# Windscreen sticker across Europe



## mappero (Aug 25, 2008)

Windscreen's sticker across Europe 

Let's share some pictures from our cars full of stickers placed on our windscreens.
Eco label as German Umweltzone, motorways vignette and so on 

Driving through European countries and getting all of stickers we need to have access for roads, regions or cities can cover almost whole windscreen.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

I present to you: my vans...


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## mappero (Aug 25, 2008)

^^
Good start!


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## mediar (Dec 13, 2008)

Road_UK said:


> I present to you: my vans...


Offtopic: what do you mean by "my vans"? You own a logistics company or you work in such? I'm sorry for my ignorance in case you have already explained it, but I haven't came across with any information about you.


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## Cicerón (May 15, 2006)

Wow, that's a lot of stickers. In Spain you don't need any unless your car is more than 4 years old, in that case you must carry the vehicle inspection sticker. Every region has its own, but they are more or less the same.

I can't take any pictures right now, but I've scanned 2 stickers I coincidentally had right here:

Here's one from the Basque Country:









Here's one from La Rioja, worse visibility due to the darker green but at least it's smaller:









Every year the color is changed between red-yellow-green.

Also in most of Spanish cities there are parking areas that are partially free for residents but not for the rest of people. In my hometown some cars carry another sticker with the number of the license plate and the number of the area they belong to.


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

My windscreen looks like this:









^^ Slovenian and Austrian vignettes.


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## mediar (Dec 13, 2008)

The bulgarian vignettes - http://www.vinetka.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=35 . In Bulgaria it's not allowed to have many stickers on your windscreen. You can even be fined about that.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

mediar said:


> Offtopic: what do you mean by "my vans"? You own a logistics company or you work in such? I'm sorry for my ignorance in case you have already explained it, but I haven't came across with any information about you.


I work for a logistics company, doing European express deliveries. See my 'your European journeys on the road' thread with more images and info. It's currently active on this page.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

I currently have three stickers:

* Swiss vignette
* Czech vignette
* German environmental sticker

My record was 4 stickers

* Swiss vignette
* Austrian vignette
* Slovenian vignette
* German sticker


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## x-type (Aug 19, 2005)

i have 5 of them. only one valid 
so, i have:
-registration sticker (valid)
-parking in Bjelovar sticker old few years 
-2 old SLO vignettes (one is hiding broken windshield)
-1 old A vignette


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Cars in the UK normally have one thing on the windscreen, but its not a sticker, but a piece of paper (road tax) that goes in a little bag behind the screen, in Portugal and Ireland you have the insurance on there too.

We used to have a parking permit to park outside where we used to live (in the UK), but that also came in a pad, the permit was paid annually I think. Where I am now we would have to pay normally, with stickers from a machine, which would cost a lot. An annual season ticket would be £710


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## CNGL (Jun 10, 2010)

We have only one in our car, the one Cicerón has mentioned, but in red.


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## mappero (Aug 25, 2008)

This is what i have on my windscreen for now:

- yellow German Umweltzone (diesel '06)
- silver shining Polish registration sticker
- silver Swiss sticker
- Czech motorway vignette
- Slovak vignette
and... perhaps i will put another 2 this year

Still German one is the biggest :]


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## RawLee (Jul 9, 2007)

I cant show ours, as its electronic.


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

RawLee said:


> I cant show ours, as its electronic.


What's electronic?


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Matrica.


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## Satyricon84 (Feb 3, 2009)

This is what I have on my windshild:

_ Green german Umweltzone
_ Swiss vignette 09
_ Swiss vignette 10
_ Swiss vignette 11
_ Austria vignette 09
_ Slovenia vignette 11
_ Italian insurance coupon


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

No wipers?


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## Triple C (Aug 23, 2010)

TR had windscreens too till 2000's. Just a simple white star-crescent on solid green.


