Vignette Slovenia
NEW (30.06.11) – The Slovenians apparently have decided (Maybe do to the harsh criticism) also to offer a monthly vignette, the structure of the new vignette system which will be implemented by the 1 of July 2009 looks the following
Motorcycles – available vignette – weekly(7.5 Euro), half yearly (25 Euro) and yearly(47.50Euro )
Cars and cars with e.g. camping wagon (Less than 3.500 kg) – available vignette – weekly(15 Euro), monthly (30 Euro) and yearly (95 Euro)
Total road cost / maut for a trip e.g. from Germany to Split (3 weeks stay) is 2 * 10 day vignette for Austria 7.70 Euro (15.40 Euro) + a one month vignette for Slovenia 30 Euro + 2 times highway fee Slovenia Border to Spilt 162 Kn (45 Euro) so in total cost will be around 91 Euro.
If you go route Salzburg – Ljubljana you will have additional cost for the Tauern tunnel (9.50 Euro) and the Karawanken tunnel (6.50 Euro) in total 32 Euro both ways
For a 1 week trip the price to Split is – 68 Euro. (100 Euro including the tunnels)
Austrian and Slovenian Vignette can be bought on petrol stations and kiosks close to the border, the maut / road fees in Croatia are payed when you exit highway, all major credit cards and Euro’s are accepted.
All or parts of the highway fees basically can be avoided by traveling on normal country road, but this can only be recommend in low seaseon or to anybody who has plenty of time for the trip.
NEW: Here you can see road prices on the Croatian Highway
Here you find other usefull stuff, relevant for your holiday budget
Prices in Croatia, Ferry prices in Croatia
Fines for driving without Vignette:
If you should get stopped on the Slovenian Motorway without a Valid Vignette, you will get a fine between 300 and 800 Euro. (According to Official Gazette no. 33/06)
Related posts:
Tags: Car, Fine, Karawanken, Motorcycle, Motorway, Price, Tauern, Tunnel, Vignette
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I agree entirely. I’m going to Croatia in the summer, and the slovenian toll system causes a real problem in planning of the itinerary. Luckily, I will spend only 7 days in croatia, so the weekly vignette seems to be appropriate, but it’s just me.
Cocconut, lucky you
I am sure that a few people will not be satisfied with the new vignette, there is lots of Germans and Austrians and Italians who come here several times a year.
Shame new vignette is more expensive than last year, but using any decent GPS you can drive faster on smaller (normal) roads and you dont need vignette
you can do that, but if everybody does that it will be horrible on the small roads this summer.
Doesn’t matter how decent your GPS is, there are very few viable alternative routes in most regions of Slovenia. You’ll get there in the end, but there are speed limits, narrow windy roads and more police on some of those minor roads. Being in the tourism business, I campaigned strongly against the outrageous minimum vignette cost for foreign visitors last year, but please spare a thought for the many Slovenia residents who rarely use the motorways, but have to put up with an increase from 55 Euros to 95 Euros for an annual vignette.
Yes and the small roads might be crowded, i am sure lots of Germany will be traveling on them
and of course i also sympathize with the Slovenians who has to pay 95 Euro for a yearly vignette, lets hope for both the tourist and the Slovenians that prices next year will be on a more decent level!
The Slovenian Administration REDUCING costs and owning up to their mistakes? That’s not going to happen! Remember when the EU challenged the 35 Euro minimum charge, they still insisted that it was perfectly acceptable. Had to be threatened by the EU in order to make changes.
Actually, you’re right, and Slovenians will be avoiding the motorways, too, just like before when they used to bypass the tolls. A summer of accidents and speeding fines to look forward to …
I went down to Sibenik a few months ago and had to purchase a monthly vingette for Slovenia,and I only stayed for a week. I am going back to Croatia in two days, this time to Vukovar. I am so greatful for this information. it is a long drive from Germany to Croatia and the traffic is terrible. but knowing in advance is a great help. Thank you!!
Hi Alyssa,
glad we could provide some valuable information
brgds, Morten
I picked up a fine for not displaying the Vignette in August 09 after seemingly being waved through onto the Motorway in Slovenia and I believed I didn’t need one.
