Hungary's motorways and expressways need an e-vignette (e-matrica), bought for the car's plate before you drive on. Cameras check the plates; a car without a valid vignette owes a surcharge (pótdíj) to the national toll company, Nemzeti Útdíjfizetési Szolgáltató (NÚSZ) — at most one per plate per day. It is not a police fine. A vignette of a lower category than the car means a smaller surcharge difference (pótdíjkülönbözet).
How the request reaches you
The car's registered keeper owes it. For a Hungarian car NÚSZ sends a payment request (pótdíjfizetési felszólítás) by registered letter; one that comes back uncollected counts as delivered on the 20th day after posting. For a car registered abroad a partner collection office of NÚSZ in that country writes to the keeper and adds its own costs under its country's law. For a hire car the rental company is the keeper — your rental contract may pass the surcharge on to you.
The 60 days and the two amounts
- Paid within 60 days of delivery of the request: the basic surcharge (alap pótdíj), 45% of the annual vignette price — 27,790 forints for a car in 2026.
- After the 60th day: the increased surcharge (emelt pótdíj), 155% — 95,730 forints for a car in 2026.
Enter the day you received the request on this page and the site counts the 60 days; pay before the last one.
Ways to pay less
- Buy an annual national vignette for the car and show it to NÚSZ within 75 days of receiving the request: the unpaid surcharges of that car for that period count as paid.
- Several requests? Within 75 days of the first one you can ask NÚSZ to cap what came before it at two basic surcharges; surcharges already paid are left out.
- A plate typed wrongly by up to three characters can be corrected within 60 days of receiving the request, for a fee.
Check before you pay
- The plate, the country code, the category and the dates against your vignette receipt — wrong data counts as no vignette.
- Fake e-mails and text messages about unpaid tolls have used NÚSZ's name: pay only through nemzetiutdij.hu, its customer offices or the partner office named in the letter.
- NÚSZ gives drivers who enter a toll road by mistake 60 minutes from the entry to buy the vignette.
A petition goes to NÚSZ or its partner office in writing, by post or e-mail. A lawyer for fines and administrative penalties can check the request and write to NÚSZ in Hungarian; when a collection agency pursues it, see debt collection. A police camera fine is a different letter: see a Hungarian traffic fine.
Prepared by Legal Help Tool. Last updated . General information, not legal advice.
