ZTL in Lucca - can I contest this?
 

Driving a rental car in Lucca last October, trying to find a parking space, we accidentally took a wrong turn and before I knew it, we had entered a ZTL. We immediately did a U-turn to get out of there and hoped we would not get a ticket.

I guess the ZTL cameras don't care whether you stayed in the ZTL illicitly for 15 seconds or 15 hours, because just today I got a letter from Hertz. They charged my card 35 EUR (+ 21% VAT) to "cover costs incurred in providing the driver name and address information to the relevant authority in Italy". So...

- does this mean I should be expecting a separate letter identifying how much the actual charge for violating the ZTL is?

- does anyone believe it really should cost 35 EUR as an administrative fee for this? It's not like someone at Hertz was rifling through filing cabinets to look for this. A couple of keystrokes on their computer is worth EUR? Really? Is this negotiable? And if so, who do I negotiate with...Hertz Italy or Hertz USA?

- if asked, will the credit card agency help me fight this ticket? I suspect the answer is no (maybe because they're getting 35 EUR with a ridiculous profit margin attached), and that the rental car agreement probably has language to this effect, so really I'm just wondering whether anyone has tried to fight one of these and succeeded. In my case, I was not staying at a hotel in Lucca and cannot even try the 'our hotel authorized us' explanation here. It was just me accidentally making that left at Albuquerque...

The 35€ fee to Hertz was in your rental agreement (read the fine print). That is for them providing your info to the police. That money goes to Hertz. The actual ticket you have received yet. That will come in the mail. The Italian government contracts with an agency that sends these tickets abroad. They have a year from the time Hertz provided your info to get you the ticket. It will probably be in the neighborhood of 100€.

>>>does anyone believe it really should cost 35 EUR as an administrative fee for this?<<<

Different rental car companies charge different amounts, but 35€ is one of the cheapest. Even in the US, rental companies have similar charges in their contracts. It's just that in the US, we don't have all the traffic cameras and tickets by mail. Pays to read the fine print.

You can contest it all you want - but if they have the pic you have no grounds. I fyou don;t pay Hertz they won;t want to rent to you again - and will eventually just charge to your credit card. You can ignore the ticket from Italy - but then may have a problem if you try to rent there again.

IMHO tickets of this type are part of paying attention. And yes, you should pay - just as you should here if you miss a sign and park illegally - or turn right on red when you're not allowed to. Be happy if the fine is so low. Our parking tickets are $150 and $250 if the event is egregious (fire hydrant or handicap spot).