I paid the on spot fine although I was told that I had the opportunity to complain with the possibility of receiving my fine money back. I sent off the complaint only to receive a letter written in Slovenian to my home address which I ignored as it did not indicate a refund and I assumed the issue was closed. In Feb 2010 I received a second letter written in Slovenian which I scanned and sent back asking for a translation. The translation was not forthcoming although an abridged version siad that I had been under Judicial review (which I lost) and meant I had to pay the full fine, the judicial costs and the costs of the toll company.
I’m at a loss what do do!! Has anyone had similar experiences?
Hi Graham, that sound like a real horror story, (un)fortunately i my selves have never tried anything similar, but let hope one of the readers has.
Brgds, Morten
to graham young,
graham,
we have had exactly the same experience coming off the Croatian highway and heading across slovenia.
we have a demand for additional payment and as we feel there was a lack warning we object to paying the first 150 let alone the second.
I am trying to source ways of fighting this so far without success.
You will also be lets share what we find.
douglas
To Graham Young and Douglas
I just come back from a vacatiopn in Italy and havind to drive from Trieste to Leibnitz, Austria, we decided tot take the supposedly shorter route through Slovenia (which is not shorter at all). We did not know about a vignette for Slovenia but were expecting road toll.
Unfortunately we overlooked the signs about buying a vignette (In fact there was one immediately at the Sezana bordercrossing and the following at the entrance of a petrol station. The last one we should not have overlooked, but personal circumstances can cause that as everybody knows.) Howevere I did see two times the sign ‘peage’ and that confirmed me in my conviction (if at all I unconsciously noticed the vignette-signs !) that there would be coming a road toll barrage.
So it happened and I naively drove into the gate, headed by ‘vignette’, thinking that may be I could buy there a vignette.
But I was ordered unfriendly to stop and pay 150 euro’s fine.
Mr. Abrahams, has your ‘fighting’ against the fine resulted anything worthwhile ?
Johan Derks
John,
Thank you for your Email the answer to your question at the moment is no.However I started the process in July and little will happen in the summer.
I have been to their appeal stage but their ‘court” has rejected it and ordered me to pay another 175 Euro.This has made me more determined to fight their penalty.I am toild by a Croatian Lawyer that the Slovenians are very hard and not just with foreigners.
I am contesting it through 3 main channels:
My MEPs in Scotland (there are 5 of them)
The Ombudsman (both the EU and Slovenian offices)
The Minister of Tourism in Slovenia.
I attach my letter to these people,you message confirms that DARS do have more warnings now than when we received our penalty.In fact when we went through their border at Trieste in June it was impossible to get through without one but perhaps still at the smaller border crossings it is possible.
I suggest you write to these people including your own MEP (are you German or Austrian?).It is clearly difficult to argue now the lack of signs but if concentrate on what I am claiming that it is far too heavy a penalty for a first time offender who was expecting to pay tolls as in Croatia.
You can get all the details for the above from the internet and do it by Email.
Let me know if you make progress,the more people who contest it the better. You can be certain that I will do everything I can to fight this no matter how much time it takes as I am retired and time is not a problem.
Regards,
Douglas
Here is the letter
Dear Sir,
I am writing to seek your assistance,I attach an appeal we made in October 2009 against a penalty imposed by DARS on myself and my wife at the border between Slovenia and Austria for not displaying a vignette on our car in October 2009.
The appeal has been turned down and a further 150 Eur plus 25 Eur costs is being demanded from us.The original penalty of 150 was ‘draconian’ the additional sum is unbelievable given this is a first minor traffic offence.
The authorities in Slovenia will not accept any further questioning of their right to impose such punative fine and as they will only correspond in Slovenian a direct approach has been made virtually impossible.
I have been exploring EU channels for potentially challenging this further but so far without success.
Through my explorations on the internet it has become clear that we are not an isolated case as there are other claims of a lack of adequate warning to foreigners entering Slovenia during the first 2 years of the vignettes implementation.We travelled through Slovenia a mere 2 months ago and it was very clear that the Slovenians had recognised this themselves as it was impossible to get through the border without buying one.
This has made as more determined to find a way of contesting the original penalty and certainly the recent further demand.
The vignette was introduced in july 2008 ,in September 2008 we travelled through the country on its motorway in ignorance of the requirement( we passed through new toll booths which were not operating so naturally we anticipated paying future tolls as one does in Croatia and many of the major European countries)
In September 2009 when we were stopped we had been travelling predominantly on minor roads(for which the vignette is not required) joining the motorway just before the border with Austria.We were waved through by the officials who never even left their cubicles.