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## Satyricon84 (Feb 3, 2009)

Road_UK said:


> No wipers?


they are hidden by the bonnet :lol:


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

I doubt an annual sticker would already be on, and if it's still valid for a while after you return the car, you just leave it on the car for the next person.


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## Filipdr (Oct 8, 2010)

This is a Serbian registration sticker:










Keep in mind that the sticker is in color, but for some reason the photo has been taken in black and white.


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## Fargo Wolf (Oct 23, 2009)

The photo is B&W to prevent fakes from being made most likely.


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## Filipdr (Oct 8, 2010)

Fargo Wolf said:


> The photo is B&W to prevent fakes from being made most likely.


Probably...


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

*Vignettes and rental cars*

Rental cars are obliged to carry vignettes wherever they are driven. I know from first hand experience.

They will have whatever vignette/sticker required in the country they are licensed in.

If you drive into another country, you have to buy vignettes yourself. They are/cost the same as regular ones. Contrary to some US states, registration in US is always car-based, never driver-based, so it actually doesn't matter whether the car is a corporate lease, personal, rental...

Then, you can do 2 things if you still have a sticker you bought upon returning the car: be nice, and leave it there so that other users might drive the car without having to pay, or remove it.

Removing a vignette renders it unusable, and sometimes a mess on the screen to clean. So most drivers will leave the vignettes they bought in place, instead of dealing with the additional work of cleaning the windshield.

The worst is the Swiss vignette, because it is always valid up to Jan 1st the following year.

In airports near border areas, it's quite easy to find cars with many vignettes. Again, differently of most US car rental agencies, they assign you an specific car in the counter, instead of letting you pick whatever car from a line of a specific category.

So if you are travelling to another airport, it pays off to check out the rental parking lot for a car that has a vignette and try to ask specifically for it, in case of expensive vignettes or hard-to-get ones (German sticker).


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## mappero (Aug 25, 2008)

Suburbanist said:


> The worst is the Swiss vignette, because it is always valid up to Jan 1st the following year.


No! It's valid 14 months  From 1st December previous year to 31st January next year! (for example I've bought one on 2nd of December 2010 and is still valid until 31th January 2012). It's pity I have plans to drive through CH in February...

And funny part, previously I had to buy Swiss vignette for rent car when I drove from Turin to Geneva airport (so annual vignette for 9 km of driving for motorway in CH )


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> Rental cars are obliged to carry vignettes wherever they are driven. I know from first hand experience.
> 
> They will have whatever vignette/sticker required in the country they are licensed in.
> 
> ...


Has anyone ever tried getting reimbursed by a rental company for a vignette they bought, on the theory that they're leaving it for other customers?



mappero said:


> No! It's valid 14 months  From 1st December previous year to 31st January next year! (for example I've bought one on 2nd of December 2010 and is still valid until 31th January 2012). It's pity I have plans to drive through CH in February...
> 
> And funny part, previously I had to buy Swiss vignette for rent car when I drove from Turin to Geneva airport (so annual vignette for 9 km of driving for motorway in CH )


So if you go to Switzerland every year around New Year's to ski, and never at any other time, you could actually get away with only buying a vignette every two years....


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## mappero (Aug 25, 2008)

^^ Yes, indeed 

Rental companies always say it's on your own expanses to pay for motorways, tunnels, paid road, etc. So no reimbursement at all. The same when you damage your windscreen and needs to be replaced :]


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

mappero said:


> The same when you damage your windscreen and needs to be replaced


No, if you damage your windscreen, you get a new vignette for free (at least in Slovenia).


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## Corvinus (Dec 8, 2010)

Verso said:


> No, if you damage your windscreen, you get a new vignette for free (at least in Slovenia).


Same for Austria, while the process is non-trivial (you have to find out the necessary pieces for your claim, then send it by recorded mail, ... certainly not worth for a 10-day vignette)

In Hungary, there is no actual windscreen vignette anymore, so damages to the car do not affect the validity of the electronic "vignette".

