Allegedly Unpaid traffic Fine & reentering Taiwan

Visited Taiwan 5 years ago and rented a motorbike. Weeks later I noticed an email from the scooter rental company warning me to pay a fine for a traffic violation ( honestly don’t know what for) and asking me to pay 900 NTD.
in the email they warned me the issue would be sent on and I would land on a immigration alert list.
Long story short I didn’t pay them and now I’m booked on a transit flight via Taipeh.

Does anybody have any knowledge on what could happen ?

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Maybe it’s a scam?

Hi marco

They sent me on a copy of the fine they received from the traffic authorities for the motorbike I rented - it was legit.

You received the fine five years ago?

Yes five years ago, but only noticed weeks after returning back from Taiwan and at that point I was scared to get into further trouble so I just left it.
Obviously it’s wrong thing to do but honestly now I’m scared shitless that I’ll be unable to board or arrested in transit

Don’t fines get attached to the scooter, not the person?

I just got a parking fine. No name on it because they don’t know who was driving.

I don’t think you need to worry. But just in case, have 1000 nt ready. 900 plus interest.

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Thanks big Dave

It was a motorbike rental company so it might be different ?
They said they will send on my passport info to the *traffic authorities where the Fine would keep accumulating until a notice to immigration authorities would be sent out to notify them on future entrance to Taiwan…
I think the issue might be beyond the fine but rather a more serious violation that could lead to being banned from entering the country even on a transit ?

I’ve read this topic but I can’t conclude anything because that case seems different in that I was told I would be reported straight to immigration ?

I would hedge a bet the owner had to pay.
As you will be in transit and not entering Taiwan, I would not lose sleep.

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Thanks cake

I’m ready to calm down a bit now thanks :pray:
I’m still a bit worried I’m somehow on a blacklist of some kind just cause of a traffic ticket or so ?

I agree with cake, the owner likely paid

Nobody’s going on an immigration list for $900.

The rental company definitely had to pay the fine. They were only asking you to reimburse them.

Thanks Dan & Alan

I had been reading that the motorbike rather than the person will ultimately carry the fine - if I understood correct.

For sakes of clarification here is what they wrote me :

We are sorry to inform you that we have received a ticket during your scooter rental. For cases like this what we do is we submit the rental contract and the ticket with the copy of the Renters passport to the Motor Licensing Office. The Motor Licensing Office will then transfer the ticket under the your name. If the ticket is not paid then it will keep on adding up until it reaches a certain amount if its still not paid then they will inform the immigration office to put an alert on the persons future entrance to Taiwan.

If they indeed just paid the fine in the end I will obviously reimburse them regardless and I have already written them.

I can categorically tell you this is bullshit. It doesn’t go to immigration unless its criminal.

One interesting tidbit here for everyone else. If you accumulate (I think) NTD3000 in fines they will take it straight out of your bank account. My bike’s still registered in Hsinchu so I don’t get infringement notices so this has happened to me a couple of times over 12 years. Although they now do eventually send on the fines to me.

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Immigration keeping track of people’s overdue fines is plausible (I was stopped at another country’s immigration for this exact reason previously). Having said that, even with interest or penalties your 900NTD fine is probably about 1000NTD right now. Just be ready to pay for it. And, if you are just transferring (do not pass immigration) you are unlikely to be stopped anyway.

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Pretty sure this is BS. If that was allowed, then anybody could just send a fake contract to the police and tell them that a fictional person borrowed their car and therefore they aren’t liable for the fine. Then again, a lot of things in Taiwan don’t make any sense, so it could very well be true.

But either way, none of this matters if you are not actually entering Taiwan, but only changing planes here.

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Thanks guys for greatly calming my nerves

I have written the rental company to see if the fine is still unpaid or if I can at least return money to them.

If it is plausible that I’m on some kind of alert list, could that not mean trouble at checkin ?
I know that sounds ridiculous for a traffic fine but an alert is an alert regardless what for and the airline might have to follow guidelines etc ?

Again thanks for everybody for being so helpful and offering their insights on this matter.
I’m a really nervous flyer as is, so I’m bouncing off the walls with all different scenarios

Check-in? Where? In your home country? If you are only changing planes in Taiwan then there will be no checking in involved in Taiwan.

Yeah when checking in at the counter with my passport (in my home country).
Say if there was an alert out from Taiwanese authorities to not let me inside Taiwan (regardless of transit ) and it shows up with the airline (Eva air)

Honestly I feel like crying this sounds so stupid but it’s honestly going through my mind right now.