Possible traffic fine in France (hire car)
Discussion
Hi all,
Not sure if this is the best place to post this being in France, but looking for a spot of advice.
Hired a car from Hertz in France back in August, no problems, I was a very good boy and was extremely careful with speed limits. Only moment when I might have done something naughty was whilst getting lost in Rouen I may or may not have ended up trapped in a bus lane for 30 seconds or so
.
Anyway, returned the car, all good, forgot about it,
2 weeks ago I received an invoice from Hertz for a €19.99 administration charge in relation to a traffic fine. I assumed this was Hertz charging me for the privilege of supplying my details to Les Flics for my possible heinous bus lane incursion, and that a fine would be forthcoming.
On checking my CC account, I saw that Hertz France had already taken this amount on the 13/9, but oddly there were 2 pending transactions from Hertz Oklahoma City for similar (but not the same) amounts (presumably due to exchange rates, I don’t know). Checking back to see if they were still there a week later, I noticed that they were, but now there was another similar transaction from Hertz France dated the 20/9. So now I am totally confused - I have an invoice for something (exactly what I am not sure), but it would seem the money has been taken twice, plus another 2 pending transactions from Oklahoma! But no fine seems to have been arrived.
I’m further confused as the date the PCN was issued was the day that the car was returned (which was not the day the bus lane incident may or may not have happened) - not sure if that is relevant or if they automatically issue it on the date of return.
Anyway, I am emailing Hertz about it, but just wondering if anybody has any clue what is going on here!?
Not sure if this is the best place to post this being in France, but looking for a spot of advice.
Hired a car from Hertz in France back in August, no problems, I was a very good boy and was extremely careful with speed limits. Only moment when I might have done something naughty was whilst getting lost in Rouen I may or may not have ended up trapped in a bus lane for 30 seconds or so
.Anyway, returned the car, all good, forgot about it,
2 weeks ago I received an invoice from Hertz for a €19.99 administration charge in relation to a traffic fine. I assumed this was Hertz charging me for the privilege of supplying my details to Les Flics for my possible heinous bus lane incursion, and that a fine would be forthcoming.
On checking my CC account, I saw that Hertz France had already taken this amount on the 13/9, but oddly there were 2 pending transactions from Hertz Oklahoma City for similar (but not the same) amounts (presumably due to exchange rates, I don’t know). Checking back to see if they were still there a week later, I noticed that they were, but now there was another similar transaction from Hertz France dated the 20/9. So now I am totally confused - I have an invoice for something (exactly what I am not sure), but it would seem the money has been taken twice, plus another 2 pending transactions from Oklahoma! But no fine seems to have been arrived.
I’m further confused as the date the PCN was issued was the day that the car was returned (which was not the day the bus lane incident may or may not have happened) - not sure if that is relevant or if they automatically issue it on the date of return.
Anyway, I am emailing Hertz about it, but just wondering if anybody has any clue what is going on here!?
MustangGT said:
I am a bit confused, where does Oklahoma come into it?
I have no idea - 2 “pending” charges. Still waiting to hear back from Hertz.Regarding multiple charges - given that we haven’t yet had one single fine/penalty charge from the French authorities I’m not very happy…
Not sure what you mean by “Crit air” sticker - some kind of emissions thing?
NiceCupOfTea said:
I have no idea - 2 “pending” charges. Still waiting to hear back from Hertz.
Regarding multiple charges - given that we haven’t yet had one single fine/penalty charge from the French authorities I’m not very happy…
Not sure what you mean by “Crit air” sticker - some kind of emissions thing?
https://urbanaccessregulations.eu/countries-mainmenu-147/france/rouenRegarding multiple charges - given that we haven’t yet had one single fine/penalty charge from the French authorities I’m not very happy…
Not sure what you mean by “Crit air” sticker - some kind of emissions thing?
But I would hope that a hire car would have the appropriate sticker anyway. I'm also not aware that there is automatic enforcement, so far as I'm aware it's all physical spot checks.
deckster said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
I have no idea - 2 “pending” charges. Still waiting to hear back from Hertz.
Regarding multiple charges - given that we haven’t yet had one single fine/penalty charge from the French authorities I’m not very happy…
Not sure what you mean by “Crit air” sticker - some kind of emissions thing?
https://urbanaccessregulations.eu/countries-mainmenu-147/france/rouenRegarding multiple charges - given that we haven’t yet had one single fine/penalty charge from the French authorities I’m not very happy…
Not sure what you mean by “Crit air” sticker - some kind of emissions thing?
But I would hope that a hire car would have the appropriate sticker anyway. I'm also not aware that there is automatic enforcement, so far as I'm aware it's all physical spot checks.
I drove through Rouen a couple of weeks ago but only found out 2 days ago on a local FB page that a Crit air sticker is now required.
However, fines are issued on the spot as you have to be physically pulled over by the flicks. So, I got away with it.
I'll probably use the A29 route from now on as it's around the same time to the tunnel from our place.
However, fines are issued on the spot as you have to be physically pulled over by the flicks. So, I got away with it.
I'll probably use the A29 route from now on as it's around the same time to the tunnel from our place.
I’ve got lost in Rouen too. I was driving, with Mrs Oxgreen on the phone to a lady on reception at the hotel we were trying to find. The lady spoke English, but only to a moderate standard (as it turned out). Mrs Oxgreen was relaying instructions to me - well, sort-of…
“I think she’s telling us to turn left at the fire station,” said Mrs Oxgreen. But I hadn’t seen a fire station in the 30 minutes of meandering about that we’d done so far. I drove around for another 10-15 minutes looking in vain for a fire station.
And then I had a hunch: “Tell me the exact words she said,” I asked Mrs Oxgreen.
“Well it doesn’t quite sound right, but she said to turn left at the fires.”