However, there was a time in Hungary where you actually had to carry *three *documents in order to use the motorways:
1- the actual vignette, applied on the windscreen,
2- a piece of receipt bearing the license plate number (link vignette to vehicle)
3- the purchase receipt (otherwise you could have stolen it!)
Commie mentality remains :nuts:


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## Nordic20T (Sep 28, 2011)

Corvinus said:


> However, there was a time in Hungary where you actually had to carry *three *documents in order to use the motorways:
> 1- the actual vignette, applied on the windscreen,
> 2- a piece of receipt bearing the license plate number (link vignette to vehicle)
> 3- the purchase receipt (otherwise you could have stolen it!)
> Commie mentality remains :nuts:


Number 2 and 3 still exist today. But the best is, you have to keep the two pieces of paper for a year after the vignette is invalid...


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## Trilesy (Dec 26, 2007)

No windshield stickers on my car. :banana: I don't think you are required to have any stickers in Ohio (not sure about other states). The only thing I keep in my car is proof of insurance.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

Trilesy said:


> No windshield stickers on my car. :banana: I don't think you are required to have any stickers in Ohio (not sure about other states). The only thing I keep in my car is proof of insurance.


Pennsylvania (where I live now), New Jersey (where I grew up) and New York (where I have relatives) all require inspection stickers. I think there is (or was) a second sticker in New York; maybe evidence that the registration's current. In parts of Pennsylvania - the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg areas at least - the annual inspection includes additional stuff for emissions, and when you get your car inspected in those areas (assuming you pass everything), you get two new stickers. These are put on the front windshield in the lower, driver's side corner.

I also have, in my rear windshield, lower right, a Philadelphia residents' parking permit. Which is a bargain for me - at $20 or $25 a year - since my parking district includes a nice chunk of the downtown area.


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## cougar1989 (Jan 15, 2012)

I have 10 stickers at my car.
German Umweltzone green
1x 10-days A 10 (20.8)
3x 10-days A 11 (30.4; 2.8; 24.9)
2x year CH (10; 11)
2x 10-days CZ 11 (22.4; 19.7)
1x year CZ 12









These are my stickers at my number-plate
Next TÜV and the region where the driver lives.


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## g.spinoza (Jul 21, 2010)

^^ I usually tear off the expired ones. I don't like my windshield to look like a bulletin board 

By now I have my Umweltzone sticker, my Bologna parking sticker, Swiss and Austrian 2011 Autobahn stickers and my insurance receipt sticker. Gotta do some cleaning cause 3 of them are expired...


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## Chilio (May 1, 2009)

Having expired windscreen stickers in Bulgaria is illegal. As soon as a vignette is no more valid, you are obliged to take it off the windshield or you most probably will be fined by the next policemen that stop you.


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## g.spinoza (Jul 21, 2010)

cougar1989 said:


> I have 10 stickers at my car.
> German Umweltzone green
> 1x 10-days A 10 (20.8)
> 3x 10-days A 11 (30.4; 2.8; 24.9)





> http://www.asfinag.at/toll-sticker-attaching-and-monitoring]
> No more than a maximum of two Austrian toll stickers are to be affixed to the windscreen at any one time.


So technically you are breaking Austrian laws.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

I don't think they really enforce that though, considering the loads of cars I've seen with numerous vignettes, some even dating back to the 1990's.


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## Vienna21 (Aug 30, 2011)

g.spinoza said:


> So technically you are breaking Austrian laws.


What do you think about this I saw last week.:lol: 12 Austrian Vignettes.


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## KingNick (Sep 23, 2010)

g.spinoza said:


> So technically you are breaking Austrian laws.


No, you are not, since there is no such law. It's just a guideline announced by the ASFINAG.


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## snowdog (Mar 27, 2011)

None, windscreen is free of stickers and other litter.

Luckily don't need any vignettes or tax discs or whatever rubbish on your window in Holland.


