speeding in Australia - hertz

[iskyfly]

I am an Australian citizen that resides in US and travels to Australia for Xmas holidays. I do not have an Australian drivers license.

I was into the last few days of my month long rental, and the last few Km's of my destination when I was pulled over for speeding. I gave the officer my US drivers license. He asked if this was a hire car, I said yes. He also asked where I was staying and I gave him the address of the rental place that I was staying at. He asked if I wanted to know how the system worked and I said yes. He said my drivers license would be assessed 2 demerit points and that my fine was $xx_. He said I have 28 days to pay the fine or contest it in court (I am not flying back for court). I didn't bother to ask, but how are they going to assess my US drivers license with their system of demirt points? I dont think they can.

What about the fine? Pay it and get it over with? Will they trace the vehicle rego via Hertz back to me?

 

[MelUser]

Yes - pay the fine and move on.

If you don't pay the fine, eventually it will go to court. You'll be found guilty (in absentia). A warrant will issue for your arrest. Next time (possiblyin 10 years time or whenever you are next pullrd over) a name check will cause the police man to nab you and take you into custody.

 

[BAM1748]

As above, pay the fine and forget about the rest. Doing nothing will result in a court hearing.

 

[markis10]

Doing nothing will also result in an another charge to your credit card from Hertz for an infringement processing fee, and one each time another reminder/court order gets issued, which will add up to more than the original fine.

 

[serfty]

Aside from that, Hertz may ding you with a "matching" fee should they be approached to verify the renter of the car.

 

[Dave Noble]

Doing nothing will also result in an another charge to your credit card from Hertz for an infringement processing fee, and one each time another reminder/court order gets issued, which will add up to more than the original fine.

No it won't. Herz has passed the details on and is no longer involved in the issue.

Dave

 

[markis10]

No it won't. Herz has passed the details on and is no longer involved in the issue.

Dave

Dave

Hertz will be involved if the fine is not paid as most state penaties enforcement offices revert back to the registered owner if the driver does not hold an Australian Drivers Licence and refuses to pay or communicate, owner onus is implied in most traffic acts regardless of the nature of the detection of the offence.

Its been a common complaint agianst many state penalty inforcement offices from car rental companies in the past, easy to solve for Ozzie licences thanks to the national licencing scheme, lot harder for our visitors:

State Debt Recovery Office and Mr Ken Morden - 31/08/2004 - PRIV - NSW Parliament

 

[serfty]

No it won't. Herz has passed the details on and is no longer involved in the issue. ...

At this stage I doubt Hertz is even aware of the fine. It would stay that way unless the OP fails to pay up.

In one respect the OP is 'lucky' - if it had been a speed camera based fine; the authorities first point of call would have been Hertz with an immediate fee dinged onto the CC account used for the rental, followed up by the infringement notice.

 

[file51]

Sorry dave, but having worked in Car Rental for 9 years you are not correct.

As per the previous reply by markis10, and as per the T&C on all car rental agreements, the vehicle owner (in this case Hertz) has the right to directly charge any customer outstanding fines.

Having worked in an operations level in for many of the 9 years, processing fines and charging cards after recieving final demands for unpaid fines was a daily occurance.

At the end of the day, the relevant fine issuer or administractive body wants there money

 

[chrisb]

didn't bother to ask, but how are they going to assess my US drivers license with their system of demirt points? I dont think they can.

I think they create a virtual drivers license record for you in the computers. I doubt it means anything unless you do something really stupid. (Like exceed 12 points or get done drunk driving)

If you ever plan on coming back and driving, just pay it.

 

[markis10]

Its also a common misconception that driving on an overseas licence will solve the demerit points problem as this piece from the NT proves, I beleive it applies to all states:

The NT maintains a Demerit Points Scheme (DPS) based on similar DPS’s that already operate in all other Australian states and territories. Interstate/Overseas drivers that receive demerit points will have their offence details and points history recorded by the Motor Vehicle Registry. Interstate drivers will also have their demerit point offences sent to their home state or territory. Demerit point offences are only ever recorded by the MVR once the infringement notice has been finalised.​

Interstate/Overseas drivers that exceed the NT’s demerit point action trigger for their licence class may have their driving privileges in the NT withdrawn.

