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| Ron and I live permanently in the U.S. but travel to Europe yearly.
We "misplaced" the ticket and although we aren't traveling to Switzerland in August, we would like to pay the fine-
The ticket came in the mail 3 months after we returned to the states. We were over the speed limit by less than five miles an hour. Funny though, I did remark to Ron at the time, how wonderful the Swiss drove! Now I understand!
I installed a translator on my computer to see if I could translate more of the German into English. Based what I read here I thought I would contact our car rental agency and see if they could help. | |
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Hi Ron (or are you Ron and I?), I know this thread is a bit old, but I just wanted to make sure you got the correct advice on this issue.
I would NOT recommend simply forgetting about this, as eventually the costs will mount and mount, and should you return to Switzerland (which you plan to do), you might find yourself in an unpleasant situation when you land.
I fully appreciate the fact you are ready and willing to pay the fine, and that you might find it rather strange that you receive a letter, addressed to the USA, written in German. Other European countries will send such letters in English, realising the fact that visitors may occasionally not speak the official language.
As a first step I would suggest sending back a politely worded letter thanking them for their letter, but you are unable to understand German, since you live in America and not Zug. Going from previous experience with my friends and family members you'll probably just receive a second copy of the letter, also in German, with no further explanation.
Now here comes the really great part. That orange slip at the bottom is pretty much the ONLY way to pay the fine. While you might have paid traffic fines in other parts of the world online or with credit cards, you can forget about that in this case!
The last time this happened to my brother I actually phoned the department in question and asked them how on earth they expected him to pay a fine with a domestic payment slip, from a foreign country. I was told that they usually find someone in Switzerland to do this task for them. They were right, I paid it for him. The truth is that they don't really care if they make life difficult for you, because at the end of the day it will just get passed further up the chain, and eventually onto a register.
Not all Swiss cantons are this retarded when it comes to giving ways for foreigners to pay fines. I've had fines from the French-speaking part where they also supply the full bank account number to allow a transfer to be made.
Anyway, back to your issue - your best course of action is to get someone in Switzerland to pay this fine for you. If you make a donation to the forum via paypal for the amount of the fine, and add something extra on top for my time and paypal processing fees I'll be happy to pay this for you (just scan the payment slip and email or PM to me).