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## gotin (Nov 30, 2011)

The law in Bulgaria says you can't have more than 1 vignette on the windscreen. How is in other European countries?


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

So if you're from Switzerland you have to get your valid and paid-for Swiss sticker off the windshield? That sounds ridiculous.


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## Satyricon84 (Feb 3, 2009)

ChrisZwolle said:


> So if you're from Switzerland you have to get your valid and paid-for Swiss sticker off the windshield? That sounds ridiculous.


Even more ridiculous if from Switzerland you drive to Bulgaria. Then you should remove valid stickers from Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Romania...


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

^^ We stopped using stickers in Romania. Now we have electronic vignette.

Anyway, we have an insurance sticker in Romania (you get one when you make the mandatory insurance and it's written the expiry date of the insurance on it), but very few people actually stick it in the windscreen. One of my parents cars have one of this on the windscreen (but it's expired for about 2 years) and the other car doesn't have it at all. 

PS: this sticker is so well known that I couldn't find a picture of it on the internet.


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## g.spinoza (Jul 21, 2010)

^^ Italian insurance sticker must be visibile from outside. Majority of people stick it to the windscreen, but some others stick it to one of the rear windows.


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

^^ It might be the same with the Romanian insurance sticker, but do you think somebody cares? Many people don't stick it to be visible and the policemens are not complaining...


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## g.spinoza (Jul 21, 2010)

bogdymol said:


> ^^ It might be the same with the Romanian insurance sticker, but do you think somebody cares? Many people don't stick it to be visible and the policemens are not complaining...


Interesting... nobody cares in Italy, though, not even policemen, but I've never seen a car without... maybe because car dealers already stick the transparent pocket for the insurance receipt in the cars they sell. It's like "everybody uses Windows because already installed in their computers"


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

Well, in italy you have that "pocket" where you keep the insurance receipt, so you can easly change the receipt with the new one when it's needed. In Romania we have an actual sticker (round shape, larger than any vignette) so every X months when you renew your insurance you have to take off the old sticker and attach the new one, which is annoying.


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## Satyricon84 (Feb 3, 2009)

bogdymol said:


> Well, in italy you have that "pocket" where you keep the insurance receipt, so you can easly change the receipt with the new one when it's needed. In Romania we have an actual sticker (round shape, larger than any vignette) so every X months when you renew your insurance you have to take off the old sticker and attach the new one, which is annoying.


I saw this sticker, here in my town lives a romanian that has it on his car. The size is more or less the double of a normal vignette


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## Cpt.Iglo (Dec 11, 2007)

Only a green sticker Umweltzone for German cities, the other old (and not valid) stickers I removed.


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## Chilio (May 1, 2009)

gotin said:


> The law in Bulgaria says you can't have more than 1 vignette on the windscreen. How is in other European countries?


This is not true. The only thing the law says is that vignettes that have expired must be removed from windscreen. So, If you speak about Bulgarian vignettes, of course this means only one will remain on the windscreen, because I don't think anybody would buy two vignettes valid for the same time  But if you have valid vignettes from other countries, this doesn't mean they can't remain on it.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Chilio said:


> This is not true. The only thing the law says is that vignettes that have expired must be removed from windscreen. So, If you speak about Bulgarian vignettes, of course this means only one will remain on the windscreen, because I don't think anybody would buy two vignettes valid for the same time


Actually it happens often. Many people don't buy a new vignette when the old one is already expired, but a day or two earlier, so they have two valid vignettes for a short time.


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## Chilio (May 1, 2009)

If the new vignette is already valid before the old one has expired, they can remove the old one.
If the new one is still not valid, they should not stick it to the windscreen, because it is illegal, they shall keep it and stick it when it's period of validity starts.


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## eskandarany (Oct 15, 2008)

I was under the impression from a friend that the Bulgarian police paid no attention to such things in practice?


