Just received bogus French speeding ticket
 

I was in France back in May. The rental car that I drove during that time was clocked speeding on June 19. The ticket says the rental car company gave them my name as the driver of the car.

Anyone have experience with this? My rental was from Euorpcar through Autoeurope. I tried calling Autoeurope, but their customer service is only open M-F from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central. Tried to call Europcar, but can't get through using the French number given to me after calling Europecar's US toll free number. I tried following the link provided on the ticket, www.antai.gouv.fr, but none of the appeal tracks follow my facts, except for what appears to be a free form contest of the facts (obviously, I would be contesting that I was the driver).

I'm planning to follow up with Autoeurope, since it was the rental car company that caused the problem by giving the bad information, but if any of you have actual experience dealing with this, I'd certainly welcome your input. The fine is only 45 euros, and I'll probably spend a ridiculous amount of time at work dealing with this, but I hate to pay it out of principal, or ignore it out of prudence.

Obviously wrong, and obviously the car rental agency’s mistake, but I wonder if the fine increases with time unpaid. I would worry about that.
Though it would be temporarily frustrating, given the difficulty and time involved in getting it corrected, I would lean in favor of just paying it and putting it behind me.

Though there's no guarantee if you pay it that you won't keep getting them until the administrative error is cleared up.

Cut your losses. It may be BS but you will spend much more in time and frustration I believe.

Pay. Dealing with Europcar (they made the mistake) is quite frustrating and will likely get you nowhere (personal experience with an accident claim a few years back). We've received several tickets from France. Also expect a Europcar charge (25E or so) for providing the police with your info. However, check with AutoEurope first. They reimbursed me out of their own pocket about 15 years ago for an obvious Europcar error.

Stu Dudley

Go back to the gouv.fr web site. Use the appeal option to get to your case. You might be able to send a message stating that you were not in France in June, and presumably can prove that with a plane ticket and maybe an exit stamp in your passport. In addition, your Europcar contract should demonstrate that you rented the car in May only.

Agree with #6 above. Contest the matter with the relevant authority using there appeals procedure. Attach any evidence you have to prove it wasn’t you. Europcar booking/ contract showing dates of hire should be sufficient.

If Europcar try to charge admin fees challenge the charge with your cc provider and get it reversed.

i wouldn’t even try phoning Europcar car or Autoeurope. Email them setting out the facts and ask them to advise the French authorities of the correct driver. I have had problems with Europcar with non existent damage to a car that was collected by one of their drivers. It took them a couple of weeks to respond and they were pretty graceless about it saying that "as they couldn’t prove I caused the damage they would not pursue me for the cost of repair" Bunch of cowboys and I will never use them again!

It isn't bogus, it is mistaken. Do as Michael says and launch an appeal. You must have proof of when you were in France and when you left the country - one good thing about a Schengen stamps in your passport- assuming you didn't go on elsewhere in Schengen in June that is.
Ask for the photo perhaps to further aid your case.
Don't ignore it whatever you do.

I assume the OP has something from the rental company showing when the car was rented. That should be enough.

In any case, you should not pay the fine if you contest it. I once contested a fine but had paid it to avoid it being increased. I was informed by the authorities that once you have paid a fine, it can no longer be contested.

(I received the same sort of fine in the U.S. once and received a very threatening letter from Dollar. When I pointed out at that I had returned the car in question at 9am and the fine was issued on the afternoon of the same day, they dropped it immediately.)

""If Europcar try to charge admin fees challenge the charge with your cc provider and get it reversed.""

I did that once. Europcar handed it off to their collection agency which told us that unless it was dropped by a certain date - we would not be allowed to rent a Europcar again.

Stu Dudley

Do not pay, if in fact there was no violation on your part as you state, fight the ticket until you get relief. You have not mentioned getting your credit card company involved and this you must do. All major credit companies have a conflict resolution department and they will definitely fight on your behalf, providing you can prove you were not in the country at the time of the offense. This way you are not spending hours on the phone and drafting emails, etc. Better 45 Euro in your pocket than some multi million dollar company.

Why would you want to rent from them again?

I see no indication that any charges related to the ticket have been charged to a credit card. If there have been charges then, yes, definitely dispute them with your credit card company but until then there seems to be nothing to dispute. The date you were charged on your credit card statement would be proof of the rental end date.

I disagree with those advising you not to enlist AutoEurope's help in correcting Europcar's error. Historically, for me and many others, AE has quickly and successfully resolved problems like this. I hope this is still the case, and hope you will contact them before giving up and paying. I do agree with Michael (post #6) that you should use the appeal option to provide details showing you were no longer in France when the speeding was clocked.

We did get a speeding ticket in September - via speed camera, doing 74 in a 70 kph zone (with no speed limit signs - we were looking). Our rental agency - Sixt - let us know via email within 5 days, charging our credit card a $29 "administrative fee" which I imagine meant sending our identifying info to the French authorities. We received the forms to pay the 45-euro ticket from the French authorities by snail mail a week after we returned home, which was about a month after the camera recorded our speed. It does show on the forms that the fine increases fairly rapidly and more than once if not paid in a timely fashion.

Since you are going to be dealing with the car rental agency. as well as the French govt, my suggestion would be to pay the ticket and then file with the rental agency disputing the charges. You can pay online with a credit card, so you will have documentation. Otherwise, the fine is going to increase, and the entire thing will be living in your head. At least, that's how it would affect me. Not worth it to me, but looks like I am in the minority here.

SCDreamer Was it raining when you got your fine? The 80/90 speed limit goes down to 70 in rain in France, just as the 130 goes down to 110 on motorways and 100 on dual carriageways in rain.

Nope - not raining. It was just a pretty average stretch of roadway that was like the ones that were usually 80kph. The thing about the signs that let you know cameras will be in use is that there are often no speed limit signs for a few kilometers after those signs.

Signs are the exception telling you the section of road is slower than the standard.