tcreath

My husband and I were in Germany and Austria on vacation this past May. We rented a car from Avis through Autoeurope.com. We received a letter, in German, last week from Avis requesting money. I had a co-workers friend translate the letter to me and it says that we were apparently speeding (no surprise there...my husband drives fast) somewhere around Salzburg and they took a picture of our license plate. The ticket was issued to Avis who in turn sent us the letter asking for us to pay the 29 Euro. I plan to go to my bank and ask them to electronically transfer the funds. However, at the bottom of the ticket there is a place for me to sign and Avis is also requesting my bank account number and routing number. Obviously I am concerned about this and hesitant to give out such information. Has anyone else had a situation like this and, if so, how did you handle it?

Thanks!
Tracy

icithecat

Can you ask your bank manager if giving this info via mail to Avis on a written document is considered safe? Maybe <s>he can advise.</s>

StCirq

I wouldn't give out that information to Avis or anyone else under those circumstances. I'd put a check in the mail to Avis or have your bank draw up a cashier's check or wire the money to Avis (though the cost of the wire transfer will probably exceed the cost of the ticket).
And I'd put in a call to AutoEurope, too, to find out how they suggest you handle it.

tcreath

Thank you both for your replies. StCirq, I think I am just going to get a money order for the amount and send it to them along with the letter signed. I just don't feel comfortable putting my bank account information on there. Its only 29 Euro. I'm assuming that as long as they get their money they should be happy. I guess I will get another letter from them if they aren't.

Thanks again!
Tracy

TuckH

Tracy, I wouldn't bother with the money order - just send your personal check for $35. BTW, &euro;29 is a bargain for speeding; was it for parking, as you wrote in your title?

janis

Can't Avis simply charge the amount to the same credit card you used to rent the car? What am I missing?

Queenie

The account and routing info is typical as bills are usually paid by bank transfer – no checks. In fact in Switzerland there is no such thing as a personal check.

I would ignore it if you are sending a wire transfer.

walkinaround

&gt;&gt;&gt;I'd put a check in the mail to avis&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

&gt;&gt;&gt;just send your personal check for $35&gt;&gt;&gt;


doesn't a cheque have your bank account and routing number on it anyway? you don't say where you are from but if it is the US as others have assumed, then i'm not so sure that they would or could do an international debit of that account. maybe they assume that you have a euro based account. hopefully they would accept your USD...but i wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

tcreath

TuckH, your right and I apologize; it is, in fact, a speeding ticket. I originally thought it was a parking ticket and somehow that stuck in my head when I typed out the title.

janis, from what I am getting the ticket was issued to Avis who in turned forwarded the info to us. So we wouldn't actually be paying Avis the ticket; we would be paying whoever issued the ticket. I wish they could just do that; it would be a whole lot easier!

I assumed that I couldn't just write a check. I don't know if you can even write a check for Euros? So I will probably just get a money order and send it in.

Tracy

walkinaround

yes, on the cheque just cross out the little $ and replace it with &euro;....just kidding.

i'd hate to see what the bank charges for a bank cheque in &euro; but it may be the only option.

Patrick

I also question why this can't be done on a credit card. And I too would start by calling AutoEurope since that's whom you rented from and presumably paid. Perhaps they can charge the amount and take care of paying Avis -- just as they usually do with the cost of the rental.

Brian_in_Charlotte

And before you send them anything, I'd check my credit card activity online to make sure they haven't already charged you for the ticket.

wliwl

You're going to be bummed when you see how much your bank will charge for electronically transferred funds. Mine charge a $30 fee. I'd try to call them and give them a credit card. Also, there's no reason they can't cash your personal check.

Holly_uncasdewar

Probably a moot point by now, but did you check your rental contract against the license plate on the ticket to be sure it was, in fact, the car you were driving at that time?

Underhill

You can also send a traveler's check in Euros.

walkinaround

&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;Also, there's no reason they can't cash your personal check&gt;&gt;&gt;

i wouldn't be so sure, especially if it's going directly to the court as suggested. most businesses, nevermind gov't offices, will not accept payment in whatever currency the customer (or in this case, the offender) chooses.

StCirq

They can definitely cash your personal check (I've done this in France), but expect a hefty charge for doing so. I once left a personal (U.S.) check at my French bank for deposit and conversion to euros and paid more than US$60 for the privilege of doing so. Bad idea.

Call Auto Europe and see if you can get it charged to your credit card.

walkinaround

yes of course it is possible for anyone to deposit a foreign cheque. what i meant was that it probably wouldn't be accepted because the gov't office does not want to pay the charges nor do they want the hassles...just as a US court would not accept a speeding fine paid in euro.

TuckH

In her original post, Tracy said that Avis was requesting the money. I'd write that check to &quot;Avis&quot; with the rental voucher number on it, send it off and be done with it.

I think Avis has paid the fine and wants reimbursement and, to be sure, they have the means to convert the dollars to euros.

hsv

tcreath,

frankly, in your place I would not pay anything.

In Germany (and to my knowlegde the procedure is similar in Austria) speeding tickets are usually issued by the or German police and then mailed and collected through the respective State's traffic authority. They do that by adding a standard form for bank transfers, which would include your bank account, but which you would turn in to your own bank so that they would transfer the money. No big deal. It is done all the time and is standard procedure over here.

However, public authorities are highly unlikely to collect an amount of EUR 29.00 from an overseas citizen. In fact it highly questionable that they would be legally entitled to do that.

Keep in mind that this is about a minor violation of traffic rules. You are not dealing with any criminal offence.

According to § 25 a of the German Code of Traffic (StVG), the owner of a car will be held liable only for parking violations. The owner of the car (Avis) would also by held liable if someone would have been injured, killed or some object would have been damaged (§ 7 StVG) due to the operation of the vehicle.

As the law quotes a liability only in those specific cases, the conclusion is that the owner (Avis) will not be held liable for other violations such as the speeding violation you committed as long as they can prove that to the authorities. They should be able to do that because police are required to photograph not only the licence plate, but also the driver for reasons outlined above.

If Avis could not prove that they were not responsible (how yould a company drive a car anyway?), they might choose to pay the amount and make you reimburse them by debiting your credit card. That would be youur worst case scenario IMHO.

Bear in mind that this is valid for any violation committed in Germany. Austria's legal system is quite similar to the German one, so I presume this would be practically the same with any violations of their codes.

Hope this helps.
hsv