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Chilio said:


> If the new vignette is already valid before the old one has expired, they can remove the old one.


Some people never remove vignettes.


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## Chilio (May 1, 2009)

eskandarany said:


> I was under the impression from a friend that the Bulgarian police paid no attention to such things in practice?


Usually they don't. But sometimes they do. A relative of mine got a fine for expired vignette sticker on the windscreen few months ago, so it sometimes happen. And he had only one expired vignette on it. They surely will pay attention if your windscreen looks like a Christmas-tree with several multicolored stickers, obstructing the visibility. Moreover, there are also stickers for annual technical inspection and mandatory insurance. And some people don't remove older stickers of these types neither. Which is quite suspicious - all Garages licensed to do annual technical inspection remove older sticker before applying the new one. If you have more than one - it should mean that either the sticker is false, or your car never got to the garage, and in both cases obtained the sticker without passing technical examination.


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

I took a picture of the Romanian insurance sticker I told you about:


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## Satyricon84 (Feb 3, 2009)

I've spotted this car from Romania today in Milan. It has 10 stickers on the windscreen. From where the lower sticker on the left?


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## bogdymol (Feb 4, 2010)

That's the old Romanian vignette. Now it's electronic.


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

ChrisZwolle said:


> So if you're from Switzerland you have to get your valid and paid-for Swiss sticker off the windshield? That sounds ridiculous.


Maybe technically but I can't see them actually enforcing that in such situations


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## Chilio (May 1, 2009)

No, there isn't such rule even technically. Law says only expired stickers should be removed.


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## MajKeR_ (Feb 5, 2009)

Nice collection:


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## Chilio (May 1, 2009)

How about this?









All vignettes are weekly ones for 2011. The sum of their prices exceeds the price of an annual one by some 20%.

Here we have three annual ones (2005/2006/2007), and one weekly and two monthly (which sum also is almost equal to the anual):









So it seems there are drivers with a lot of Bulgarian vignettes who drive with older ones and not being fined.

(both pictures are googled)


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## Jeroen669 (Nov 29, 2006)

I´ve got only 2 non-valid vignettes of Switzerland and Austria on my car. 

My truck is a different story, though: german umweltsticker plus three electronical devices. OBU for Germany/Austria (this one is quite big) plus 2 smaller devices for France and Italy. I used to have a seperate device for Austria, but the system is capaple for the OBU since a couple of months now. I also ripped off the special (huge) environmental sticker you need to pass the mont-blanctunnel.


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## MajKeR_ (Feb 5, 2009)

Just a few years and windshield will be completely unvisible:


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

My van 2006:









Managed to fill the other half of the windscreen up as well, before changing over to a new van.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

^^Were all of those current, or were the old ones hard to take off?

(My annual Philadelphia resident parking permit expires tomorrow, so this is on my mind. The little instruction sheet that comes with the new one says to remove the old one. I believe having more than one on display is actually illegal. And it comes off perfectly easily and cleanly. But you see so many people with half a dozen of them accumulated in their rear windows. Occasionally, you see them with different district numbers - the city is divided into parking districts and your permit is only good in the one you live in. I suppose they're people who've moved and are trying to preserve a right to park in multiple districts and they're hoping the parking enforcers don't look at the expiration dates....)

(Here http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20100706_inq_ppermit06z-c.JPG is a Philadelphia resident permit. Two, in fact. As you can see, the district number is much more prominent than the expiration date, unless that serial number means something to the parking officers.)

Now, can someone explain those round things in the front windscreens of British cars?


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

MajKeR_ said:


> Just a few years and windshield will be completely unvisible:


Why do you have them all over your windshield? :nuts:


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## MajKeR_ (Feb 5, 2009)

^^ It's not my car! 

To be honest, I'm perfectionist and I always have the sticker with registration number put directly to the down edge of windshield, about 7-8 cm far from the corner and vignettes carefully pasted where they should be


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

g.spinoza said:


> ^^ Italian insurance sticker must be visibile from outside. Majority of people stick it to the windscreen, but some others stick it to one of the rear windows.


