Hi, all! I don't know if my question is appropriate for this forum, but I would love insights from seasoned European travelers. I am receiving threatening letters from a German law firm claiming I owe EUR 542 for a traffic violation committed in Italy SEVEN years ago while driving a Sixt rental car. Yikes! I called someone at Sixt customer service who couldn't even locate the record of my car rental because it's so old; she ended up recommending that I just ignore the letters and never rent from Sixt again. So then I sent all the documentation to the Sixt customer service email address and received a response (over a week ago) saying they are looking into it. My question: Has anyone experienced such a thing? Sixt never notified me of a ticket -- and if they had, I would have paid the fine long before the charge grew to over 500 Euros!! If you have knowledge of claims like this, what do you make of the advice to just ignore these letters? They threaten to pretty much take my home, empty my bank accounts, and have me arrested on sight. Any thoughts about this would be welcome. Thanks!

Have no idea on this specifically but I suppose old debts are somehow sold to law firms and collectors who aggressively go after the $$$ regardless of time or distance. Adding interest and penalties and their fees over several years would inflate the original amount considerably. It doesn't hurt for them to send a letter full of threats and bluster to see if anyone pays up. Clearly, it is unnerving. Legally, I dunno. That's the rub, what to do. I guess you may have to pay an attorney or get a legal opinion here to know for sure. I don't think a foreign company or firm merely claiming you owe $$ could raid your account without you having a chance to defend yourself. Any lawyers out there?

I would be very surprised if it is not time-barred. I would ignore it.

I would not ignore it.

My brother recently paid a similar amount, his offence was driving into a restricted zone in Florence about 3 years ago
It was his personal car, not a rental.

His fault was that he very rarely checks his mailbox in Poland , so it festered.
He actually went to the Italian consulate in Warsaw to confirm that it was not a scam.

This past November, I got photographed speeding in Spain., Hertz notified me.
The Spanish pencil pushers send the notice to the UK, not Canada.
I got it two weeks ago and paid it.

wow, that's a heck of a big bill. How much of it was for the violation and how much for the late fees? Where I love, passing a stopped school bus has a really high fee, but even that is less than $200, I think. Unless it was for several violations.

I have read that some of these countries, probably Italy, do sell their debts collectable to collection agencies (at least for US residents). I know a lot of people think they will just ignore it but collection agencies can go after you. I'm not talking about your case, though, as I presume you aren't German? If so, then you will have to be more careful as legally they can do more, probably. Are you exaggerating about the taking your house? Because that doesn't make sense for 500 euro.

Are they just threatening to take you to court to get settlement? It might be helpful if you said more what they were really threatening, if you are exaggerating about several things (like the arrested thing, jail, and taking your house).

I also would be surprised if they can do anything legally after seven years, though. I presume this wasn't just a warning? (Verwarnung). That would be for parking tickets, stuff like that. They don't have to prove it was sent to you for those. It sounds like a penalty order? If you were speeding at a really high speed, those can get expensive., also if you had more than one speeding violation (they get those from cameras). Speeding tickets are fairly expensive in Germany. It can be a couple hundred euro if you were going just 30 kph over the limit. And over 7 years, that could add up.

If you reside in the EU, I think they can get it out of you or take you to court. It could be the govt is the one with the lawyers.

How would you pay? You'd be giving important information about yourself to someone you don't know for a reason that you can't justify. You will expose yourself to a lot more danger than if you don't respond.

Remote tickets are very common in Italy. Between the ZTLs and roadside cameras. Sixt would have provided your contact details to the Italian authorities (Sixt likely also charged you for the administrative costs). The problem with not paying it -- it could come back to bite you if you were ever to enter Schengen or the EU again. If you are in a city with an Italian Consulate doing what cdnyul did might be useful. Or even just contacting a consulate for advice.

If you don't plan on traveling back - probably not much to worry about??

(BTW -- There wouldn't have been a 'Verwarnung" because it occured in Italy. Its just the law firm that's in Germany)

What should have happened

Police send the fine to Sixt.

Sixt answer we weren't driving and forwards your information. They would have charged you a fee for this. Maybe €50

The police then have one year to send you the ticket.

The ticket would have had a discounted amount if paid quickly. A higher amount if you didn't

At some point the police gave up on you and sold the debt on.

Okay thats what should have happened.

If it was me.

Demand a copy of the ticket.

Demand proof it was sent to you.

For all you know Sixt messed up and it wasn't even you or they gave the wrong address.

I've no idea if Italian judgements can be enforced where you are but it's strange Sixt told you to rent with somebody else. Sixt has been out of this sage from the moment they forwarded your info.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the thoughtful responses. Yes, I was exaggerating about the specifics of the threats, but they are quite serious. Sixt seems to have a new department (Fines) looking into my complaint, so I'll let you know if I learn more. The German law firm wants me to just pay using a web link, but as a last resort I can try to communicate with them about reducing the sum.

