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Booked through Argus with Europcar "a Ford Fiesta or similar", so picked up a er, Fiesta from Pisa airport yesterday, 4000km so pretty much brand new, it's a 1.25 which I thought had been dropped in favour of the 1.0t a while ago, it's no ball of fire though fine when up to speed and quite sweet when reved hard. The aircon is very efficient in 38 deg, could have done a lot worse for a weeks touring around Tuscany. Thought about booking a convertible though put the extra 600 quid in to the quality of the hotels, staying in a fantastic place in Florence for two nights, roof top bar and pool, live music, stunning views ...
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I can't get my head round the 1.25 Fiestas.
Friend was looking to buy one so I was doing some searching on auto trader.
Some have Bluetooth and some don't. Some are £30 road tax and some are not.
Out of curiosity, wife had a 59 plate and the air con was really noisy. Are the new ones still the same?
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I haven't noticed the aircon being noisy though the fan was on at least "2" yesterday due to the heat (haven't used the car today).
There are two versions iirc, about 60 and 80 bhp so the RFL could vary I guess.
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My FIL has one as dog transport. He fully researched the 1.0 v. 1.25 litre thing, and ended up buying a nice little motor from Motorpoint. It is flat performance, but beautifully made, has Bluetooth. I'm surprised he bought the 1.25 over the 1.0litre as he's the oldest boy racer in town.
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Got back from Pisa a week ago.Hired a car from Avis and got a free upgrade from a Panda to a Pug 2008 with the 1.2 3 cylinder humming machine.Once on the move ,you would struggle to tell it was only 3 pots.The a/c coped fine ,but temps were slightly lower at around 32c. Just a word of warning when returning the car.Make sure you fill up before reaching the airport.The on site petrol station is a pre-pay ,and if you put in too much cash money,there is no change given.All you get is a credit voucher.
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>>Just a word of warning>>
Thanks!
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When I last hired a car from Pisa airport we planned to fill up near the airport. Sat nav showed a few petrol fillings stations.... but they were all closed! One would take cash in Euros or a card.
That's when it became a bit farcical. Two pumps and someone put in their €10. I put in a card. I started filling up... I was using their €10! Card not being accepted and now stuck in the pump. After refunding their €10 in cash, I got the card out with tweezers and then someone turned up to open the station.
Turned out it would not accept UK cards at all. Machine in the shop did so sorted in the end. Luckily we had time.
If I'd planned it better I'd have selected a different one. The nearby road had 3 so I thought safer bet.
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It's the 60ps version though quite well equipped and a willing companion, reckon I might have a speeding ticket from the cameras on SR2 south of Florence ...
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Hard Cheese... was it the Hotel Kraft by any chance on Via Solferino? Stayed there late May 2009 with an ex. That had a small roof top pool and was within walking distance of the centre. I don't recall any live music, apart from cats and we used the pool every evening after hours looking at old stuff. Flew with Jet2 to Pisa, then train & local bus. The 4 nights B & B cost us £384 so almost £50 a night just for B & B. Probably even more expensive now!
Apologies... no motoring content.
Last edited by: legacylad on Fri 11 Aug 17 at 13:32
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LL -Hotel Lucchesi, by the river, very good though not cheap, spent just ovet €1000 for two nights including food ...
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Kinda wonder about cars actually improving much these days, emmisions has been the big thing over the last decade and a half though this generation of Fiesta is nine years old an in that time others have at best caught up, and even the new Fiesta is only an evolution with infotainment being the main step forward. In short this car is a delight, yes it needs more power though the torque in third between 2000 and 3000 rpm is enough to pull us up the winding Tuscan hill roads and without touching the gear lever the engine braking is ideal whem working our way down the otherside, the steering and chassis making each corner a pleasure.
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Did 1000km over eight days in the Fiesta, actually seven days as it was in the hotel garage in Florence for 36 hours without being used, and it was great. It needed more power and felt as if it was there but was being restricted, accelerating through the gears it felt artificially flat in second and third, though pulled quite well in third up steep Tuscan hills and was fine in fourth and fifth on the autostrada. It is though a detuned version of a more powerful engine and no doubt that detune is simply an engine map designed to restrict output for CO2 and tax reasons.
If we replace our 120i at some point it will be for a smaller car and I don't think I could look past a Fiesta.
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I can see why a small car would have particular attractions where you live. Going through Banwell especially.
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I recently noticed a strange transaction on my American Express account, the only reference was “Europcar Italia†so I assumed it would be to with this car hire last August.
I contacted Amex to query the transaction and they sent me information from Europcar that refers to a “traffic violation†recorded at 18:17 on a Monday in August at which time the car was parked in a main car park displaying a permit from the hotel we were staying in, as it did on a number of other days that we were in Italy.
If it is expected that I should take responsibility for this then surely Europcar should provide me with details of this apparent “violationâ€.
Also information provided by Amex though originating from Europcar says:
“… we will charge, after 14 days from the date of this notice, the contractual penalty foreseen, corresponding to the amount of €45,00â€
However Europcar had not sent the notice to me, the first thing I knew was the charge on my Amex statement, so I reckon that they should not have applied the charge before doing so.
Any thoughts or similar experiences?
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...was the parked location within a "restricted traffic zone", and did the permit cover access into that zone, or was it simply a parking permit?
Lots of tales of retrospective penalties for infringing those (not easily recognised) zones in Italy without an access permit.