In France, we must have an insurance sticker.
Unlike in Italy, police care of it, it is forbidden to drive a car without insurance in France.









We also must have the vehicle inspection sticker for car over four year old.
Inspection are done every two year.








(In this picture, it means that the next inspection should be done in October 2009).


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Minato ku said:


> In France, we must have an insurance sticker.
> Unlike in Italy, police care of it, it is forbidden to drive a car without insurance in France.


Also in Italy, my mum was fined for the lack of it.


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## cougar1989 (Jan 15, 2012)

Now at my car:
1x CZ year 13
1x CH year 13
1x SLO 7days 17/07/13
1x A 10days 19/07/13
1x SK 10days 19/07/13
and German Umweltzone Green, which is not seen at the picture.


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## Peines (Aug 13, 2011)

*About France insurance sticker…

I think if I drive my spanish car into france I don't have the obligation to have that sticker on my windscreen, correct?*

Anyway. The spanish inspection sticker is the most stupid and useless thing on earth. 

¿Why? Spanish police can know if you passed the inspection, if you paid the insurance and taxes with only knowing the licence plate.

:bash:

Even, they don't need to stop a vehicle for check the papers because some police car have a licence plate recognition camera and automatically they check everything via internet.

A lot of people didn't put the sticker because is ugly (like my mom) and police rarely fine for that because they can check if the car passed the inspection.


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## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

Never heard of insurance stickers before. However, when driving in France (or anywhere abroad) I always have a "green card", signed and stamped by my insurance company.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

The French have insurance discs on their windscreens, the Brits have tax discs, the Dutch have nothing and the Austrians drive around with a "pickerl", which is to show that their vehicles have made it through their annual mechanical tests. (MOT it's called in England)


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## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

Road_UK said:


> The French have insurance discs on their windscreens, the Brits have tax discs, the Dutch have nothing and the Austrians drive around with a "pickerl", which is to show that their vehicles have made it through their annual mechanical tests. (MOT it's called in England)


In Finland we don't need anything like that. The insurance companies and TraFi (Transport Safety Agency) communicate with each other. Whenever needed, the police may use their computer to find out in a couple of seconds that the insurance, taxes and inspection are in order.

That Green card thing mentioned in the message above is a document that insurance companies issue only to those driving abroad.


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## Blackraven (Jan 19, 2006)

How does this system work for rental cars??? (i.e. Avis, Hertz, Europcar, Sixt, etc.)

Do you have to specify to the rental car agency if you plan on using the rental car outside the country where it was leased?


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## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

Blackraven said:


> How does this system work for rental cars??? (i.e. Avis, Hertz, Europcar, Sixt, etc.)
> 
> Do you have to specify to the rental car agency if you plan on using the rental car outside the country where it was leased?


Yes. This may affect the price. Not only must you tell that you're going abroad; you must also tell the names of all the countries you're going to. In return, the rental agency gives you a document which authorises you to operate that vehicle in these specific countries.

Failure to present such document to police, when asked, may have several consequences; up to the confiscation of the entire vehicle and its transportation to the rightful owner, costs paid by you.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

^^So much for Schengen....


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## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

I don't see how this could have anything to do with Schengen. It's only the owners' right to have control of their property, such as cars. If my car was stolen, I'd only be happy if some police in an another country, Schengen or not, caught the thief.

And if someone rightfully took my car to an another country (I don't know what such a situation could be, but let's just assume so), of course I would have written the certificate to him/her. Just the price of paper and ink, not a big deal.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

^^If I as a visitor to Europe rented a car at, say, DeGaulle, I'd expect to be able to drive it to Brussels or Amsterdam or... The "may affect the price" bit seems contrary to the ideal of freedom of movement. As does the needing extra documentation bit.


