German Motorway Tax
Discussion
Hi
My sister returned from Germany where she was on a road trip with her partner. To cut a long story short - At the German border they were pulled to a side with other foreign cars and were made to pay about £150 for "Annual Motorway Tax" even though they were only driving through for 2 days. It was 100% an official border and the "police" took payments by cash or credit card through a machine.
I must stress this wasn't a fake border etc it was an official border stop.
Does anyone know what this charge was or whether this is some sort of scam?
Regards,
Oliver
My sister returned from Germany where she was on a road trip with her partner. To cut a long story short - At the German border they were pulled to a side with other foreign cars and were made to pay about £150 for "Annual Motorway Tax" even though they were only driving through for 2 days. It was 100% an official border and the "police" took payments by cash or credit card through a machine.
I must stress this wasn't a fake border etc it was an official border stop.
Does anyone know what this charge was or whether this is some sort of scam?
Regards,
Oliver
Unless your sister was driving a heavy goods vehicle then I am pretty sure that she has been scammed. Where was the border crossing? (you do have to pay for vignettes on some Austrian and Swiss motorways). I live in Germany, we have 3 cars - 2 German registered and 1 still on UK plates and I have never been approached to pay anything for using autobahns.
I travelled by car from France via Luxembourg into Germany last Thursday (& vice versa the previous week)& do this on a regular basis & have never seen such a scenario. Admittedly this was in an XK8 with German number plates but I kept (& drove) an E Type Roadster (with British Number plates) in Germany for 7 years & never had any problems. Very unlikely to be genuine. I live in Germany & if I was stopped & asked to pay a fine of such magnitude I would ring the police on the emergeny number 112 to check the situation out. And dont worry about the language - many German police speak (some) English.
JMGS4 said:
DEFINITELY a SCAM!!! Can you give further details, date time border crossing post a receipt etc etc? as there is NO car toll on german Autobahns. and I'm sure it'd be something for not paying autobahn tolls in Switzerland or Austria, when they probably crossed without knowing it...
I don't see how you could cross into Switzerland without knowing given that you would have to pass through customs\immigration.There is something wrong with this story.
bad company said:
JMGS4 said:
DEFINITELY a SCAM!!! Can you give further details, date time border crossing post a receipt etc etc? as there is NO car toll on german Autobahns. and I'm sure it'd be something for not paying autobahn tolls in Switzerland or Austria, when they probably crossed without knowing it...
I don't see how you could cross into Switzerland without knowing given that you would have to pass through customs\immigration.There is something wrong with this story.
PS I live 3kms as the crow flies from the CH/D border and cross about 300 times a year!!
Edited by JMGS4 on Wednesday 1st July 14:16
andye30m3 said:
we got pulled over by German police on the motorway when traveling from SPA to switzerland a couple of weeks ago
They never charged us anything just checked we had all our paperwork.
Probably because the majority of Brits visiting Germany drive far too slowly on the AB and cause a back-up. However if you were driving fast that is unusual for a GB plate, that's why you got tugged....They never charged us anything just checked we had all our paperwork.
SymonsO said:
Does anyone know what this charge was or whether this is some sort of scam? Regards, Oliver
Oliver, can you post here or PM me the paperwork they gave her, I can clarify exactly what it was. I can only assume it was a speeding fine as they do set up a police check at some borders when a lot of furriners speed near the border...
JMGS4 said:
andye30m3 said:
we got pulled over by German police on the motorway when traveling from SPA to switzerland a couple of weeks ago
They never charged us anything just checked we had all our paperwork.
Probably because the majority of Brits visiting Germany drive far too slowly on the AB and cause a back-up. However if you were driving fast that is unusual for a GB plate, that's why you got tugged....They never charged us anything just checked we had all our paperwork.
In all honesty the police were a nice bunch and suggested we headed to the nurburgring on our way home.
Put it this way. I lived there for over a year. I had three cars there, two German registered cars and one British. None required "annual motorway tax". Because there is no such thing.
Perhaps your sister is confusing Germany with Austria or with Switzerland? Or perhaps you're just trying to pull our legs?
Perhaps your sister is confusing Germany with Austria or with Switzerland? Or perhaps you're just trying to pull our legs?
I was in Krakow, Poland in March and accidently drove into a pedestrian precinct late at night looking for our hotel. Three police stopped me and told me in English that there was a 100 euro cash fine for this. Wrote down details of all my documentation; passport, driving licence, vehicle docs etc. Then I told them that I didn,t have any euros. Remember the Polish currency is Zloties. More police turn up. Wife starts to get nervious, I show them my wallet, which just by chance had no money of any description in it, having spent it all in Czech republic 
. After much discussion in Polish between the now 7 police with 3 vehicles, they tell me to go away. Pure and simple Polish police corruption.
. After much discussion in Polish between the now 7 police with 3 vehicles, they tell me to go away. Pure and simple Polish police corruption. Gassing Station | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff