Parking fine in Germany

[Sushifiend]

Just got back from a European driving tour taking in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, some 2500 miles in all using my own UK registered car. On my last day in Munich after staying with a friend for a few days, I got some sort of parking fine paperwork under my windscreen wiper for parking not according to the parkgesetz or something like that. I'm not challenging the fine as I wasn't properly parked - there were no marked bays available for miles and I had a ton of luggage and camera gear to load.

So the fine is only €35 but I'll have to pay it via some sort of international transfer. I had intended to see if I could pay it on my return through Germany, but I didn't return through Munich and I suffered a breakdown on my return that put paid to my plans.

So the question is - should I bother figuring put how to pay the fine? What would happen if I didn't pay the fine? I'm safely back in England and I doubt they will chase me here. But what happens if I return to Germany at a later date? Would I have an issue if I return to Germany or only if I return to Munich? I'll likely not do another foreign trip with the same car, although I expect I'll always have the same registration as it's a personalised one. If they do keep a record and I return there, the German polizei would have no way to prove it was me who incurred the fine - I could well be a new owner of a car with the same plate...

If you're interested, my power steering failed completely and without warning on my return from Prague just as I was manoeuvring in a hotel underground garage in Nuremburg. Took a 300-point-turn to get out of the garage the next morning, and the local BMW dealer couldn't do anything for a couple of days and I needed to be on my way to get home before Christmas. The mechanic thought it should be safe to continue on my way without the power steering as long as I kept my speeds down. Try not to go faster than 180km/h he said. Well I tried, but funnily enough the car seems a lot more stable at high speed without power assistance. Still, I didn't manage to exceed 225km/h so some way off VMax...


Souvenir photo...

[Truffles]

No idea how to pay the fine, but I am in Munich quite often and it amazes me how badly people park there. Any spare piece of pavement seems fair game.

[Cyberprog]

The amount of steering input you have to put reduces the faster you go remember

[redback911]

Sushifiend said:

Sounds like an awesome trip!

To be fair, you do seem to be parked in a dodgy place in that pic. ;-)

[Cooperman]

The Gestapo will get you. They will pull your finger nails out until you confess then will send you to a labour camp. It is such a serious matter that a European arrest warrant will be issued to drag you back to Germany.

Just ignore it and nothing further will ever happen.

[227bhp]

I got flashed by a camera whilst over there, never paid it, nothing came of it. I also got sent a tax bill for a car i'd bought out there, I couldn't understand it, nor paid it either.

[Dammit]

It would appear that total peace of mind is available for 35 Euro - I'd go that route, given that it's pocket change in return for no potential problems in future.

[Sushifiend]

redback911 said:

Sushifiend said:

Sounds like an awesome trip!

To be fair, you do seem to be parked in a dodgy place in that pic. ;-)

Yep, was a great trip for sure. I would have liked to fit in Bratislava and Budapest as well, but I spent too long in Munich and ran out of time. The trip was originally intended to just be visiting a friend in Munich. In fact only 4 days before the trip I was set on going by plane. At the last minute I decided to visit an ex in Frankfurt on the way as she'd been asking me to visit her and I hadn't for ages. So then I decided I may as well drive, and it was only when I was underway that I decided to just keep going. Although I had originally planned it to just be a long weekend, my only real deadline was being back in time for Xmas so I decided to just stay away and keep exploring. The Eurotunnel is not like most trains, in that a return costs twice as much as a one-way fare, so I just booked my outbound crossing and left my return date open. A 3-day trip turned into a 12-day trip - one of the only consolations of still being single and childless at my age is that I can more or less dispense with my time as I see fit.

The weather was forecast to be mild, so I didn't bother fitting my winter tyres. If I had I probably would have headed further south into alpine Italy and Switzerland. Then I might not have made it to Vienna and Prague, which are magical at this time of year. The only vaguely treacherous part was the dense night time fog on the E59 on entering the Czech Republic. My car tramlines pretty wildly on uneven surfaces, and that road surface was nothing like flat.

With regards to the photo - I'd visited BMW Welt on one day and asked one of the staff there for permission to park my car there to take photos. He gave me the go-ahead but later in the day it was pouring so I had to come back the following evening. The next night I came back but the lights in the BMW Vierzylinder tower had been turned off due to it being fairly late in the evening - so I had to come back on a third night. The security guard wasn't that happy with me parking there. It took about 5 minutes of convincing before he let me get on with my photo session. The window of opportunity where it's dark enough for long exposures while not too late for the lights in the tower to be on is not that long, and I was worried that I might not get my shots...

[Sushifiend]

Dammit said:

It would appear that total peace of mind is available for 35 Euro - I'd go that route, given that it's pocket change in return for no potential problems in future.

I think I will find a way to pay it, just for peace of mind.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

When I got an Italian speeding fine, it gave an IBAN account number. My online banking allowed me to transfer money direct to it - just had to make sure that the reference I put on the transfer matched what it said in the instructions so that the transfer would be credited to my fine. Job done in 10 minutes.

[Slushbox]

If you pay it you can drive in Germany with a clear conscience and a song-in-your-heart. If not, next time you go you'll be worried every time you see a blue light. :-)

I've not had one for several years, but paid the last one. Not worth the hassle of being forever 'guilty.' Unless you want to appeal it, of course.

The German cops pulled me over in Stuttgart years ago for being stranded in the middle of a junction when the lights changed. My fault, but Jesus, what a verbal, arm-waving dressing down. Never seen such an angry cop.

[paulmnz]

You have probably been fined for not having a city environmental sticker (you see them in local cars - a green circle with a '4' in it for cars).

All cars parking in major german cities need to have it (including tourists). I drive a fair bit through germany but in different cars so I've never bothered - it's a bit of a hassle to get one. I just make sure I park in multi-stories and hide the car from the local parking wardens and fuzz.

More info here:

http://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/drivi...

[Sushifiend]

paulmnz said:

You have probably been fined for not having a city environmental sticker (you see them in local cars - a green circle with a '4' in it for cars).

All cars parking in major german cities need to have it (including tourists). I drive a fair bit through germany but in different cars so I've never bothered - it's a bit of a hassle to get one. I just make sure I park in multi-stories and hide the car from the local parking wardens and fuzz.

More info here:

http://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/drivi...

Nope, it was definitely for my parking infringement. I knew I wasn't supposed to park there, but I only planned to be there for 15 minutes while loading the car. Once up in my friends' apartment (I had to ask a grumpy neighbour to buzz me in as my friend was not home) I realised that if I went down to move the car, I'd be locked out again and I knew the neighbour would not let me in again. My friend had gone to the midnight premiere of Star Wars and probably wouldn't be back until 3am, so I decided that I'd rather wait for him in the warmth and chance getting fined.

I do have the green environmental sticker, as I lived in Germany (Hamburg) back in 2010. Hamburg never needed the sticker back when I was there, but I had it anyway so I could travel about a bit and park in other cities without an issue.

[cmaguire]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

When I got an Italian speeding fine, it gave an IBAN account number. My online banking allowed me to transfer money direct to it - just had to make sure that the reference I put on the transfer matched what it said in the instructions so that the transfer would be credited to my fine. Job done in 10 minutes.

I just paid a 37 Euro Dutch one I got in a hire car. With Hertz's admin charge and the £25 transfer charge it was the best part of £100. For less than 5kph over.
I'll sleep well tonight though.