I rented one in Italy. Two weeks later hertz charged me an admin fee for passing my details to the police - apparently we'd been flashed by a speed camera, no idea where.
Police never got in touch though, which makes me wonder if it was all a ruse. I'm not exactly going to chase up the police to find out.
I don’t know how long ago this was, but Italy is notorious for taking a long time to deliver tickets (like, a year because that’s how long they are allowed to take). If it’s a small fine they might just decide that it’s not worth it.
You should though, if you ever plan on visiting Europe again, before an EU-wide notice is put out for you and you get arrested at the airport until you pay the fine and costs...
It doesn’t work this way in EU, no one’s going to arrest you at the airport for unpaid speeding ticket. All you will get is nuisance from debt collectors and possible additional penalties.l, that’s it.
Afaik, German authorities would have to issue a warrant to Europol to actually have you arrested in another EU country. (And I don't see them actually looking for you for a mere parking ticket...)
What EU countries start to do is sharing the license plates files between countries.
I got a (non registered) letter in the mail 3 years ago from the federal police force in Belgium with no easy way to pay the fine (related to a speeding offense which I recognise I most likely did commit). Got them on the phone once but it came to nothing. (If a belgian cop reads this: I'm more than willing to pay :) ).
Interestingly, at the time, belgian plates caught speeding in France were not contacted so the agreement or its technical implementation were not reciprocal.
I also received a parking fine from Brussels city, which made payment simple & efficient via a SEPA transfer.
Europe is far less integrated than US HN users seem to think. Countries are sovereign, they simply choose to collaborate on parts of their legal framework, parts which can be different on a country by country basis.
For instance, Schengen (freedom of movement for visa holders of a member country, generally no border controls between them) is 22 EU countries PLUS Switzerland, Norway & others. Members still have the ability to reinstate full border controls if need be (was the case during the terrorist attacks in France & Belgium in 2015/2016).
License plates schemes and vehicles insurances (ironically, insurance certificate are called "green cards"...) are valid amongst the Council of Europe members (basically all of geographical Europe, Russia & Turkey included)
> What EU countries start to do is sharing the license plates files between countries.
Just wanted to add that this license plate integration is going at full speed. My brother is a truck driver who carries stuff to Western Europe once every 2-3 weeks or so (we live in Romania). About a month ago he received a speeding ticket from the French authorities, translated in Romanian and with a photo of his face as he was driving the truck.
The interesting thing was that the fine was sent to his home/personal address, even though the truck is owned by my brother's employer, not by my brother directly. So on top of making the license plate/owner connection, it seems that for stuff like trucks some traffic authorities also have information about the private details of the drivers operating those trucks.
I live in Europe. If Hertz's charge was genuine, then the police had valid contact details for me for at least a year, and didn't get in touch - I can't see that being my responsibility.
Police never got in touch though, which makes me wonder if it was all a ruse. I'm not exactly going to chase up the police to find out.