We are British citizens living part of the time in France and our other home is in Edinburgh and I am therefore copying this to the other 5 Scottish MEPs who may be able to assist.
It is recorded several times on the internet that Slovenias original charges were contested by the EU because of their punitive effect on tourists.I hope that you may be able to help us to contest our own personal issue with this punative penalty.
Yours Faithfully
Douglas
Good day Douglas,
I am very pleased about your quick answer. You have the ‘ready to battle’ character which this world of dominative powers needs.
I am dutch and my name is JohAn.
It is rather common to me to travel through those areas, because my wife is serbian and we live in Holland, her family in Serbia.
My complaint will concentrate on comparing the heavy warning systems on entering other eastern-european countries with the inadequate warning at Sezana on the Italian-Slovenian border. But of course the amount of the penalty will be a second element of our complaint.
It is absurd that Slovenians demand foreigners to only read and respond in slovenian (however much I am in favour of multilingualism).
I will consider to act through the same channels as you do. As far as representatives in parliament is concerned I was thinking in fact about the members of the Slovenian parliament. With the assistance of my wife who understand 70% of slovenian, this may be a passable way.
Regards,
Johan
Hi Johan,
I am glad I struck a cord with you.
I would certainly like to have a go at both Slovenian members of the EU parliament and members of the Slovenian Parliament.Please pass on names and E addresses and I will write to them.
I hope you try several of your Dutch MEPs I am sure they can be very effective if they feel the cause is a just one.
I spent the last 10 years of my working life in Vilnius Lithuania so I have no allusions that this process is going to be hard.In Eastern and Central Europe they find it very difficult to climb down once they have made a decision.
There has also been a hint in some of the material on the internet that this could be a scam which DARS are making money on.It could explain why they will only take cash for the vignettes and the appeal court process is so lacking in transparency and of course will be very biddable to the Slovenians.
In my experience this would very typical and of course add to the difficulty.
We have tread carefully with those kind of allegations.
However I am as you say prepared and have the time to do battle with whatever means available.My output however will lessen during the months of September/October as my wife and I will be spending 6 weeks in our Croatian home on Brac and 10 days following that in Edinburgh.
We return to France where we live near Poitiers at the end of Oct.
Regards
Douglas
We too were having a further 150 euro plus 25 Euro costs fines for contesting the “on the spot” fine when back in England. (Our MEP was told this from a DARS official)
We went to the Slovenian Embassy and saw the Embassador. He only helped in translating the Slovenian letters but assurred that we would not be stopped/further fined when we travelled through Slovenia in May this year. We don’t believe tat the effort involved will get us our original fine back. I wish you all good fortune in recovering your money.
Hi Douglas,
I finished my report of what happened in my own language.
Did you draw up your report in english ? Could you send me a copy of it ? My email address is derks.esp AT tiscali.nl
Thanks
Graham,
You may be right but I hope you do not back down.
DARS are a private company who have been given powers which they are unlikely to be able to justify.It is a typical development in former C and E European countries.
It is clear:
Their warning systems have been originally inadequate,they have confirmed this themselves by considerably improving them at for instance Trieste.
The penalty is far to high for foreigners who do not have the benefit of the local publicity this will have had in Slovenia.
The additional penalty is typical ‘bullying’ tactics intended to make us go away.
The appeal is a sham as one is given no access to the decision process who it made by and what arguements have lead to the rejection.
It is blatant and draconian use of power which must be challenged,it is not now the money or a need to travel through Slovenia(this we will not do again until we reach a satisfactory conclusion)
As I say I hope you do spend some further time on it.
Regards
Douglas
Hi, while I wish all of you who are trying to claim back unreasonable charges the very best of luck, I would doubt you will ever see any refund or apology from the Slovenian Administration. In almost five years living here I have witnessed and experienced apathy and contempt in almost every administrative task and procedure. For a country with a seemingly respected and forward-thinking reputation, the administration is a complete mess, with so many different departments dealing with the same issues. All they’re really good at is making excuses and passing the buck! Nobody will ever accept responsibility here or make decisions. Sounds harsh but I have almost got enough hard evidence to write a book on Slovenian mis-administration! This includes 500+ Euros of unjustified fines with an appeal system which doesn’t even reply. This attitude extends to every level of public administration. Appeals, Ombudsman, Ministries, Embassies, MEPs, Mayors, even anti-corruption organisations have zero power; all a waste of time. Best to say goodbye to your lost money, put it down to a bad Slovenian experience and move on! Sorry!!
