

As mentioned you were lucky to be just photographed- often the police will have manned radar control - fees due and payable on the spot - euro only.

I thought that at least Americans fussily obey the speed limits. :)

Paying the fine and bearing the responsibility would probably be the most honourable action. In Austria it is, contrary to the US, not usual to visit the website of a community in order to pay a ticket. Normally, you obtain an offical notification from the appropriate authority (Bescheid) with a payment form and information on legal basis and consequences. As transcontinental money transfer is not as easy as domestic ones (and more expensive), I would probably rely on a company specialised on that like Western Union. This is likely to be easier than a direct transfer from your personal account in the US.

http://www.westernunion.com/

Mikey...Come'on I'm an American and we do what we want, just ask Bush...;-P --- I'm sure I violated some rule about getting political, but 20 days and counting YEAH!!!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I honestly would have rather just settled up at the side of the road and have been done with it... Hopefully the process will be as painless as possible. Oh BTW loved Vienna, I had been previously, but I took my wife to see the Christmas Markets, and as always, I was not disappointed.

Thanks Again,

Chad

Chad, the SAME THING just happened to me! I rented a car from Hertz in Salzburg, and I just got an invoice from Hertz for the Administrative fees. I was never stopped so I had no idea I was speeding. How did you end up handling this? I got a fax in the form of an email from Hertz with the attached fine documents, etc, but it's all in German, and I'm not sure how to pay the fine (35 euros).

It seems like I can fax my credit card info to Hertz to pay the Administrative fees...

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Jason

>I rented a car from Hertz in Salzburg, and I just got an invoice from Hertz for the Administrative fees. I was never stopped so I had no idea I was speeding.

It´s automated. All you see is a faint red flash.

>I got a fax in the form of an email from Hertz with the attached fine documents, etc, but it's all in German, and I'm not sure how to pay the fine (35 euros).

Usually there will be IBAN and BIC numbers which uniquely identify an account. Go to your bank and ask them to transfer such and such sum to such and such account (I don´t know how you usually transfer money to other peoples account in USA, but this should be somehow possible as your bank, too, is a part of the international banking system)

How does the local police know that I paid the fine, or that the money came from me?

Jason

They don't care on who pays it as long as the fine is paid. If the money (correct amount!) is credited to the appropriate account and the respective reference number is correctly stated, the debt will be amortized.