Fines for Missing the Road Toll Sticker Are Increasing

Update! The bill increasing the fines for driving without a valid road tax vignette has now been promulgated by presidential decree by the President of Romania and will be published in the Official Gazette.

Bad news for drivers in Romania: at its meeting on Saturday, 26 March 2022, the Government approved a bill that will, in principle, increase the fines for failing to have a rovinieta.

In practical terms, this bill amends Annex 2 to Government Ordinance No. 15/2002 on the application of the road-use fee and the toll fee on Romania’s national road network.

The executive says this update to the level of contravention fines for users caught without a valid rovinieta was necessary because the sanctions had remained unchanged since 2010.

Higher fines for drivers without a rovinieta

The new contravention fines will apply according to vehicle type, and the minimum and maximum limits are those proposed in Annex No. 2 to Government Ordinance No. 15/2002, as shown in the image below:

The increase affects all vehicle categories compared with the previous rovinieta fines. For passenger cars, the rise is relatively modest, but for freight vehicles and passenger transport vehicles the increases are dramatic, in some cases exceeding 500%.

As in the case of contravention sanctions for driving without valid RCA insurance, which led many drivers to be more careful and avoid circulating without valid coverage, the same effect is expected here. The authorities want to increase the collection rate of the road tax.

It is also important to know that the fine set out in the contravention report may be paid at half of the minimum amount provided by law within 15 days from the date of notification.

All the reasons behind this decision were detailed in a statement issued by the Government of Romania, from which the following points emerge:

According to the bill approved on Saturday, 26 March 2022, and shown below, the new provisions will enter into force 30 days after publication in the Official Gazette, probably from the end of April 2022.

This decision to raise the penalties for non-payment of the rovinieta is one more reason not to forget this fee. You can always check the validity of a car rovinieta online, and if you find that your vehicle does not have a valid vignette, take action to avoid a rather substantial fine under the newly approved amounts.

On this site, you can find many useful articles and tutorials explaining in detail how to check rovinieta validity online, ITP validity online, or RCA validity online.

You can also find step-by-step guides on how to complete vehicle ownership transfer for a car bought in Romania, how to conclude a sales-purchase contract online, and a practical guide to finding the cheapest RCA insurance.

We have also presented in detail the steps taken by ASF and the Ministry of Finance to cap RCA prices, a project that should stop the wave of rising RCA insurance costs, as well as the UNSAR statement describing the profitability of insurance companies in the RCA segment.

The most important resources are undoubtedly the platform’s insurance tools, which allow price comparisons for several types of insurance: car insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, home insurance, and more.

We recommend using the newest and most modern RCA offer comparison tool, through which you can obtain quotes from all companies offering RCA insurance in Romania in just a few dozen seconds.

Once you have all the price offers, you will be able to choose the most advantageous one and take out cheap RCA online quickly and easily, because the issuing platform is modern and intuitive and can even be used by a 7-year-old child.

So, starting in April, fines for failing to pay the rovinieta will be higher, and for transport operators these penalties are enormous and could seriously affect company operations.

For passenger cars, the increases are manageable: the minimum fine rises from 250 lei to 275 lei, and the maximum from 500 lei to 550 lei. For vehicles carrying passengers with up to 23 seats, the limits rise sharply, from a minimum fine of 1,250 lei to 3,100 lei, while the maximum increases from 1,750 lei to 6,200 lei.

Passenger transport vehicles with more than 23 seats will see increases from 1,750 lei to 5,500 lei for the minimum fine, and from 2,250 lei to 11,000 lei for the maximum fine.

For freight vehicles, the increases are even steeper, reaching exorbitant levels in the case of vehicles over 12 tonnes and at least 4 axles, for which the minimum fine rises from 3,000 lei to 11,900 lei and the maximum fine increases from 4,500 lei to 23,800 lei.

These are significant increases in every vehicle category, and the fine for driving without a rovinieta is becoming painful enough that the authorities expect fewer and fewer drivers to circulate without one.

With that in mind, our recommendation is to be responsible and avoid driving without a rovinieta. The fines are steep and can have a serious financial impact, especially if you use these vehicles for commercial activity.

You should also remember to regularly check the validity of your ITP online to make sure you are not driving with an expired inspection, and of course to ensure that the vehicle you are using has valid RCA insurance.

We are confident that the information in this article answers many common questions, such as: how much is the rovinieta fine, what happens if I do not have a rovinieta, and what risk do I face if I drive without a valid rovinieta?