A loophole to avoid motorway vignette fines: tens of thousands benefited last year

In 2023, the National Toll Payment Service PLC imposed around one million surcharges on cars without a vignette on Hungarian motorways and passed on a further 1.5 million cases to foreign collection partners. However, tens of thousands of people managed to avoid fines for not having a motorway vignette by using an option that was not widely known.

The National Toll Payment Service PLC (Nemzeti Útdíjfizetési Szolgáltató Zrt., NÚSZ) has provided information on motorway vignette purchases and data on surcharge payments for missed purchases in 2023, in response to questions from Pénzcentrum.

The company reported that in 2023, nearly one million fines were imposed on domestic drivers for lacking motorway vignettes or having improperly purchased stickers, and another 1.5 million cases were passed on to foreign toll payment servicers.

However, 30,917 drivers avoided fines by opting to buy a full-year motorway vignette instead of paying the surcharge. The aim of this option, as NÚSZ points out, is to encourage compliance with regulations rather than punish individuals.

Other discount options regarding fines include surcharge maximisation or surcharge amnesty. It is important to note that these exemptions are not automatically granted but must be requested by the customer.

A surcharge waiver is also available if a person has mistyped the licence plate number of their car, provided a maximum of three characters need to be corrected. Corrections can be made up to 60 days after the penalty notice has been served, and the administration fee for the process is HUF 1,470 (EUR 3.71).

If someone has confused the characters “0” (zero) and “O” or the characters “1” (one) and “I” on the licence plate and the motorway vignette, they do not need to pay an administration fee when correcting their sticker, according to the service provider.