Rental Car Harassment Driving from Prague to Bratislava

HI-

I have read many reports of police targeting drivers who have plate from other countries on them. Has anyone had any experiences with renting a car in Prague and driving to Bratislava with Czech plates on it( I%26#39;m assuming my rental will have Czech plates)? Also, do the Czech police also target rental cars? Will be continuing on to Budapest hope. Thinking of changing plans and taking train / bus to Bratislava and renting from there as the majority of our trip will be spent in Slovakia. I%26#39;m travelling w/ my Dad (who%26#39;s 70 ) and want to avoid hassle and unnecessary fines/ bribes. Any input appreciated. thanks

Mark

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I have never had any problem with rental cars, but you need to check if you can take it into another country, we had a few problems finding a hire company that would allow us to drive to Poland.We found %26quot;Thrifty%26quot; pretty good.

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if you rent a car from a Czech hire company you will have Czech plates. In Slovakia and Hungary, there are so many foriegn cars, especially in the summer that there are too many cars to target. Of course, if you break the speed limt or park in the wrong place, you are more likely to be targeted than a local registered car and have to pay a larger fine, but if you drive to the rules, such harassment is rare. Nevertheless, if you are traveling mostly in Slovakia, having a hire car from a Slovak firm may be sensible. you are less likley to be cut up and treated like a foreigner by other drivers on the road.

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Hi-

thanks for the input. Since I%26#39;m only spending 2 days each in Bratislava and Budapest I think I%26#39;m going to stick with the Hertz car I%26#39;ve reserved in Prague. This allows me to drop it off at the airport , whereas if I went to ex. Ab-Wickam I%26#39;d have to bring it back to Bratislava and take a train, wasting time. Also the insurance coverage is not the same. Hopefully I%26#39;ll be extra careful in following the rules.

Mark

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%26quot;Also, do the Czech police also target rental cars?%26quot;

No. There is no way to tell rental car from a non-rental one just looking on a license plate.

%26quot;Has anyone had any experiences with renting a car in Prague and driving to Bratislava with Czech plates on it( I%26#39;m assuming my rental will have Czech plates)?%26quot;

I work for a Prague-based company a we frequently use rental cars (Alimex-Thrifty) to travel to Slovakia. There is a huge number of CZ-registered cars moving around Slovakia and vice versa so don§t worry - you will be one of many.

Make sure your rental car has Czech highway sticker on the windshield. The rental company should take care of that.

Don%26#39;t forget to buy Slovak* and Hungarian one.

Good idea is to buy Slovak highway stickers in Czech (try big gas stations in Brno and beyond) because it is difficult to buy them on the section of highway from the border to Bratislava.

* you can buy a sticer valid just for 7-days or 1-month

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when you enter slovakia, just past the border post where they check your passport is a hut on the right where you can buy slovak highway stickers - you can pay in either czech or slovak crowns there

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