Regards, David
Hi Douglas,whereever you are,
Through Wegwijzerdienst (in English: http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/eligibility_en.htm) of the European Commission I put several questions on the procedure of the Slovenian Administartion.
Unfortunately the answer is very disillusioning:
“Thank you for your question. You want to know if under European law you can lodge an objection against your Slovene fine.
Traffic fines are subject to national legislation. You will have to lodge an objection with the Slovenian authorities.
If you need assistance with your appeal, you can if you are a member of the ANWB (Dutch driver association) get legal advice or assistance or you may contact your insurance company.
More information on traffic fines and legal assistance abroad can be found at ………………. (in Dutch language)
There is a proposal at hand for a European directive that should make possible the collection of traffic fines over the border in their own country. This Directive should be adopted.”
Given the fact that the letter which I received upon my compaint to DARS stipulates that I have to pay another 150 euros in order to lodge an appeal at the court and in case of rejection, will have to pay in addition the costs of the legal procedure, you can imagine that I leave it at that and will never again without necessity enter Slovenia.
So the experiences of David are herewith confirmed.
Johan
I just got collard for this two days ago. Was stopped at the Border of Croatia by DARS and was fined 150 Euros. I drove from the UK and took 21h to drive to Belgrade, so you can imagine I was a little fixed on the road, I passed through Slovenia via Italy and I did not see any signs posted or whatever however it was late at night and those stupid European stickers for your lights stop you from lighting the road up properly so maybe there were some ? but I sure did not see them.
When I arrived at the Toll, there was a yellow flashing light and everyone just passed through, I honestly thought that most probably the Toll closes at night when there are few users.
I just wonder what DARS would have dine if I had tolled them where to stick their fine ? 150 euros is not a big amount so I just paid them to get on my way as I needed sleep, but what if I had said “put that where the sun does not shine” do they have the power of arrest ? and as I am leaving the country can they impose that fine at a later date ? and as I do nto live in the EU what right do they have of chasing me for it ?
Asking this as next time I will not pay for a vignette also after paying them 150 euros fine already. I cross Slovenia often these days as I am bringing my cars over to my home here.
I guess you must be North-American, but I hardly recognise the language as being proper english.
As to the fining it is evident that after so many hours of driving you don’t see more anything.
Your other questions are naive or they are cumbersome. Of course They can “impose that fine at a later date” and they have “the right of chasing me for it”.
An other question is whether the amount as high as 150 euro is appropriate for not having paid a vignette of 15 euros. But just that does not seem to harm you ! Strange americans.
I’ll try to be a little more polite than Johan and hope my English passes his inspection:)
As soon as you enter the Slovenian motorway system, you need a valid vignette. If the vignette is not attached correctly, it is NOT valid, so it is impossible to safely ‘share’ the vignette between different cars. There are spot checks, especially at toll areas, so any avoidance is a risk. At the border, you are an easy target and they’ll get you every time. If you refuse to pay, they will just impound your car. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, non-motorway alternatives in Slovenia are generally not viable. 15 Euro vignette or 150 Euro fine? I know what I’d choose. Slovenia will be switching to a per kilometre tariff motorway toll system in the next few years. This should make the cost fairer for passing traffic. We’ll see …
Slovenia: the country of cruel and unusual punishment
If u are using Slovenian highways and don’t know that you have to buy a highway ticket. They will burn you with 300 euro penalty. Plus they will sell you 15 ticket. This is very cruel and unusual punishment. 300 euro punishment for missing 15 euro ticket:((
Dont go the little county …
If you pay the penalty on the spot they give you %50 discount…. You seeee how generous they are:)))) 150+15=165 Euro for a little country:)))
I find this all very interesting and a bit daunting. Going to Croatia next month. Can we buy a vignette in advance as you can in Austria & Switzerland?
thanks
You can buy the Vigentte for Slovenia, on some gas stations in Germany and Austria, i am not sure about Switzerland.
