Can I ignore tickets I receive while doing European Delivery?

[Jsimon]

I have a general question for all that have taken European delivery and traveled with their new car to Italy. So I am picking up an individual m4 convertible next Tuesday. Trip will include driving Germany, Austria, Switzerland and all around Italy. In several articles I have read there are plenty of restricted driving areas within towns like Rome or Florence, Italy. They are called ZTL zones. Tickets generally are mailed to the car owner who it's registered to. Now I get it for rental cars, if a ticket is issued the rental car company will probably pay your ticket using your on file credit card. But in my case my m4 belongs to me and will be shipped back to the USA. So my question is, do I simply ignore any parking / driving zone tickets I might get? Does not sound like the foreign authority has any legal teeth for cars in the USA? Thanks for responses for all that have gone thru this.

[nicknaz]

The temporary Munich plates will have your USA address on the registration. You will get likely get the tickets.

[Doctor///M]

Originally Posted by Jsimon

I have a general question for all that have taken European delivery and traveled with their new car to Italy. So I am picking up an individual m4 convertible next Tuesday. Trip will include driving Germany, Austria, Switzerland and all around Italy. In several articles I have read there are plenty of restricted driving areas within towns like Rome or Florence, Italy. They are called ZTL zones. Tickets generally are mailed to the car owner who it's registered to. Now I get it for rental cars, if a ticket is issued the rental car company will probably pay your ticket using your on file credit card. But in my case my m4 belongs to me and will be shipped back to the USA. So my question is, do I simply ignore any parking / driving zone tickets I might get? Does not sound like the foreign authority has any legal teeth for cars in the USA? Thanks for responses for all that have gone thru this.

I'd suggest parking your car at the hotel and move around the congested cities using alternate methods. Less hassle having to deal with parking and narrow city streets.

As far as tickets go, I've read on the forum that the authorities keep it on record and you can be confronted at immigration the next time you fly into the Eurozone. I've driven Italy a lot and my advice would be to err on the side of caution.

[stormlv]

Don't know about the other countries, but don't fuck around with tickets in Switzerland either

[CenCal X3M Comp]

When I did my ED, I would drive under the posted speed limit in the cities; typically the locals around would do that too.

Do you plan to do your drop off in Italy?

[Jsimon]

Originally Posted by CenCal M4

When I did my ED, I would drive under the posted speed limit in the cities; typically the locals around would do that too.

Do you plan to do your drop off in Italy?

Originally Posted by CenCal M4

When I did my ED, I would drive under the posted speed limit in the cities; typically the locals around would do that too.

Do you plan to do your drop off in Italy?

No. Back in Munich.

[Jsimon]

Originally Posted by Doctor///M

I'd suggest parking your car at the hotel and move around the congested cities using alternate methods. Less hassle having to deal with parking and narrow city streets.

As far as tickets go, I've read on the forum that the authorities keep it on record and you can be confronted at immigration the next time you fly into the Eurozone. I've driven Italy a lot and my advice would be to err on the side of caution.

Originally Posted by CenCal M4

When I did my ED, I would drive under the posted speed limit in the cities; typically the locals around would do that too.

Do you plan to do your drop off in Italy?

Don't plan on driving around. Only point A hotel to point B hotel but I will be forced to drive thru these ZLT zones in Italy.

[Jsimon]

Originally Posted by Doctor///M

I'd suggest parking your car at the hotel and move around the congested cities using alternate methods. Less hassle having to deal with parking and narrow city streets.

As far as tickets go, I've read on the forum that the authorities keep it on record and you can be confronted at immigration the next time you fly into the Eurozone. I've driven Italy a lot and my advice would be to err on the side of caution.

Originally Posted by CenCal M4

When I did my ED, I would drive under the posted speed limit in the cities; typically the locals around would do that too.

Do you plan to do your drop off in Italy?

Meaning pay the tickets from the U.S.?

[TonySCV]

If you ever have any interest in visiting Europe again, you should take care of the ticket.

I received one years ago, with correspodense sent to me entirely in Dutch. That was fun. They WILL keep track of that stuff.

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Jsimon

I have a general question for all that have taken European delivery and traveled with their new car to Italy. So I am picking up an individual m4 convertible next Tuesday. Trip will include driving Germany, Austria, Switzerland and all around Italy. In several articles I have read there are plenty of restricted driving areas within towns like Rome or Florence, Italy. They are called ZTL zones. Tickets generally are mailed to the car owner who it's registered to. Now I get it for rental cars, if a ticket is issued the rental car company will probably pay your ticket using your on file credit card. But in my case my m4 belongs to me and will be shipped back to the USA. So my question is, do I simply ignore any parking / driving zone tickets I might get? Does not sound like the foreign authority has any legal teeth for cars in the USA? Thanks for responses for all that have gone thru this.

