Fine after vacation in Italy: ADAC fights against money collectors
Created: 2022-11-02 05:03
By: Marcus Efler
Back from vacation, some travelers are said to pay horrendous sums for traffic violations abroad.
The ADAC is now taking this practice to court.
A nice holiday in the south – and an unpleasant surprise in the mailbox a few weeks later: you parked incorrectly, drove to a closed old town, or speeded.
In many cases, it is now common practice to send fine notices back home from countries where you have traveled by car.
Fine after vacation in Italy: ADAC fights against money collectors
However, the question of whether you have to pay is not always easy to answer.
Many drivers (who obviously do not know these tips) transfer the required amount to save themselves future trouble.
However, if the sum is exorbitantly high, you have a good chance of defending yourself.
After the holiday in the south, there can be expensive surprises.
(Iconic image) © Valeriy Tretyakov/Imago
The ADAC is now doing this on behalf of two vacationers in Italy.
One club member from Bavaria received a hefty payment request: he is said to have to pay 434.94 euros for accidentally driving into a restricted-traffic area in the northern Italian coastal town of Grado.
However, not to the municipality itself, but to a Cologne debt collection company.
That had quadrupled the penalty of 100 euros that was actually due for his valued services.
A problem that
ADAC
knows from many cases: "Thousands of German drivers receive such requests for payment every year, and such requests have been one of the top issues in ADAC's legal advice for years".
Fine after a holiday in Italy: Collection companies are right
This procedure, in which the Italian community sells the ticket to the debt collector, is “inadmissible under data protection law”, according to the ADAC.
Only the Federal Office of Justice can collect fines from other EU countries.
"There is no provision for private debt collection companies to be involved in this country, there is no legal basis for this," explains a foreign lawyer for the car club.
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In any case, the ADAC is conducting a model procedure in the case of the Grado traveler - and parallel to this in a second case in which a collection company also based in Cologne demands 323.44 euros for an Italian 100 euro fine.
If the club wins, this has an impact on all comparable cases.
The hope of the car club: "It could be uncomfortable for the debt collection industry."