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>> ...was the parked location within a "restricted traffic zone", and did the permit cover access into that zone, or was it simply a parking permit?
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Parked there at various times over four days, it was definitely the car park that the pass applied to.
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...one would hope that, if you were in a ZTL, the hotel supplied permit would cover not only parking, but also access.
It would be interesting to know if you supplied your reg. no. as the enforcement is largely via ANPR.
Of course, the ZTL thing might be a complete red herring, but it is a (the most?) common cause of tourists receiving an after-the-event fine via an Italian hire car company.
This gives an example of the situation for Pisa:
www.athomeintuscany.org/2011/10/15/pisa-ztl-limited-traffic-zone/
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Similar thing happened to me for a motorway violation (card machine didn't appear to work on autostrada, rang the buzzer, the barrier went up and I went on my way).
A few weeks later got a message from the car hire saying they were charging me e45 for the "admin" of a violation.
What happened in my case (and yours by the look of it) is that the issuing authority contacts hire company, who give them your details and an admin charge for you for the privilege.
6 months later and I have yet to receive the fine, though googling it says there is a 12 month period that they have to chase.
I found this site informative...
www.euroconsumatori.org/82058d82507.html
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Parked in the cqrpark recommended by the hotel over four days and apprently only violated on one day. I have emailed Europcar.
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>> Parked in the cqrpark recommended by the hotel over four days and apprently only violated
>> on one day.
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...is this the case? The charge raised by the hirer will simply be the admin charge for divulging your details, not the fine for any offence(s). If more than one offence has been consolidated into a single request for details (or the hirer treats several requests for the same details as one admin charge) then you may have run up several offences (and there will be one or more potentially coming to a letter box near you ;-) )
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Which you can safely ignore. Not enforceable in U.K.
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....AFAIK, it won't fall under the short list of traffic offences that became pursueable/enforceable cross-border to the UK sometime last year.......
.....if you plan to revisit Italy, however, paying up might avoid a long and costly detention at the arrival point next time, and a visit from a carabinieri's truncheon.
:-O
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>> ...is this the case? The charge raised by the hirer will simply be the admin
>> charge for divulging your details, not the fine for any offence(s). If more than one
>> offence has been consolidated
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It clearly says Monday 14th August at 1817.
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....but........AIUI, that is on the information from Europcar justifying their admin charge, NOT in any detail from the authorities setting out the nature of the (alleged) offence(s) (which, from the gist of your posts up to now, I've interpreted that you have no detail of, and that you yourself are 'disputing' that there was any offence at the given time). Indeed, your very words are " then surely Europcar should provide me with details of this apparent “violationâ€. Europcar may simply have noted the time at which they were asked provided the hirer's detail, or the time details of a single offence that the authorities used to request the data access.
Your rental agreement will (should) have covered the admin charge for providing details to the authorities if requested, and that request is what triggers the charge, not the validity or otherwise of any offence being pursued. Even if you were subsequently found not to have transgressed, any reclaim wouldn't be against the hirer (as they had validly carried out what they charged you for). Under most circumstances, the details of the offence (and the fine) are sent to you directly not involving Europcar other than to obtain your details; they simply levy their admin charge.
I wouldn't expect the nature of any offence to be shared with Europcar anyway, only with the alleged perpetrator. Whilst I'm not going to try and ascertain, I wouldn't be at all surprised if such an act would be an offence under the Italian equivalent of the Data Protection Act or similar.
You may indeed never get any further information as to the offence(s) since, if they are not in the category of those which are now considered cross-border, the Italian authorities may chose not to pursue them.
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>> that is on the information from Europcar justifying their admin charge, NOT in any
>> detail from the authorities setting out the nature of the (alleged) offence(s) >>
I can only go on the info I have which mentions the date and time of a (singular) "violation".
The issue with Europcar is that their policy says that they will apply the charge 14 days after informing the customer, I assume to enable time to dispute it, however they didn't inform me so should not have applied the charge. I.e. they have not adhered to their own policy.
The first I know of the charge was the ref "Europcar Italia" on my Amex statement.
I should say that my previous experiences with Europcar have been positive.
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I think that 40 to 45 euros is pretty standard for the hire company's referral fee.
The actual fine from the local authority will be much bigger, if it comes . I believe that EU law on levying fines across borders is limited to moving traffic offences - speeding etc, controlled by the Polizia or Carabinieri. Parking violations are policed by the Local Authoritiy "Vigili Urbani" - traffic wardens.
Europcar have not followed their own rules, but I can't see what you can do, unless the fine comes, and you can successfully defeat it - possibly not worth the effort.
I don't think that the Guardia de Finanza will be waiting at the border for you the next time you go to Italy if you ignore the fine if it comes.
(BTW I'm a pedant, not a lawyer)
8o)
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An article in the the Telegraph showing that it is not only Europcar and it seems to be a fairly common occurrence. Just one of those things that you probably have to live with. After all it's only the price of a cappuccino in a tourist cafe in Pisa. :-)
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/11871856/The-new-European-traffic-penalties-car-hire-sting.html
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I am awaiting a response from Europcar ...
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All Europcar were able to advise is that it was a traffic violation.
However I have now received a bill from the local police in Italy, €109.67 or €85.37 if paid within five days, I have checked it out and it's legit, I've paid it this morning, £79.15 in proper dosh.
Maybe if I hadn't paid they would not have pursued it though for less that 80 quid it's not worth the potential hassle.
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Hire car - Italy - Bobby