If you don't pay EU tickets, they can hold you at the border and prevent you from entering next time ... will they? Depends on if you want to take the risk.

The Swiss ... well they can take your car amongst other shit.

I got tickets last time from lots of countries: italy, france, switzerland, germany, belgium. I paid all of them except Belgium, and only not them because after following all of their instructions they never got back to me and I've checked 3 times since then and they have no clue.

[BimmerBahn]

I've clocked over 4000 miles on two ED's and a rental in central EU and not once received a ticket.... I was _very_ surprised since I was sure the Polizei tagged me on the A10 south of Salzburg this last ED and I was moving at a pretty good clip. Anyhow, just drive smart on the A-roads, don't speed on the B-roads -- the speed limit info displayed on the HUD/instrument cluster isn't there for the heck of it....use it

Enjoy your trip!

Cheers,

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by BimmerBahn

Anyhow, just drive smart on the A-roads, don't speed on the B-roads -- the speed limit info displayed on the HUD/instrument cluster isn't there for the heck of it....use it

Or ...
just drive however the fuck fast you want and pay the tickets as part of the experience knowing that it won't hit your US insurance


But be a little careful in Switzerland and Austria

[hinckley]

My true story . . . I was driving my buddy's ED M6 vert between Milan and Chamonix. I had just finished a stretch driving between 140 and 150 mph on the Autostrada where the speed limit was 130km/h (about 80 mph). No problems. As a matter of fact, I was passed by several exotics and one massive RR. Then I entered the Mont Blanc tunnel and I dropped my speed way down. The speed limit in the tunnel was 70 km/h. About half way thru, I saw a flash of light and knew it was a speed camera. As I exited the tunnel, two officers - a French gendarme and an Italian polizia stradale - are in the middle of the road waiving me over. It turns out I was driving 76km/h - 6 (six!!!) kms over the speed limit. And that was following a stretch in Italy that I was driving nearly 2x the limit!

Well, it was a 50 Euro fine that I had to paid on the spot at the station just outside the tunnel. I have to admit, my buddy and I were having a hard time controlling our laughter at the whole incident. The gendarme/polizia were pretty friendly and even gave me a photocopy of the picture from the speed cam. It was a great ED souvenir worth the 50 Euro!

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by hinckley

My true story . . . I was driving my buddy's ED M6 vert between Milan and Chamonix. I had just finished a stretch driving between 140 and 150 mph on the Autostrada where the speed limit was 130km/h (about 80 mph). No problems. As a matter of fact, I was passed by several exotics and one massive RR. Then I entered the Mont Blanc tunnel and I dropped my speed way down. The speed limit in the tunnel was 70 km/h. About half way thru, I saw a flash of light and knew it was a speed camera. As I exited the tunnel, two officers - a French gendarme and an Italian polizia stradale - are in the middle of the road waiving me over. It turns out I was driving 73km/h - 3 (three!!!) kms over the speed limit. And that was following a stretch in Italy that I was driving nearly 2x the limit!

Well, it was a 50 Euro fine that I had to paid on the spot at the station just outside the tunnel. I have to admit, my buddy and I were having a hard time controlling our laughter at the whole incident. The gendarme/polizia were pretty friendly and even gave me a photocopy of the picture from the speed cam. It was a great souvenir worth the 50 Euro!

Wow, that was actually a cool story bro!

[hinckley]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

Wow, that was actually a cool story bro!

Thanks, and no word a lie - although I did edit my post because I messed up km's and miles. It was 6 km or about 3.5 miles per hour over the limit. A great ED story that my wife would never have been able to appreciate had she been with us!

[stormlv]

Originally Posted by hinckley

My true story . . . I was driving my buddy's ED M6 vert between Milan and Chamonix. I had just finished a stretch driving between 140 and 150 mph on the Autostrada where the speed limit was 130km/h (about 80 mph). No problems. As a matter of fact, I was passed by several exotics and one massive RR. Then I entered the Mont Blanc tunnel and I dropped my speed way down. The speed limit in the tunnel was 70 km/h. About half way thru, I saw a flash of light and knew it was a speed camera. As I exited the tunnel, two officers - a French gendarme and an Italian polizia stradale - are in the middle of the road waiving me over. It turns out I was driving 76km/h - 6 (six!!!) kms over the speed limit. And that was following a stretch in Italy that I was driving nearly 2x the limit!

