Information campaign advises how to purchase an electronic vignette

“The end of last year’s vignettes validity is approaching and based on people’s reaction, we see that some of them are still unsure how the new system works. We decided to launch an information campaign to give people enough information. We aim to explain the difference between the e-vignette and traditional paper vignette, to show the benefits of the new system and also to point out some difficulties people may come across when buying the e-vignette”, said minister of transport Karel Havlíček.

Approximately 690 thousand of e-vignettes has been already sold since December last year (by 20 January). In most cases, people buy the e-vignette via an online shop edalnice.cz (560,255 purchases). 72,309 of e-vignettes were sold at post offices, 54,699 at petrol stations EuroOil and 2,466 via self-service kiosks (put into service on 1 January 2021).

Compared to last year, the sales are lower. This might be caused by the coronavirus measures forcing people to travel less and also the flexibility of the new one-year vignette. Drivers can choose the beginning of its validity. If they plan to drive out on a motorway in March, there is no need to buy the e-vignette with a validity beginning on 1 February. The ideal case is to purchase the e-vignette a couple of days ahead with a postponed validity. 

Approximately 3% of buyers make a mistake in the purchase process, mostly when filling out details. People state a wrong e-mail address, a wrong licence plate number or enter a wrong payment identification number. Unfortunately, some mistakes cannot be corrected.

“If drivers buy an e-vignette with immediate validity and enter a wrong licence plate number, it is unfortunately impossible for them to correct it. We need to secure the system from potential misuse. A typical example is, that someone bought an e-vignette in the morning, used it during the day and then cancelled the payment in the evening”, pointed out Martin Opatrný, spokesperson of CENDIS who is responsible for the e-vignette system.

To be 100% sure, it is best to purchase the e-vignette via an online shop at least a couple of days ahead. Mistakes can be then corrected. When buying the e-vignette at a post office or a petrol station EuroOil, the customers must check the details immediately on the spot. Changes can be made only within the first 15 minutes after the purchase on the same branch. This is again due to security reasons.