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## OulaL (May 2, 2012)

The ideal of freedom of movement concerns only officials. It doesn't concern private businesses, such as car rental agencies. They can set their prices and conditions as they see fit - including restrictions to taking their vehicles out of the country.

If you think that one rental agency is too expensive or its conditions are unfair, you don't have to be their customer.


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## Blackraven (Jan 19, 2006)

On a somewhat related matter:










If you have availed of your BMW M5 or M6 via the BMW European Delivery program, does your vehicle need to have the stickers as well? (especially when driving outside of Germany)

Or does BMW take care of everything?


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## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

OulaL said:


> The ideal of freedom of movement concerns only officials. It doesn't concern private businesses, such as car rental agencies. They can set their prices and conditions as they see fit - including restrictions to taking their vehicles out of the country.
> 
> If you think that one rental agency is too expensive or its conditions are unfair, you don't have to be their customer.


Yes. The European freedom of movement is a concept which is very often misunderstood.

According my recent experiences, it is typically allowed to drive a car rented at an west European country to other Western European countries. Driving to countries having a larger crime risk (usually certain Eastern European countries and Italy), surcharges will apply, or it is disallowed.

A similar problem applies even to traveling by an own car. The insurance costs may be higher when driving into certain countries. For example, the insurance company If in Finland lists Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova as high-risk counties. In case of a theft, the excess is 25 per cent of the damage. So, if your car of value 20.000 eur is stolen, the insurance company pays 15.000 eur only.

The options are

a) Do not go
b) Go and take the risk. Be sure you can afford it.
c) Change the insurance company and then go


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

With big rental companies they normally let you drive to any EU country as long as it has the green card inside. Here, especially in the winter loads of German plated rental cars, obtained at Munich airport. And with big rental firms at Innsbruck airport, the chances are that you wind up driving a car with German, Belgian or even Dutch plates. Not necessarily Austrian.


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## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

Road_UK said:


> With big rental companies they normally let you drive to any EU country as long as it has the green card inside.


I do not believe this statement is fully valid. Every time I have rented a car, the contract has listed some restrictions for the Eastern European counties, sometimes even for Italy.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

There are many more car thefts in Western Europe than in the new EU members, so I wouldn't worry too much about your cars.


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## albertocsc (Dec 28, 2009)

As Cicerón said, in Spain we only have the Technical Inspection sticker, and as Peines did, the main point is having passed the Inspection, not fixing that little sticker.
We also used to have a Rovinieta in the Daewoo Cielo =D

So, as you have just been shown green stickers in the first page, here you have ITV stickers, in all three colors (changes every year):


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## Iregua (Aug 12, 2013)

albertocsc said:


> As Cicerón said, in Spain we only have the Technical Inspection sticker, and as Peines did, the main point is having passed the Inspection, not fixing that little sticker.
> We also used to have a Rovinieta in the Daewoo Cielo =D
> 
> So, as you have just been shown green stickers in the first page, here you have ITV stickers, in all three colors (changes every year):
> ...


You're supposed to remove the old sticker when you get a new one


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## MrAkumana (Dec 5, 2009)

MattiG said:


> I do not believe this statement is fully valid. Every time I have rented a car, the contract has listed some restrictions for the Eastern European counties, sometimes even for Italy.



By default 99% of the car rental companies allows you to drive their cars on any EU western country. You don't even need to ask for it, it comes on the contracts by default.

In regards to the more recent EU members of the East it really depends on the company and the country. SIXT for example now allows you by default to drive the car on any EU country (except Romania and Bulgaria). HERTZ recently started allowing cars to be driven into Czech republic, Slovenia, Slovakia Poland and Hungary (but not into de Baltic republics..). AVIS is now the same (ok to CZ, PL, SK,SL, H) but they also let you to take the car to the rest of the EU countries for an extra charge. 