I can’t remember if I did an actual facepalm or not, but my hunch was correct: the receptionist was doing a literal translation of “les feux”, which is the French phrase for traffic lights - much as we would say “the lights”.
Retracing back to the point where she’d told us to turn left at “the fires”, I turned left at the next set of lights, and “ta-da!” There was the hotel entrance.
“I think she’s telling us to turn left at the fire station,” said Mrs Oxgreen. But I hadn’t seen a fire station in the 30 minutes of meandering about that we’d done so far. I drove around for another 10-15 minutes looking in vain for a fire station.
And then I had a hunch: “Tell me the exact words she said,” I asked Mrs Oxgreen.
“Well it doesn’t quite sound right, but she said to turn left at the fires.”
I can’t remember if I did an actual facepalm or not, but my hunch was correct: the receptionist was doing a literal translation of “les feux”, which is the French phrase for traffic lights - much as we would say “the lights”.
Retracing back to the point where she’d told us to turn left at “the fires”, I turned left at the next set of lights, and “ta-da!” There was the hotel entrance.
Haha! I was relying on a combination of google maps on my phone and Apple maps on my wife’s - it told us to continue straight across a junction and over a bridge and as I was crossing the bridge realised that ahead was buses only. ‘Twas too late by then so I had to continue over the bridge… 
I was in france last week and nearly did an impromptu day trip to Rouen.
Great, lets get up early and get off, park up then walk around.....reading about the city doh moment...you need CritAir stickers on your car.
I decided after a few tins of some strong leffe blonde courage the night before I'd just blag it as it seems to only apply to being mandatory on cars of a certain criteria at the moment in Rouen .....at 8 odd quid I think I'll get one next time though to save the aggro.
Great, lets get up early and get off, park up then walk around.....reading about the city doh moment...you need CritAir stickers on your car.
I decided after a few tins of some strong leffe blonde courage the night before I'd just blag it as it seems to only apply to being mandatory on cars of a certain criteria at the moment in Rouen .....at 8 odd quid I think I'll get one next time though to save the aggro.
A development.
I've had an email back from Hertz with a little more detail. They are admin charges for requests for info from the authorities (fair enough I guess, it's in the Ts&Cs). There's very little further info except that they don't know anything about the pending Oklahoma charges (so will get them cancelled by the CC company).
They confirm that they have had details requested for 2 offences by "l'officier du ministère public contestation vite" which seems to be a speeding fine. What is really interesting is the times of the offences - one was really close to handing back the keys, and having checked my photos I can actually find a walkround video and photo of the car in the car park of Hertz at the exact datestamp of the supposed fine!
The other one is tricky as it was on the long drive, seems to be on the N31 just outside Beauvais. Had a quick look on google maps and it doesn't look like a road festooned with speed cameras, and a police car would presumably have pulled me over. But I really don't have any proof either way - it was 6 weeks ago and I had no dashcam. I would be surprised though as we had bags of time in hand and I was being really conservative with my speeds.
The other issue is that I still haven't had any tickets so I'm a bit salty about paying administrative charges for fines that may not ever show. Although I found a post on Briskoda where somebody said a fine came through 6 months after the offence :shrug:
Bloody frustrating.
I've had an email back from Hertz with a little more detail. They are admin charges for requests for info from the authorities (fair enough I guess, it's in the Ts&Cs). There's very little further info except that they don't know anything about the pending Oklahoma charges (so will get them cancelled by the CC company).
They confirm that they have had details requested for 2 offences by "l'officier du ministère public contestation vite" which seems to be a speeding fine. What is really interesting is the times of the offences - one was really close to handing back the keys, and having checked my photos I can actually find a walkround video and photo of the car in the car park of Hertz at the exact datestamp of the supposed fine!
The other one is tricky as it was on the long drive, seems to be on the N31 just outside Beauvais. Had a quick look on google maps and it doesn't look like a road festooned with speed cameras, and a police car would presumably have pulled me over. But I really don't have any proof either way - it was 6 weeks ago and I had no dashcam. I would be surprised though as we had bags of time in hand and I was being really conservative with my speeds.
The other issue is that I still haven't had any tickets so I'm a bit salty about paying administrative charges for fines that may not ever show. Although I found a post on Briskoda where somebody said a fine came through 6 months after the offence :shrug:
Bloody frustrating.
Part of me wonders if the car was cloned somehow, but unless I receive a ticket with a location there's bugger all I can do. I will email Hertz to ask them to cancel the charge for the later "offence" as it can't have taken place - but I suspect they will say that it's something I need to take up with the authorities and they've just done what they've been asked (and what I authorised by signing the agreement).
All very odd. How do these things work in France? are there flashes? I've never been flashed by a camera and not noticed... How long do they take to arrive? Is there some sort of statute of limitations? I'm basically waiting for something that may never come, or take months, and then I have to try and argue the toss, and if I win then go back to Hertz who will still quote Ts&Cs.
Bah.
All very odd. How do these things work in France? are there flashes? I've never been flashed by a camera and not noticed... How long do they take to arrive? Is there some sort of statute of limitations? I'm basically waiting for something that may never come, or take months, and then I have to try and argue the toss, and if I win then go back to Hertz who will still quote Ts&Cs.
Bah.
I had a semi similar one with Sixt in Italy. I got the ticket over a year after the offence. I ignored the letters for 2 more years and eventually paid when I was chased by a UK debt collection agency. I gather I could have ignored the UK debt collector from PH advice but I just paid, didn't fancy getting arrested entering Italy with my family.
If I get a fine it's something I can work with - either I can prove it wasn't me (location) and fight it, or I can't and just pay up. It's annoying that I'm £40 down to Hertz but I suspect the eventual damage will be much more. Just annoyed that they can seemingly take months and months to sort it out.
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