 

[JohnK]

Doing nothing will also result in an another charge to your credit card from Hertz for an infringement processing fee, and one each time another reminder/court order gets issued, which will add up to more than the original fine.

I think that is standard practice. I got a letter from Avis New Zealand in February 2007 regarding a speeding offence in January 2007 picked up by a speed camera in Kaikoura. I was charged a processing fee ($25?) by Avis and I also had to pay the infringement notice to New Zealand Police. By the way it was not me who was driving at the time.

 

[stryker]

I think that is standard practice. I got a letter from Avis New Zealand in February 2007 regarding a speeding offence in January 2007 picked up by a speed camera in Kaikoura. I was charged a processing fee ($25?) by Avis and I also had to pay the infringement notice to New Zealand Police. By the way it was not me who was driving at the time.

Well, there are some exceptions.

A couple of years ago I was driving a Spanish registered rental car in France. I got the dreaded camera flash on a straight piece of road doing about 95Kph in a 90 zone.

Oh dear, I thought, what's going to happen now? Well the short and long answer is that absolutely nothing at all happened. Not sure why, but I figured that the French authorities couldn't be bothered with the hassle of going through the Spanish authorities.

Whatever reason, it was a pleasnat surprise.

 

[WTL]

Well, there are some exceptions.

A couple of years ago I was driving a Spanish registered rental car in France. I got the dreaded camera flash on a straight piece of road doing about 95Kph in a 90 zone.

Oh dear, I thought, what's going to happen now? Well the short and long answer is that absolutely nothing at all happened. Not sure why, but I figured that the French authorities couldn't be bothered with the hassle of going through the Spanish authorities.

Whatever reason, it was a pleasnat surprise.

Got done in France once and as we were visitors the police demanded payment on the spot.

 

[NM]

Got done in France once and as we were visitors the police demanded payment on the spot.

Were you issued an official receipt

 

[one9]

If this happened in NSW this is what will happen:

You were issued a Fine. If you do not pay it in 28 days a letter will be sent to you. If you do not pay this within 28 days a reminder will be sent to you. The details are also recorded on the computer system with you as a Visitor. So if you do more driving offenses and receive more than 12 demerit points, then you will receive a "Suspension of Driving Privileges in NSW" for 3 or 6 months.

If you did not pay after the two letters then your details are sent to the RTA to put a restriction on you from doing business with the RTA in the future (eg. obtaining a drivers licence or registering a vehicle).

The RTA & NSW government has no enforcement power to enforce the fine on someone who is not a NSW resident. Nor can they do anything to your overseas driving licence. The only thing they can do is put a restriction on you from doing business with the RTA in the future until you have paid your fine.

So if you think you could possibly get a licence or register a car in NSW in the future then just pay the fine. If you think you will never do any business with the RTA in the future, then it is optional whether you want to pay the fine or not.

 

[Happy Dude]

If this happened in NSW this is what will happen:

You were issued a Fine. If you do not pay it in 28 days a letter will be sent to you. If you do not pay this within 28 days a reminder will be sent to you. The details are also recorded on the computer system with you as a Visitor. So if you do more driving offenses and receive more than 12 demerit points, then you will receive a "Suspension of Driving Privileges in NSW" for 3 or 6 months.

If you did not pay after the two letters then your details are sent to the RTA to put a restriction on you from doing business with the RTA in the future (eg. obtaining a drivers licence or registering a vehicle).

The RTA & NSW government has no enforcement power to enforce the fine on someone who is not a NSW resident. Nor can they do anything to your overseas driving licence. The only thing they can do is put a restriction on you from doing business with the RTA in the future until you have paid your fine.

So if you think you could possibly get a licence or register a car in NSW in the future then just pay the fine. If you think you will never do any business with the RTA in the future, then it is optional whether you want to pay the fine or not.

Are you saying that an overseas or interstate visitor to NSW can drive in any manner they like without retribution until they try to register a car or apply for RTA-administered licence?

