sna430

I wanted to try Hertz since they always receive good reviews. I rented a car in the UK for one day to get from LGW to central London to visit some friends. Cost was around 19.10 GPB. On the way back to the airport, I was passed on both sides from a group of cars street racing. I saw the flashes from the speed camera and knew that I would mistakenly receive a violation. Sure enough a bill comes 2 weeks later from Hertz stating I was had a speeding violation. In the letter, a charge of 35.00 GBP (which is almost 2X more than my original rental) was charged to my CC. I tried to dispute this with Hertz but Hertz stated that due to increase in violation notices, Hertz cannot absorb the high costs associated with these notices. Furthermore I cannot dispute this violation because Hertz does not have a copy of the actual violation. So from what I see it, Hertz is charging me 35.00 GBP (almost $70.00) just to mail out a notice without any proof, or a chance to dispute the violation with the authorities. Has anyone recently been able to reverse this type of fee with Hertz? I did do a search in the forum and it seems Hertz is very strict in making this extra profit. Very easy money for Hertz.

rnovak

I'm not sure this is 'extra profit'. I think Hertz is just charging you what the cost of the Violation was.

I would call Hertz, demand a copy of the violation and the ability to contest the violation.

USA_flyer

Hertz isn't making any money from this. If anything it's subsidising the cost as an actual speeding ticket is �60.

See here for contesting the ticket;

http://www.wanadrive.co.uk/Speedcameras2.htm

sna430

From the message, it seems that I will be billed separately by the authorities for the violation and that Hertz was just informing me of a violation.

From the email:
"The administrative fee billed by Hertz is in addition to the cost of the infringement. Local authorities are required to bill the customer direct for costs associated with the fine issued."

Thanks for the information on how to contest the violation. Suppose I dispute the violation and win, will Hertz take off the fee?

USA_flyer

Hertz will have had to inform the local authority who was driving and where they live in order to issue a ticket after going through their records to find out who was driving the car and at what time. It seems to me the administration fee is quite high, unless of course the local authority also imposes a fee on Hertz. Maybe Hertz will give you a breakdown of what the fee composes?

FWIW, now I see you're a non-UK citizen I doubt you'll ever see the fine.

fly-yul

The problem with Hertz's approach is Hertz pays the fine on your behalf and then send you a notice that they have charged your credit card for the amount of the fine and a service fee for having to bother with all the paper work.

This is the same for photo radar speeding, parking violations etc.

But unlike parking, where you get a notice on your car of the violation, with photo radar you do not know about the offense ahead of time. Hertz paying the fine has plead guilty to the offense. You no longer have any way to contest the alleged offense.

DJ_Iceman

I would just dispute the charge with my CC company. Let HERTZ prove you should have to pay it.

sna430

Folow-Up
I received a notice from the Metropolitan Police requiring that I furnish within 28 days the information of the driver of the vehicle (again no picture of the actual violation). The letter states that the alleged offence is EXCESS SPEED (40 MPH LIMIT) of 46 MPH. At the bottom of the letter states that failure to respond to this form will render you liable to prosecution.

I guess the 35.00 GBP charged by Hertz is indeed a admin fee to inform me of a violation and to inform the Police of the renter's information. I still think the fee from Hertz is severe especially compared with my rental fee of 19.95 GBP.

What should I do with this letter? (Funny how there is an insufficient postage due of stamp on the envelope from the USPS) I doubt that they will prosecute someone in the US for a speeding ticket that is 6 MPH over the speed limit. Thanks

DJ_Iceman

The British police cited you in MPH (not KPH)?

Jaimito Cartero

Yes, MPH. They also use gallon measurements sometimes (although different from a US gallon if I recall right). I know I was surprised that they were non-metric, as I thought the US was the only dinosaur in that regard.

Jaimito Cartero

Letter? What letter?

Aus_Mal

It's not just Hertz UK which charges an Admin Fee for processing (not paying!) infringements. The fee is there to cover their expenses in advising the authorities of your details.

Hertz Australia charges $A33.

Interesting situation though. Assuming the OP is correct and wasn't speeding, why should they pay to receive a fine that is later dismissed?

If your appearl is unsuccesful, As for whether to pay the speeding fine or not, it depends on a few things. Do you see yourself heading back to the UK? An unpaid speeding fine could eventually get recorded against your passport and lead to difficulties entering the country. Probably won't happen, but there's nothing stopping countries getting tighter on these kinds of things in the future.

Same issue if you're driving in the UK and pulled over by police. A check of your Intl license may show an unpaid fine from X years ago. You may be taking a detour to the police station to resolve the issue.

spurg

You used to be able to get away with unpaid tickets. I did for years.

These days, the computers hunt you down and -- sooner or later -- you have to pay the piper.

Sucks, but better to pay it and get it behind you.

pinniped

Was the fine from The Man the 60 quid like USA_flyer mentions? Or was it higher?

As some point, you just have to decide how much time/effort it'll take you to fight the charge.

The Hertz fee would just flat-out p*ss me off , so I'd probably fight that one through my CC company.

As for the payment for the ticket itself....well, I'd be annoyed that their technology isn't good enough to catch the correct speeders, but I'd probably just pay 'em and be done with it. The last thing I would want is increasingly-nasty letters from the British cops, although with the unease every time I went through immigration at Heathrow. Probably nothing would ever come of it, but I'd always wonder... The peace of mind is worth the small amount of the fine itself.

rnovak

Ah.. this is different. I would dispute the charge from Hertz and write a letter to the Police denying any wrongdoing and asking them to send proof. Put the ball in thier court and see what happens.

How much was the ticket for?