marklyn

We rented a car from Maggiore in Florence Italy, Sept 10-11. We received a 30 euro on our credit card recently (administrative fee) and upon contacting Maggiore we were told this was a fee that was passed to them for a citation we incurred on our car rental.
We did find out that the citation was at a time when we were actually driving to the Excelsior parking garage (which Maggiore recommended). We are pretty sure the fine is related to driving in a ZTL, which we thoroughly researched before our trip, but somehow we must have driven through one on the way to the garage.

Here's the question.
When we got to the garage we told them we wanted to pay the 1 euro extra so that our license plate was reported to the local police municipality. We were told "ok" not to worry about it, so we thought, ok, this is how they do things and we didn't worry about it.

So now I'm certain our plates were never reported and we'll likely have a big fine. I don't have a receipt for that parking at this late date so am I totally screwed? Can I tell my story to the municipality in hopes they will believe we made an effort to take care of this?

Thanks

ekc

If you do not have your receipt, or anything else in writing to show that your license plate was registered, then you should just pay the fine and chalk it up to an expensive lesson about driving in cities in Italy (i.e. don't).

bvlenci

Even if your hotel or a parking garage registers your license plate number, you still have to follow a specific route to arrive at your destination. This is something that has to be researched in advance; a hotel will generally send you a map. On the other hand, you could have committed some other offense, such as driving in a bus lane.

My husband (life-long resident in Italy) and I (transplant in Italy for over 15 years) would never dream of driving in Florence. Italian cities are much better reached by train. We sometimes accidentally stray into a ZTL even in cities we know very well, either because of detours or temporary distraction. We use our cars in the countryside and take trains to cities.

kybourbon

There is no point in doing anything until you get the actual ticket because you don't know what it was for. You may have crossed into a pedestrian area or bus/taxi lane, not simply crossed a ZTL.