Imagine you’re cruising along through the wine country on your trip to Italy. The sun is shining, the engine of your car is purring, you’re feeling good. But somewhere in the bushes, all is not well. As you drive you decide to see what your car can really do. You make it to the villa just in time for a delicious home made Italian dinner, and the rest of your vacation is relaxing and wonderful. Six weeks later you see a mysterious charge on your credit card from the Italian car rental company.

What happened is your car had its photo taken by a road-side speed monitoring camera.  There is no chance of talking your way out it. No trying to reason with an officer or trying to explain the perfect rationale you had for going over the posted limit. The fact is that if you get one, you may not know about it for weeks. Car rental agencies in Italy are legally obligated to provide the traffic authorities with the name and address of whoever was renting the car, and generally pay off the ticket, but use your credit card to do so. They also charge an additional fee for this.

No one likes getting a speeding ticket, but they sometimes happen. Obviously, disputing the charge on your card may seem like the easy way out of paying a ticket, but most likely it won’t work. You may obtain a copy of the photograph, and if it’s not you behind the wheel, you can typically win a challenge. The best way to get out of paying one is to not get one in the first place. The cameras look like large white boxes on the side of the road, and are generally marked with signs. There are also white stripes on the road that indicate the speed trap is coming up. Slow down when you see these visual cues to avoid a ticket. Don’t worry about looking silly, everyone else will be doing the same.

Keep this in mind while driving and you will be sure to avoid any tickets while overseas!

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