lehms

i rented a car at phoenix airport earlier this month, and received an email from a service stating i had gone 50 in a 35 zone while in tempe, they were assessing a $40 fine to adminster for advantage rental car and the town of tempe would be in contact soon

obviously i was never pulled over and dont remember a camera or other device that clocked my speed

anybody have any experience here or suggestions on how to handle

thanks

doober

A tracking device, GPS+ was on your vehicle - that's how they got your speed and location.

Did your contract disclose that such a device was installed on the vehicle?

alanR

Ask for the photographic proof - then when they provide it, pay the fine before they start adding extra charges to it

Just because you didn't see the camera doesn't mean there wasn't one

HereAndThereSC

THat's none of the rental car company's business whether I speed or not. They are not in the business of giving tickets to speeding renters.

Now if they had a photo radar... Just wait for the photo to arrive before paying anybody. Innocent until proven guilty.

JP

El Boocho

Unless you plan to dispute that it was you, I'd pay it (after receiving the photo evidence). Is there an address or ticket number? You ought to be able to find how to pay online on the Tempe gov website.

lehms

Mar 25 2008

Dear XXXXXXXXXXX:

Violation Management Services (VMS) is an independent company retained by Advantage Rent-A-Car to administer and process unpaid parking and other traffic-related violations incurred by its renters. VMS has been notified of a violation(s) issued to the vehicle (AZ plate # 1XXXXX you rented during the dates Mar 07, 2008 through Mar 09, 2008.



Under state laws, Advantage Rent-A-Car is required to provide information regarding your rental to the issuing authority or pay for all parking, tolls and other violations issued to their vehicles, including all fines, penalties and/or interest. In an attempt to limit their liability and reduce this risk of asset seizure, we have taken the following step(s):



In accordance with applicable municipal statutes, we have supplied the issuing authority with your contact information, therefore transferring full liability for the payment of this violation to you. We have billed your credit card our appropriate service fee only. It is your responsibility to contact the issuing authority regarding payment of any fines, penalties, and interest related to these violations.



Under the terms of the rental agreement you signed, (paragraph 3) and the disclosure statement on the front of the contract, you are legally obligated to pay any and all parking, and/or other traffic-related violations received during the time of your rental, including service fees. You have further authorized VMS to charge your credit card provided at the time of the rental for all associated violation costs, including a service fee not to exceed $40.00.



Under those terms, VMS has billed your credit card (last four digits 5290), for the following violation(s) fees...



Issuing Authority
Summons #
Date /Time
Fine
Penalty
Int.
Credit
VMS Svc. Fee
Total Due VMS

City of Tempe (ATE)
TF050959
Mar 7 2008 12:50PM
$150.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$40.00
$40.00

SPEEDING 50 IN 35




Service Fee Paid To Violation Management Services
$40.00


As VMS has been authorized by Advantage Rent-A-Car to handle all related matters concerning the above listed violation(s), and we have all of the relevant documents, WE REQUEST YOU REFER ALL QUESTIONS OR INQUIRES TO VMS. If you have any questions regarding these charges or if you dispute any of the violations listed, please immediately visit our website www.violationmanagement.com where you will be directed to a dispute resolution procedure. Alternatively, you may contact us at our toll free phone # (866) 426-4040.

Sincerely,



Mikel Oleson

Customer Service Manager

fatfrog

On the fraud front: I would call Aadvantage to make sure they actually work with this company and try to verify the ticket information with the City as well. It's weird to me that AAdvantage would transfer you over to VMS immediately without attempting to contact you first, given that VMS charges a $40 fee to you.

If you want to dispute the admin charge from VMS: I would look back at the rental documents and see if they discussed this possibility at all. I'm pretty sure they have to disclose any of these fees and you can probably complain that it's totally unfair for them to transfer you to this service to assess this fee before making any initial attempt to contact you and have you pay the ticket.

If you want to dispute the traffic ticket, you'll just have to see what the local rules are. E.g., it's easy to dispute tickets in CA because you can do it in writing. It's tough to do in MA (or at least in the Middlesex courts -- not sure if rules are different elsewhere) because you have to go through at least two hearings, in person, to contest (first hearing, police have benefit of presumption even if they don't show up, so that's pretty much a loser for the ticketee, who has to show up to contest. Then the ticketee has to pay some fee to appeal the decision of the initial court).

Cholula

Threads about auto safety/security are certainly acceptable in TS/S. But since this has to do with a ticket in a rental car, we're going to move it to "Other Car Rental Programs".

Please continue to follow at it's new home.

Thanks.

_______________________

Cholula
Travel Safety/Security Forum Moderator

Iworkhere

Verify this is in fact legit (it probably is), then fight the ticket. Arizona has this crap, here's an article for you.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/s...ckets0605.html