Had vignette but got ticket anyway!
 

Any advice from Fodor-ites on this one?

We flew into Munich, where we rented a car for our Austrian driving holiday. We bought a vignette and displayed it on our car before we crossed the border (stopping at a German rest station to do so). We just receievd a letter from Sixt from whom we rented the car with a ticekt for an "expired vignette" with a 120 euro fine plus a 25 euro processing fee from Sixt. If we had broken the law, fine, but we made sure we were in complience. I have to check our receipts and files from the trip to see if we kept the vignette as well as the receipt. Thinking we're probably out the ~$200 but I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for what to do at this point or experience with a similar situation.

Is it possible someone did sell you an expired one? Maybe it was punched with the wrong date, so did look expired, were you sure it was punched correctly?

those are my only thoughts. If it was punched correctly and hadn't expired yet (the day it is punched counts as a day), you usually can't fight those kind of tickets long distance. I know where I live, you'd have to appear in court or something. The ticket you received must have the date you were fined. And you can't complain to Sixt as they didn't sell it to you.

>>We bought a vignette and displayed it on our car.....to see if we kept the vignette as well as the receipt.<<

Perhaps you did not permanently attach the vignette to the window.
You must do this to make it valid. Displaying it is not enough.

Only thoughts are the same as above:
Was it punched with the correct date?
Did you stick it on the windshield where it's says to?

We live in Austria and have a personal vehicle, with the annual vignette. There is no precise position on the windscreen to place the sticker, only so that it can be read by the automatic overhead monitors on the autobahn. The sticker must adhere to the window in order that it be read correctly.

I would suggest contacting ASFINAG (the autobahn toll managers). You have the dates of your rental, and the ticket will indicate the date of the violation; perhaps even in the absence of the receipt and vignette itself the matter can be resolved. Good luck.

It was punched with the correct day (we double checked) and permanently attched in the correct spot on the windshield, below the rear-view mirror, but not on any tinted glass. Unfortunately, we did not keep the vignette itself, so don't have any evidence of its purchase or the date. I am planning on contacting ASFINAG and politely request photo evidence of the violation. I don't have high hopes at all, but am pretty infurated that we did the right thing and are likely going to be out the money anyway.