Speeding ticket Germany
 

Hi guys - I was in Germany in June and got photobombed speeding on a country road going 21k/hr over the speed limit. Sixt sent me a notice of the 25 Euro processing fee on July 15. I have not received anything in the mail yet (living in USA). I will be transiting through FRA next month - is there a chance of the authorities having any record of it or of me being questioned etc?

No, don´t be worry. We are not like this;)

How long does it typically take to get notified of speeding tickets?
We were there in mid July. Not sure we were ever speeding, but the limits changed so often, we may have missed a few.
How far over do you have to be going before the camera kicks in and you get a ticket?

in my case the camera flashed and thats how we knew it got me. The rental car agency sent me a notice of the handling fee with a photo of me driving :)

You can be captured by video, laser camera, non flashing camera and the classic speedtrap. Tolerances vary, its about 5-10% and violations of 5-10kmph inside and 15-20 outside town attract only minimal fines and no specific police procedure. Often regional enforcement stops pursuing such violations when the rental company informs them that the driver lives outside of Germany. The postage and effort to get a 10-15€ fine for example are deemed disproportional. All rental companies nowadays charge 12-30€ to process such enquiries, so it hurts either way.

We were notified quite quickly when we got a speeding ticket coming of an Autobahn in Stuttgart. Sixt didn't pay the fine but charged us an admin fee to tell us that we have incurred a speeding ticket. A couple of weeks later we then received a letter from Stuttgart council with details in German of how to pay.
I was able to pay the fine through my local bank in the UK but they charged a handling fee of about £10 on top of the fine and Sixts' admin fee.
Hertz on the other hand have paid the fine and passed on the cost plus an admin fee to the customer in the past and saved a lot of hassle therefore giving me a reason not to use Sixt in future!

Shouldn't a SEPA transfer be free of charge within the EU?

UK banks have a weird interpretation on SEPA transfers. The rule is that SEPA transfers should costs the same as the charge for transfers inside that banks domestic market. So since German banks don't charge transfer fees, SEPA transfers are free too. In the UK that is not the case.

Most people prefer the Hertz system because they do not intend to either contest the ticket or default. Thus, they just want it paid with as little hassle as possible.

Where this goes awry is that what used to be a physical ticket handed to the driver and thus the renter knew that he had a ticket to pay, is no longer. Thus, if one does want to contest, that opportunity is effectively foreclosed because the ticket has been paid by the agency and already debited to one's account.

Regarding the speeding ticket, we are working to improve the enforcement to pay fines this at least within the EU (http://www.e-codex.eu/pilots/financal-penalties.html) :p. If you live outside, you should be fine, but of course this does not necessary means, there is no obligation to not pay the fine. What could happen, when you are stopped the next time and they run for whatever reason your personal details, might find an open fine and ask you to pay this on the spot. Rare cases, but could happen.

Well, since the UK is not part of the "Währungsunion", this seems to be legit (according the British Government Officials - businesswise we have to wire every 6 months money to them).

That´s the Point, UK isn´t part of the Eurozone. You loose lso money by the exchange-rate sometimes. Not too funny and GB is getting more and more expensive for us mainland people...... Not the best time to travel to London at the moment:(

That is not the point. The Euro Zone and the SEPA Zone are two different animals. Ad 1 only transfers in EURO (which can be done from any UK account too) benefit from the blessings and ad 2 the blessings go not further than the domestic blessings. UK banks, as Oliver pointed out, do still charge for domestic transfers so they will do the same for SEPA transfers.

SEPA works fine for all in Europe, I frequently move money between Sweden and Germany.

Yes it's correct. I got my excess insurance paid into a German bank account and DKB charged me EUR 12 for receiving the $ :mad:

Me too, but UK is not part of SEPA.

GB is part of SEPA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area