Lucca, Italy police, send us a ticket violation after 18 months of our visit, indicating that we had traveled on a restricted area of the city and they had a film of the car and plate. We never saw any sign, the car rental never said a word about a restricted area of the city and neither the hotel. We were charged US $ 187.00 and we reluctantly paid it because we plan to go to Europe again and who knows what might happen .

This is a much discussed issue on the EUROPE forum.

You are not alone; same thing happened to us re driving in Siena. I'm sure people will say you were foolish to pay it even if you do go to Italy again but I understand why you did so and so did I.

I think you were correct in paying the fine rather than blaming someone else.

"I never saw the 30mph speed limit sign I passed through in my home town USA the other day either. Doesn't excuse me from needing to obey the speed limit. Joe cop doesn't want to hear excuses.

"I never saw the "no parking this side after 8am" sign" in town just doesn't fly with the local parking revenue collectors.

Italy doesn't have a monopoly on rigorous driving/traffic law enforcement, but some cities seem to have perfected the practice.

I don't think it's the rental car co's burden to inform drivers of the local laws, nor the hotel's. Caveat rentor.

I paid mine for Rome. It wasn't nearly $187, though. In Italy these are called ZTL or "Zona de traffico limitato" and the signs are white with a big red letter "O" Look for it next time, as I will.

We got our while looking for our hotel, in our second (and hopefully last) driving foray into Rome. Next time, I'll E-mail the hotel in advance to see if this is something I need to worry about (in whatever major city.)

Caveat rentor, sure, but in touristic areas it's the burden of everyone in the industry--car rental companies, hotels--to help inform tourists so as to make their visit smooth. Of course, Lucca, Rome et al are hardly struggling to attract tourism, they are in fact overrun, so it's hard to blame them for simply enforcing their rules and not bothering too much about whether a tourist can easily figure them out.

You are injecting the logic of good customer service into the picture NewbE... I don't know whether that translates into Italian well...

J62, lol, too true! I will say that the grace of Venetians amid an onslaught of tourists clogging the city impressed me--they gave directions tirelessly, IME, although given that we were always lost, perhaps those directions were a private joke

NewbE, you also seem to be suggesting that rental agents warn you about cities they have no idea you will be visiting. The OP never said they got the car in Lucca. Would you expect the agent in Rome or Venice to warn you of the traffic laws in Lucca?

I'm retired and I have been all over Europe many times over the years and never experienced anything like that. The car was rented in Lucca and as a curtesy they could have mentioned something. But I understand since the rental agency try to charge on my card over US$60.00 6 months later but I disputed and they never came back. There is no customer service, I guess they have too many tourists.

I've done it, too, in Vicenza.

I knew I was probably in the wrong place when I saw the terror on the faces of pedestrians as I drove down the middle of a street that prohibited cars between 0800 and 1900.

I expected to have the credit card charge on my bill, and I got it. I am amazed you could dispute that because you greed to pay the car rental company for notifying the police if you have a violation. It's in the fine print.

I got the ticket from Vicenza some time later. Mine was cheaper than yours, but then Lucca is a walled city, so your violation might be considered more serious.

Pay it. The ticket should have an interbank number on it so your bank can wire the euros to them. Your branch probably doesn't get to do this very often, so it will be exciting for them.

<The car was rented in Lucca and as a curtesy they could have mentioned something. >
I agree.