We rented a car from Hertz/France in July 08. After returning to the United States, I found a 20 euro charge on my credit card for %26quot;administrative fees%26quot; associated with providing my name and address to the police so that they could forward to me a speeding ticket (ostensibly my rental car was photographed by a roadside speed camera). Hertz could not provide me with any documentation regarding the police request and I protested the charge through my credit card company. Four months later, I have not yet received any citation from the French police and Hertz refunded the 20 euros to my account.
First of all, even if there is a valid ticket, the charge of 20 euros for a simple transfer of address information is truly excessive. Second, this could be a scam on the part of a rental company which counts on a person%26#39;s inattentiveness to relatively small charges.
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I have always found Hertz France to be honest.
My suspicion is that (a) you were caught by a speed camera; (b) Hertz got the ticket and had to make a formal declaration as to who was driving at the time; (c) the French police decided it would be pointless to send a ticket to someone living in USA.
It%26#39;s not %26quot;a simple transfer of address information%26quot;, it%26#39;s a formal declaration and a charge of E20 is reasonable. I was assume that Hertz reversed the charge purely as a matter of good will.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;First of all, even if there is a valid ticket, the charge of 20 euros for a simple transfer of address information is truly excessive.
Perhaps but it%26#39;s cheap compared to what banks charge for various services. The processing of special administrative requests is costly and should not be absorbed by an innocent third party.
%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;Second, this could be a scam on the part of a rental company
I have not yet received a ticket myself but have often heard that this is exactly how the process works, it is not unique to Hertz.
The French have made speeding a national issue and there has been a resulting push in both detecting speeding motorists and fining them. You may yet receive a citation.
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I probably agree with your take, however, it would be prudent for those who rent cars to continue to check their credit card statements for several months following a car rental. I have been renting cars in France for several decades and never had a real problem.
Formal declaration or not, I still think 20 euros is out of line.
How are things in Sydney? My wife and I spent 3 weeks in Australia two years ago. A great place!!
Regards from Bellingham, Washington.
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Sarastro is right: travelling around France earlier this year I noticed far more speed cameras than in previous years. Indeed, the Michelin road atlas now shows the location of fixed speed cameras outside towns.
I think it is a good idea to check your credit card statement every month: it%26#39;s not just overseas companies that might try a small extra charge and hope you don%26#39;t notice!
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It is not a scam, it has happened to me and I have never received the speeding fine and consider myself lucky to have got off with such a small admin charge rather than the full fine.
The French police have really cracked down on speeding and we often do through several traps a day from static cameras to mobile hand held ones.
Just consider yourself lucky that you were probably caught by a fixed camera rather that a mobile one where the fine is payable on the spot!
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