Traffic ticket: is it worth appealing?

It has happened to many before: you have stood in the restricted no-parking zone for a little too long or the parking ticket has already expired: you already have one or more parking tickets on your vehicle. That’s how I felt a few weeks ago when I got back to my car, which was parked on the street with an expired parking ticket, almost an hour late. There was a red and white slip of paper that had been filled out by hand on the windshield wiper. Since it was extremely soaked due to the rain, I decided to wait for the letter in the mail to have clarity. If fines that are stuck to the windshield wiper are not paid within the first few weeks, they will always be sent to the car owner by post – no additional fees will be charged, as someone could have taken the fine from the vehicle.

The letter detailed my parking offense and I directly transferred the EUR 15 fine to the local municipality.

A few weeks later, a registered letter came from the central fines office in Viechtach (“Central fine office in the Bavarian Police Administration Office”) – almost every speed camera or speeding ticket is processed or sent from there. The letter now said that I was responsible for the parking offense EUR 38.50 should pay – absolutely amazed why I am now being asked to pay again, I checked in online banking whether my first transfer of 15 EUR had actually gone out – and lo and behold: the money was booked back to me because I had forgotten a number of the account number – So basically I hadn’t paid.

Before I paid EUR 38.50, i.e. more than twice as much, I decided to first send a fax to the central fine office in Viechtach with an explanation that the money had been booked back and that unfortunately I didn’t notice it immediately. A few days later I received an answer by post: My request by fax was as objection to evaluate. If I didn’t pay the EUR 38.50 immediately, court proceedings would be initiated, which would then involve immense costs, etc. Annoyed by the massive bureaucracy from Viechtach, I then transferred EUR 38.50.

An “Objection”this option is actually intended to allow you to object to a warning/fine if you think it is not legal, not worth it in most cases. If it’s about a longer period of driver’s license suspension, you can certainly make a difference with a traffic lawyer and an objection. However, if the fines are less than EUR 100 and “little things” such as parking violations, in the worst case you have to pay much more than the original fine.