Parking rules and features

In accordance with the car rental agreement all chargeable parking facilities including parking for the return of the car are paid by the Client. At the airport we offer TWO FREE RETURN PLACES but if the Client chooses to return the car on a paid parking lot, then he must pay for it. The same rule is applied to paid parking at the hotels. It is also to be noted that under the terms of the agreement the Client pays all the fines received during the lease. That's why it is important to know the rules of parking in those places which are planned to be visited. As a matter of course in one article we will not be able to cover the parking features in all the cities that our Clients visit but we will touch upon the main ones in Vienna, Austria and dwell on the general rules for the EU.

Parking in Vienna and other Austrian cities

Almost everywhere in Vienna you can park a car only with a “parkschein” (special parking voucher) which can be bought in a subway machine, at “Traffic" or "Tobacco" stalls. Without a "parkschein” in Vienna (except for remote areas), the car can only be left at night from 19:00 or 22:00 to 8:00 or 9:00 depending on the district or at weekends (except for the areas near the City Hall (Stadthalle).Since there are a lot of districts in Vienna you had better ask at your hotel`s reception about the time during which parking is allowed in this or that place or even better take advantage of an inexpensive underground parking. For more information on parking time see below. On paid parking lots parksheins are surely not needed. In winter months parking is prohibited in the streets with tram traffic since the streets are cleaned from snow. It is forbidden to stop and park on the carriageway marked with a zigzag yellow line.

Parking rules vary in different Austrian cities. In many city centers there are special zones marked with a blue line where you can park for a period of half an hour to three hours. Having parked in such a zone you need to install a special timer indicating the stop time under the windshield of your car.

Parking in cities of the EU countries

In many EU cities parking is paid via a cash-machine. The receipt with the time indicated should be placed under the windshield in a prominent place. There are also modern machines in which you need to enter the number of the car and the paid parking time is transferred directly to the electronic database of the police. No receipts are needed to be placed under the windshield. Fines for incorrect parking in the EU start from 20 euros.

Parking fines

The most important thing to be taken into account about the parking rules is that you may get not only a fine for incorrect parking in the EU, but also the evacuation of the car is possible, especially if it was left in front of the entrance, near the rails, in the place for the disabled, in a private area (for example, a gas station), or anywhere at the airport (everywhere, except for paid parking). For reference: in Vienna the evacuator services cost 200-350 euros + a fine in some cases (for example 100 euros at the airport). The impoundment lot can cost 80 euros per day. It should be noted that the Client pays by him/herself all the expenses related to the tow truck services, impound lot, fines as well as all actions related to the return of the car from the impoundment lot. We provide only information support by phone, so we strongly recommend our Clients to select parking spaces carefully.

Important little-known law note

By the way with free parking and parking in the streets (where it is not forbidden) it is not all that simple either. In Austria and some EU countries there is a little-known law according to which every driver must check the position of his car every three days. This is due to the fact that the minimum period after which the established temporary sign comes into force is three days. 

Put simply, a sign can be installed in any place and at any time. For example, the parking prohibition sign was installed, and it comes into force after three days after its installation. Thus, all cars in the area of this sign will violate the traffic rules and accordingly can be fined and evacuated to the impoundment lot. This thing is likely to happen because such signs are usually set to carry out roadworks and the parked cars may hinder them. Of course the probability of such a coincidence is not high but the expenses incurred by the driver who has not checked his car within three days are very large.

Rules for filling in a parking voucher (parkschein)

Every tourist visiting Vienna by car should know the simple rules of short-term parking, which can help to avoid many problems in public places and save money.

The first important thing to know is that Vienna is divided into districts with its own short-term parking rules:

From the very first minute of parking, a so-called prepaid parking voucher or parkschein is required. It can be purchased at Tobacco, Traffic stalls or gas stations. It must be placed in a clearly visible place on the windshield. Parking vouchers are divided into several types and have a different colours depending on the parking time:

The free of charge 15-minute parking voucher has two fields to fill in: hour (stunde) and minute (minute) of arrival. You can get them at your hotel. The time in this voucher must be indicated to the nearest minute. It is also necessary to put "zero" before single digits. For example, 08:07.

IMPORTANT! This type of parking vouchers cannot be combined with other types!

All other types of parking vouchers have four vertical fields to fill in, as well as one more field at the bottom to indicate the year. Parking vouchers must be filled in as follows:

• The first column indicates the month (Monat)
• In the second - day (Tag)
• In the third - hour (Stunde)
• In the fourth - a 15-minute interval from which the parking duration (min) is counted.
• The fifth indicates the current year (Jahr).

IMPORTANT! If you combine several parking vouchers at the same time, each of them must indicate the same time of arrival.

USEFUL TIPS:

• Always round off the time of arrival to the nearest 15-minute interval. For example, you arrived at 14:09, mark 14:15 in the voucher, etc.
• If you made a mistake while filling in, this parking voucher cannot be used. Corrections are not allowed.
• When using several parking vouchers, their sum must not exceed the maximum allowed parking time for a certain district. Falsifying a parking voucher entails a huge fine.

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