Some years ago it was hard to find car rental companies on the west that allowed you to take their cars into the East countries, and if they did you had to pay quite a lot... but over the last 3 years things have changed very fast and it's becoming increasingly easy...


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## DanielFigFoz (Mar 10, 2007)

Road_UK said:


> The French have insurance discs on their windscreens, the Brits have tax discs, the Dutch have nothing and the Austrians drive around with a "pickerl", which is to show that their vehicles have made it through their annual mechanical tests. (MOT it's called in England)


There are MOT stickers in Northern Ireland too. Well I don't think they are stickers, I think they go in pouches like the British tax discs.


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## albertocsc (Dec 28, 2009)

Iregua said:


> You're supposed to remove the old sticker when you get a new one


It's not my car. I don't have any stickers yet in present cars, so I took pictures from a friend's one.
But I did not know that rule.


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## MattiG (Feb 11, 2011)

MrAkumana said:


> By default 99% of the car rental companies allows you to drive their cars on any EU western country. You don't even need to ask for it, it comes on the contracts by default.


For example, Avis and Europcar in the UK both charge significant surcharges for driving in any continental country.

Please list here 198 rental companies not doing so: ________


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## MrAkumana (Dec 5, 2009)

MattiG said:


> For example, Avis and Europcar in the UK both charge significant surcharges for driving in any continental country.
> 
> Please list here 198 rental companies not doing so: ________


I'm sorry, I didn't explained myself well enough. I was talking about rental companies located on the continent, where there are no border controls and driving from one country into another is far more frequent.

Funny thing is that when you rent from Avis or Europcar on the contienent it is possible to drive in the UK or Irland without paying any extra charge... (it's included on the contracts by default)


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

That's because insurance companies in the UK want to know everything you're doing with your vehicle. You even pay less if it's parked on driveway at night...


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## Stainless (Jun 7, 2009)

Road_UK said:


> That's because insurance companies in the UK want to know everything you're doing with your vehicle. You even pay less if it's parked on driveway at night...


Grandmother has her car impounded and is forced to pay £450

Is it unusual in other countries to have to go through your entire driving history and habits to get insurance. In the story above someones insurance is ruled invalid as they didn't tell them they were using it to commute. Although EU third party coverage is mandatory by law.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

There you have it. Insurance companies are money grabbing bastards, hence the ridiculous Health and Safety regulations in the Land of Hope and Glory.


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## romanian_boy (Oct 10, 2013)

I have a question: Can I find vignettes for Slovakia at the Austria-Slovakia border crossing points? hno:hno:


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## JackFrost (Nov 29, 2010)

^^sure. i bought mine at gas station Kittsee once


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## Kanadzie (Jan 3, 2014)

I know the above discussion is old, but when I rented an Astra at Warsaw airport last year, the contract only said I couldn't drive to Belarus, Russia, Greece and some other places nobody would drive to anyway  I thought Greece was a curious example as part of EU.

The car also arrived with Czech (one) and Slovak (two!) vignettes already stuck on the windshield, but expired. I put a new Czech vignette and left it there too 

Where I live in Canada, USA border is about 50 km away. However if you rent a car you must absolutely tell rental agency if you will drive to US, and you pay more money (maybe 10 or 20 dollars), otherwise guaranteed trouble...


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## romanian_boy (Oct 10, 2013)

Jack_Frost said:


> ^^sure. i bought mine at gas station Kittsee once


I write that question because I've heard from some friends from Romania this: The vignette sell points at the border was closed , and at the gas stations they didn't have vignette for sale :bash:


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## havaska (Dec 26, 2005)

MattiG said:


> For example, Avis and Europcar in the UK both charge significant surcharges for driving in any continental country.
> 
> Please list here 198 rental companies not doing so: ________


Is that not because having a car that originated from UK/Ireland dropped off in any continental country would be a real pain for the rental company as the steering wheel would be on the wrong side?

You essentially pay more as you're paying a charge to send it back to UK/Ireland.


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