The RTA website indicates that "international visitors" would be treated the same as a NSW driver, or one from any other state/territory for that matter, in that you'll be fined for speeding ($81 - $1784 depending) and taken to court for not paying the fine ($2200 if found guilty).

Can you state your source/authority? Your post implies that ignoring RTA-issued fines and the NSW court system, and re-registering a vehicle in another state is feasible.

 

[markis10]

Are you saying that an overseas or interstate visitor to NSW can drive in any manner they like without retribution until they try to register a car or apply for RTA-administered licence?

The RTA website indicates that "international visitors" would be treated the same as a NSW driver, or one from any other state/territory for that matter, in that you'll be fined for speeding ($81 - $1784 depending) and taken to court for not paying the fine ($2200 if found guilty).

Can you state your source/authority? Your post implies that ignoring RTA-issued fines and the NSW court system, and re-registering a vehicle in another state is feasible.

The RTA is certainly limited in what action it can take, as it looks after NSW only, however that ignores the power of the SDRO and the courts system:

"If you still take no action, SDRO will use a range of civil sanctions to recover the monies. These include issuing a property seizure order or garnishee order.
If civil sanctions are unsuccessful, SDRO will consider issuing you with a community service order. If you breach this, a warrant may be issued for your arrest and you may be imprisoned."

That could welll mean extradition etc, seems alot of risk to avoid paying a small fine in the context of the OP.

 

[file51]

one9 is actually incorrect.

The RTA, then state debt recovery unit will send the fine to the driver once details have been provided by the rental company. If that fails to be paid then the fine is sent to the Rental car company, which is when they can legally charge the credit card to recover such cost.

As some may understand here, especially for red light camera offences etc etc, if a driver is not identified, i.e. a company registered car, rental car etc etc, instead of the vehicle owner losing points (this only happens for privately owned vehicles) the vehicle owner is slugged with a massive fine, I have seen them in the vicinity of $2,000 plus gst. At the end of the day, fines that end up coming back to the Rental Car company are charged via there credit card (as per RA T&C). Usually when that happens you are placed on a "Do Not Rent" database, and that will cause no end of troubles if you travel.

If you think just use a competitor, think again... Cendant own both Avis & Budget and use the same infrastructure, they also own Travelport/Orbitz, Wyndham group and many other companies that are in the travel industry, and YES, they share some common databases, such as risk customers, etc etc. I realise your rental car was from Hertz, however they have the same sort of contacts within the industry.

For the sake of a $100-200 fine, it is easier paid and dealt with before it turns into a nightmare.

 

[medhead]

Its also a common misconception that driving on an overseas licence will solve the demerit points problem as this piece from the NT proves, I beleive it applies to all states:

The NT maintains a Demerit Points Scheme (DPS) based on similar DPS’s that already operate in all other Australian states and territories. Interstate/Overseas drivers that receive demerit points will have their offence details and points history recorded by the Motor Vehicle Registry. Interstate drivers will also have their demerit point offences sent to their home state or territory. Demerit point offences are only ever recorded by the MVR once the infringement notice has been finalised. ​

Interstate/Overseas drivers that exceed the NT’s demerit point action trigger for their licence class may have their driving privileges in the NT withdrawn.

That's all very interesting, but they can only impose demerit points within Australia. This is because of an interstate agreement on this that was finalised back in the earliy 1990s. there is no similar agreement with other countries and hence the only effective penalty is a fine. If they have no Australian licence the demerit points cannot be transferred to the other country* (* I only know this to be true for Germany, there may be agreements with other countries)

As for the rental company being ultimately responsilble that doesn't sound correct. The owner of the vehicle is given a choice to either pay the fine without nominating the driver with a extra loading, or to nominate the driver. Once the driver is known or nominated there is no reason for the vehicle owner to be involved for a driver related offence. Hence there is no reason for the rental company to be adding multiple administration charges to a CC because it should have no involvement in the court process involving a known driver. The police have seen the drivers licence and they have the drivers address. The vehicle owner has no further need to be involved.