Will a ticket in Germany keep me from renting a car in Italy?
 

I was in Germany a few years ago and I received a speeding ticket..By the time I received the notice and figured out what was going on the fines had almost doubled. I would pay the original fine but I have a problem with the penalties. I am now going over to Italy and renting a car. Is it possible that I will not be able to rent the car in Italy?

Thanks,
Gary

Probably not, but no one really knows in these days of giant data bases.

Not likely, and something I wouldn't worry about. Besides, the rental car company isn't interested as long as you have a valid driver's license, and unless you're from Italy, you'll need the IDP, International Driving Permit (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Driving_Permit).

I didn't know there still IDP's. I didn't need one in Germany and France. Do I need one in Italy?

"Do I need one in Italy?" The law says yes, and if a cop should want to see it, you'd better have it. Rental agencies probably won't want to see it. It's cheap and easy to get, in the US only at AAA.

About any consequences of your earlier non-payment: You realize that all you'll get here in answer to your question " Is it possible that I will not be able to rent the car in Italy?" is a bunch of wild guesses, right? Maybe it makes you feel better, but all the opinions expressed here will be just that - conjectures, guesses, no more.

I was hoping that someone had been in that position recently. I'm going to guess that there are other people that would have had the same issue.

Rental companies have no way of legally accessing police databases because of privacy and other reasons, and I doubt they would want to even if they could, just additional bureaucracy for no real benefit to the company.

Also, for the time being EU countries have separate police databases, while they do have a common Schengen information system, it's used for immigration purposes and to prevent cross-border criminal activities such as human trafficking or smuggling, not for tracking fine evaders.

So you're perfectly safe, the only possible way you could get caught was if the German police stopped you while you were in Germany and found there was an outstanding penalty tied to your name in their database.

"...I was hoping that someone had been in that position recently...."

That still means little if anything. A different rental company, a different jurisdiction, a change of the rules since that last incident...

Besides, you're lucky this didn't happen in Italy, or your credit card would have been charged, the one that you used to rent the car in the first place. Happens all the time - months after the infraction, not only for speeding but also very commonly among people who entered a ZTL.

So go and find out, but don't rely on anything you read here, it won't do you any good.

The only thing charged to your credit card in Italy is the administrative fee the rental company charges for turning your name and address over to the Italy authorities. But the ticket turns up in your mail box about a year after the infraction with lots of addition charges. And, now it appears that the tickets are being turned over to a collection agency.

States are perfecting the art of actually charging fines to foreigners, but rental agencies have no access to databases and as long as your driving license was not suspended you should have no problems. On the contrary, the general Schengen immigration database is available to all agents from all Schengen states, so if you have overstaid a visa, say, in Germany, you may be denied a visa from France or access to all the area.

The real issue is not if you can get your rental car, but what happens if you are stopped by the carabinieri, who CAN access the data base?

Assuredly the odds are slim that first, you'll even be stopped and second, that they would check the data base. We've been pulled over about 3 times on one of their "lollipop" controls...after hearing my husband's pitiful attempt at Italian and looking over the car documents they have quickly waved us on.

I sympathize with your angst over this, though. Good Luck.

There isn't a central police database for traffic violations. Different EU countries can ask another EU country for details of a car/driver to fine them, but they cannot access another country's database.
Hire car companies certainly can't access such things.

Just pay the fine next time and save yourself a lot of worry.

Btw, the Dutch check for outstanding fines at immigration. I don't know if Germany does.

IOW, OP, you can continue having "problems" with the rules and you'll be able to rent your car. But please, save the "I have problems with the penalties" routine if you get stopped in Italy and don't have the IDP.

Yeah, a LOT of us have "issues" and we avoid the problems by paying the cheapo price for an IDP.

An IDP is neither expensive nor difficult to obtain.

>>>I didn't know there still IDP's. I didn't need one in Germany and France. Do I need one in Italy?<<<

In Italy, the Italian law requires it, but rental car companies may or may not ask for it. I've had some ask and others didn't. I don't believe French law requires it. Different countries have different laws.