They want you to panic. It's manipulation. I would not trust a website of people I do not know. Your risk if you do nothing is minimal. The risk if you give out your financial or any personal info is enormous.


Anytime people you don't know ask you for money, remember the "magic words:"

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/532/magic-words

Within days after returning our rental car to Sixt in England, we received a list of "damages" all covered by our insurance. A day later we received a notice of a ticket we received driving around the UK and a link to pay it. We didn't recall any violations, but it was less than 50 pounds, so we paid it. Typically, I would have considered it a scam, but it was worth hedging my suspicions and I just paid it. Now I'm glad I did! Yikes, I would definitely settle it if you plan to travel to the EU again. Try to mitigate the late fees if it's possible.

I agree that they want you to panic. But a quick google search listed several websites that claim the statute of limitations for collecting traffic fines in Italy is 5 years. Rick Steves, Tripadvisor and this fairly official-looking site:

https://www.euroconsumatori.org/en/driving_in_italy

And this website mentions that collections are handled by designated agencies... as opposed to random law firms. It sounds more logical to me that this would be the case.

https://www.bella-toscana.com/traffi...ions-in-italy/

At a minimum, I'd want to know the date, exact location, nature and evidence of the violation. Speed camera? ZTL camera?

Was any of this info included in the letter?

Abby I'm sorry this happened...I'd be very off kilter if I were in your place.

Almost a year after renting a car and unknowingly entered a ZTL zone in Florence, I got a ticket from the local govt in the postal mail.

Here is the thread about that; I did not pay and would not pay today if I were in your place, but it's.really unsettling to have this happen.

For some humor, please see response #15!!
And look at #42 for the inevitable "ugly American" comment.

I never paid this ticket and have rented dozens of cars in Italy since then with no problem, but of course, my situation all those years go has nothing to do with this case; I thought it was interesting to read this thread, though, from so long ago.....so few of the posters on that thread are here with us today...

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/traffic-ticket-in-mail-11-months-later-663118/page4/





I know my story has virtually nothing to do with yours; yours seems a little more scary, but the fact that you called Sixt and they gave your their response would push me even further into the "ignore" camp.

How about waiting to see if anything else shows up in the mail? Agree about the dangers of giving out financial info to an entity unknown to you and in another country, too.

I vote on the side of IGNORE.

Traffic ticket in mail..11 months later..??

Maybe this link will work better??

I for one am not surprised it took this long. In 2018 we went to Sicily and about 18-22 months afterwards I received a series of letter from municipalities in Sicily regarding ZTL’s that we’d inadvertently entered. The first ticket was an accumulated €489. I paid it only after calling said municipality and speaking to them and asking about it. They had all of the paperwork, they even emailed me a photo of the infraction. The second fine I received about 3 years after the first one, meaning 2022. It was a little less at €200. I paid it as well. That one arrived via registered mail. The fact that yours arrived from a collection agency also doesn’t surprise me because I’m sure many tourists don’t pay their speeding, ZTL or other fines, so municipalities have to outsource the collection of funds. Just pay it. Or don’t. But if you know you were in that area and rented a car, it’s possible you infracted the law.

I dug this up from an Italian legal site:

In Italy, the statute of limitations for traffic fines is generally five years from the date of the violation. This means that if you receive a fine after five years, you are likely not obligated to pay it. However, the authorities must notify you of the fine within 90 days if you live in Italy, or 360 days if you are a foreigner.

I'd guess that this is maybe not a legal firm, but a debt collection agency with a "legal" department which consists of the typist in the corner who sends out these letters. They know very well that they can't collect this but are "trying it on" to see if you'll pay up. Ignore it,

Fines in Italy are serious, especially recently with traffic fines. Better pay if you don't want to have problems next time you travel to Italy

Having read many opinions here, and given the amount and time elapsed, I would say it's likely a collector on a mission that has expired and, as evidenced here, the mere threat (albeit empty) is enough to panic many into paying up. Someone cranking out thousands of demands, flooding the zone....and the threat of being detained or ruining a vacation freaks people out and they pay up. Very profitable! From the looks of things here I would say well over half the folks weighing in would pay the demand. I think I would take my chances after seven years and blow it off. My opinion.

If the "collector" doesn't provide precise details about the violation (date, place, description, evidence), I wouldn't consider it legit now and certainly not after 7 years. The OP hasn't mentioned that these details were provided.

I rented a car from Sixt a couple of years ago in Italy, Received an email from them that I had received a speeding ticket of 4km over the speed limit. They charged me $50 or so to give the police my info. I never received a ticket in the mail from the Italian authorities.

I am back in Italy now and was worried I’d have an issue with a rental car. Rented with EuropeCar this time (just a better deal) and didn’t have an issue picking up the car.

God knows they’d want to keep me off the roads for speeding 4km over the limit! What a speed demon I am!🤣