On Friday August 5th, my husband and I were stopped by DARS just before coming into Italy on the Slovania side. We had a vignette but we were fined 150 euros because the vignette was not stuck on the glass! We were driving from Hungary to Italy and had the great misfortune of entering Slovania and actually spending our money for food, gaz and souvenirs in this country. We have never been treated this way and feel they target tourists. I am not even sure if this fine is actually legal and I just want to warn other people not to drive in Slovania.
I regret for you. Really !
This is probably the result of boarding out the execution of the law to a private firm.
I really can’t understand people who complain on this site.
You tried a free ride, you got caught, you pay the fine.
As simple as that. All the complaining nonsense is just a waste of your precious life and energy.
You travel to a country you have never been, you inform yourself about the rules in that country. So what is next? A Chinese trying a free ride on the highway, and refusing to pay because there was no sign in Chinese?
The European law is based on the following principle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorantia_juris_non_excusat
There are information signs on the border (in English and Slovenian), on each entry to the highway system, you can buy vignette on any gas station in Slovenia and in neighboring countries.
http://www.dars.si/Dokumenti/Toll/Methods_of_payment/Vehicles_up_to_35_t/Vignette/Sales_points_309.aspx
http://www.dars.si/Dokumenti/Toll/Methods_of_payment/Vehicles_under_35_t/Vignette/Questions_and_answers_about_vignette_312.aspx
Do you want to queue for 10 km to pick up highway toll ticket, and once again for 10 km once you need to exit the highway and pay it? This is what happens regularly in Italy during ferragosto period. Believe me, I have done it many times.
Austria and Switzerland also have Vignette system and I don’t see anyone complaining. You don’t like the Slovenian highways and pay the vignette, just make a detour. It is a small country, so it will be a small detour. Maybe other countries managed to build free highways.
Hardly a free ride, we would have gladly paid had we saw anything that resembled instruction. If the country wants tourists, they better damn well make sure people know what’s expected with proper signs and hey, how about some in English, the universal language of business?? NO one is available at these tolls to help and even the people who stop you, can’t speak English. Pretty stupid and such a scam to tourists, how convenient that they don’t set up things in English.
We passed through Slovenia a few weeks ago via Austria and were completely baffled by the toll system. ABSOLUTELY NO English signs anywhere explaining you need to buy a sticker (and Vignette is not English btw – what the hell is this made-up word, not even French). We slowed as we got to the tolls, trying to find out where/who to pay, but were honked from behind to move, so we did. Got through Slovenia to Croatia ok, but when we went back to Austria a few days later, had the infamous pullover by DARS. The most rudest, combative person I have ever met demanding where our sticker was, our passports, rental car registration and then refusing to give any of it back until we made payment – which was only through ATM 5 km down the road -we couldn’t drive there- or a broken credit card machine. Thankfully, my husband got to talk to asshole’s superior and we made only 150E fine via another credit machine.
We are never, EVER coming back to this country, it was indeed a waste of our time and energy. Guess you can’t expect a former Communist country to get its act together and start welcoming new tourists, they will definitely hurt because of it. Good riddance.
To demand signs in English, is rdiculous, Sir!
You people try to learn yourself some foreign language.
Anyway, there were translations in several languages among which English.
I agree with you that in general the warning signs are scarce,
but the only reason to get furious is the height of the fine.
We read this forum as we are being stopped at this “vignette enforcement” stop.
Shortly after a tunnel, we were waved to the side of the road where all the other cars of tourists were parked. The DARS officer advised us of the vignette “rule” and the penalty of 300 euro.
The DARS “authorities” (or should I say extortionists) took a picture of our car (I’m sure preemptively to thwart any challenges of a valid vignette). They then asked for our rental car’s registration, and for the driver to exit the car in order to pay the fine.
We had no cash and so paid by credit card. We had to fill out our mailing address so that we can receive a letter in a foreign language with no due process. The “fine” (or should I say payoff) is halved to 150 euro if we paid on the spot.
This imposes a financial levy only on tourists who likely will not have the resources, language comprehension, nor access to oppose this action. There is absolutely no notice or warning to visitors of this requirement and thus cannot pretend to be a legitimate “rule of law.”
If Slovenia wants a reputation of a country that takes advantage of visitors, that fails to accommodate tourists, that provides no notice, due process or justice, and extorts governmentally-sanctioned bribes–congratulations Slovenia– you just lost a possible visitor who may have spent so much more than a pithy 150 euro (as well many other possible tourists whom will hear of this).