Well, it was a 50 Euro fine that I had to paid on the spot at the station just outside the tunnel. I have to admit, my buddy and I were having a hard time controlling our laughter at the whole incident. The gendarme/polizia were pretty friendly and even gave me a photocopy of the picture from the speed cam. It was a great ED souvenir worth the 50 Euro!

Doesn't really surprise me.

Presumably they wanted to make sure that you pay the fine since your buddy was on temporary plates.

Also, they take these things really seriously after the Mont Blanc tunnel accident in '99 (35 dead).

In addition to the speed limits you also have to obey a 150m distance between the cars. You can also get fined for that if you don't pay attention.

[BimmerBahn]

Originally Posted by stormlv

In addition to the speed limits you also have to obey a 150m distance between the cars. You can also get fined for that if you don't pay attention.

Umm, that's over 1.5x the length of a football (American) and futbol (soccer) field between cars.... you sure that's correct?

Cheers,

[stormlv]

Originally Posted by BimmerBahn

Umm, that's over 1.5x the length of a football (American) and futbol (soccer) field between cars.... you sure that's correct?

Cheers,

Positive

https://www.chamonix.net/english/tra...t-blanc-tunnel

"The minimum speed limit is 50km/h and the maximum speed limit is 70km/h. In addition, vehicles are expected to maintain a distance of at least 150m between each other.

There is a time delay on cars leaving the péages (toll booths) and signs to remind drivers to respect the speed limits and to maintain safe distances. Failure to respect these limits will incur severe, on the spot, fines or even a suspension of the driver's licence."

[BimmerBahn]

Originally Posted by stormlv

Positive

https://www.chamonix.net/english/tra...t-blanc-tunnel

"The minimum speed limit is 50km/h and the maximum speed limit is 70km/h. In addition, vehicles are expected to maintain a distance of at least 150m between each other.

There is a time delay on cars leaving the péages (toll booths) and signs to remind drivers to respect the speed limits and to maintain safe distances. Failure to respect these limits will incur severe, on the spot, fines or even a suspension of the driver's licence."

LOL, damn! At least they're trying to do some pacing at the toll booth. I bet enforcing the distance is fun for them....

[ssuene93]

Originally Posted by hinckley

My true story . . . I was driving my buddy's ED M6 vert between Milan and Chamonix. I had just finished a stretch driving between 140 and 150 mph on the Autostrada where the speed limit was 130km/h (about 80 mph). No problems. As a matter of fact, I was passed by several exotics and one massive RR. Then I entered the Mont Blanc tunnel and I dropped my speed way down. The speed limit in the tunnel was 70 km/h. About half way thru, I saw a flash of light and knew it was a speed camera. As I exited the tunnel, two officers - a French gendarme and an Italian polizia stradale - are in the middle of the road waiving me over. It turns out I was driving 76km/h - 6 (six!!!) kms over the speed limit. And that was following a stretch in Italy that I was driving nearly 2x the limit!

Well, it was a 50 Euro fine that I had to paid on the spot at the station just outside the tunnel. I have to admit, my buddy and I were having a hard time controlling our laughter at the whole incident. The gendarme/polizia were pretty friendly and even gave me a photocopy of the picture from the speed cam. It was a great ED souvenir worth the 50 Euro!

I had a similar experience like yours. It was back in 2009, and I was doing ED and driving in Italy. I got flashed on the autostrada. An Italian polizia stood in front of me after a toll booth and waving me to pull aside to the road. He showed me the speed reading and asked for around 35 euro fine. I told him I did not have any cash o me and there wasn't any gas station or atm around the toll booth station. He told me there is a gas station in about 50km from the toll booth, so I asked him if he let me drive to there and get cash. At first he wouldn't let me go, instead asked my wife to go while I waited at the toll booth, but my wife didnt know how to drive MT, so we were just standing there and figuring how to pay the fine. In about 30 min later, he just let us go without paying the fine.

[Space gray]

Originally Posted by Jsimon

Don't plan on driving around. Only point A hotel to point B hotel but I will be forced to drive thru these ZLT zones in Italy.

If you're staying at hotels inside the ZTL, email the hotels once you know your license plate number. The hotels should help you register your car with the agency that enforces the ZTL.
Some localities have barriers or gates that control access to the pedestrian zones, like Bellagio and Sirmione. When stayed inside the pedestrian zone we were given a code to punch in at the gate or the police checked to make sure we were in the hotel guest list.

[NOLATom]

Don't ignore the tickets, like others said, they can hold you at the border. I got flashed three times in France last year and I still haven't received any tickets from France. I didn't remember any flashes in Italy, but back in April, 9 months later, I received a ticket in the mail from Florence with a pic of me flying down the autostrada and a link to it online....lol