Questions drivers ask

Eight: Austria, Switzerland, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Greece charge at a barrier or by camera instead.

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Only the one-day (€9.60) and ten-day (€12.80) vignettes. The two-month and annual ones bought online only start on the 18th day after you buy them. At a petrol station counter every vignette is valid at once.

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No. Switzerland only sells the year vignette, CHF 40, valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, so a single afternoon on the motorway costs the same as a year.

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Pay within 72 hours at the operator's site. Miss that and a €90 surcharge is added, cut to €10 if you settle within 15 days; after two months a €375 fixed fine lands on top. The sections without a barrier are the A13 and A14, the A79 and the Boulay interchange on the A4.

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Of France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Italy. The same six everyday offences, paid on time, cost €1,151.40 there, against €980 in Germany, €750 in Spain and €450 in France.

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No. Anything in your ear that can make a sound is banned at the wheel, even one earphone for the sat nav. The fine is €135.

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Not while you drive. The function that warns of speed checks must not be used on any device, your phone included. Carrying a radar detector ready for use costs €75.

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Not in a car on foreign plates: the DGT says warning triangles still comply. The V-16 is compulsory only on Spanish-registered cars, which includes almost every hire car.

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A limited-traffic zone in a historic centre, with a camera at every entrance. Nothing is for sale: your plate has to be registered before you pass the camera, usually by a hotel inside the zone. Without that it costs €83 to €332 each time.

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In a low-emission zone that restricts traffic, yes, foreign cars included. Order it from the official site: the disc is €3.11, €5.11 posted abroad, and takes about 10 working days. Without it the fine is €68.

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In Barcelona, Valencia and Palma, yes: there is no sticker for a foreign car, so the plate is registered before you drive in, and Barcelona can take 15 working days to answer. €200 is the standard fine.

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For an Umweltzone, yes: the green Umweltplakette, €5 to €10 at an issuing point in Germany, and it never expires. Driving or parking inside a zone without one is €100.

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No. Since 1 October 2024 Germany only accepts tyres with the Alpine snowflake symbol, whenever there is ice, snow or slush. The driver pays €60 and the keeper €75.

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From 1 November to 15 April, whenever there is snow, slush or ice on the road. Plain M+S is enough, but the tread must be at least 4 mm.

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At fast chargers built since April 2024, yes. Under the EU regulation, every public charging point of at least 50 kW put in from 13 April 2024 must take a bank card or contactless payment, with no contract and no subscription.

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Utrecht to Barcelona in a Tesla Model Y comes to about €110: 1,430 km and four charging stops, each priced at the bank-card price in its country. The trip calculator works it out for your own cities and car.

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You do, plus the rental company's administration fee: £40 flat at Sixt UK, €19.99 at Hertz France. The company either names you to the authority, which sends the notice to your home address, or pays it and charges your card.

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Not on an EU category B licence: above 3,500 kg you need C1, which covers up to 7,500 kg. The weight that counts is the one printed on the registration document, not what the van weighs today.

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In most of the cities we cover, yes: eleven of the thirteen compared charge nothing at the kerb on a Sunday. Amsterdam charges 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and Venice has no street to park on.

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Almost always, rather than stolen. Look for a temporary no-parking board or a tow-truck sign by the kerb, then search the plate: France has a national search on the interior ministry's Ma Sécurité portal, and Paris has its own.

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