To cross highways, public roads and certain sections of national roads in Hungary, it is necessary to pay a vignette. On these road categories, tolls vary depending on the length of time spent on such a road section and the type of vehicle.
Vignette in Hungary can be purchased for a validity period of 10 days (weekly), 30 days and annually.
To pay the road tax in Hungary, you can choose either manual vignette payment or electronic payment.
How do you pay the vignette in Hungary?
Manual vignette payment in Hungary
If you choose to pay the tolls manually, you can buy the vignette at the counter located in customs or at certain gas stations in Romania or Hungary.
In the case of this method, you must stick the sticker in the window that proves the payment of the tax.
Electronic payment vignette in Hungary
Since July 1, 2013, the electronic road toll system based on the distance traveled has been introduced in Hungary and covers no more than 6,500 km of the Hungarian road network consisting of the following categories of roads: motorways, expressways and main roads .
In the case of electronic payment for the vignette in Hungary there are several options:
- The official page of the state authority for road tax payments in Hungary – Website ematrica.nemzetiutdij.hu;
- The national mobile payment system: Nemzeti Mobilpälätsi Zrt;
- On Board Unit (OBU) – used by truck drivers. This tolling device is registered once in the vehicle’s HU-GO profile and mounted on the car’s dashboard.
Vignette costs in Hungary
Charge categories:
- D1 – motorcycles and vehicles with no more than 7 seats
- D2 – vehicles with more than 7 seats, caravans and trucks not exceeding 3.5 tonnes
- B2 – buses, passenger vehicles with more than 9 seats
- U – trailers of vehicles included in categories D2 and B2
Clasa tarifară | Pentru 10 zile | Pentru o lună | Pentru un an |
D1M | 1 530 HUF | 2 600 HUF | 44 660 HUF |
D1 | 3 640 HUF | 4 970 HUF | 44 660 HUF |
D2 | 7 270 HUF | 9 930 HUF | 44 660 HUF |
B2 | 16 100 HUF | 22 830 HUF | 207 770 HUF |
U | 3 640 HUF | 4 970 HUF | 44 660 HUF |
Vehicles over 3.5 tons
For vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, the HU-GO road tax must be paid. The system collects amounts from users of the Hungarian road network with vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, it is managed by NÚSZ (Hungarian National Authority for Road Tax Payments).
The price of a vignette in Hungary is determined according to the type of road traveled, the category of the vehicle, the distance traveled and the number of axles:
- J2 – vehicles with a weight exceeding 3.5 tons – two axles
- J3 – vehicles with a weight exceeding 3.5 tons – three axles
- J4 – vehicles with a weight exceeding 3.5 tons – four or more axles
The calculation of road tolls in Hungary can be found on the official HU-GO page, as they also appear in the following table:
The fines applied by the HU-GO system if the payment is not made for the Hungary vignette
Within the HU-GO electronic road tax system, National Toll Payment Services has an activity to support checks through the fixed check portals of the toll road network, and with the help of mobile data collection vehicles.
The verification of the payment of taxes is done permanently, the system notifying instantly if the vehicle in question has the right to use the roads.
The range of fines is between HUF 24,000 and HUF 165,000 (€70 – €470), the following table contains the penalty amounts, determined according to the vehicle category, the type of offense and the time periods:
Cases where you can easily receive fines are:
- Failure to pay the road tax before starting to use the roads;
- A declaration has been made for a vehicle tax or environmental category lower than the actual one;
- The on-board device appears, when using the roads, in the record of invalidated devices;
Useful advice
In order to benefit from the vignettes in the most economical way, it is recommended that the journeys be planned ahead of time.
- If several journeys are made within a month, it is advantageous to buy the vignette valid for one month.
If the costs of 10-day and one-month vignettes do not exceed the amount of 30-35,000 HUF, it is recommended to buy vignettes for a week or a month before the trip. They are valid throughout the country for the selected period.
- It is advantageous to buy a one-year vignette if the costs of 10-day and monthly vignettes exceed HUF 30-35,000 per year, even if in this case you pay HUF 6-8,000 more.
The convenience provided by this type of vignette is worth the extra cost. With this type of vignette you don’t have to worry about the routes you have to take or give up on your trips.
- The county vignette is an advantage for those who make frequent trips to the territory of neighboring counties. In this case, it is recommended to buy a county vignette valid for the entire year. If you still need to use other routes, it is more economical to purchase a periodic vignette.
- The purchase of the vignette has no retroactive effect. If you want to buy several vignettes in a row, make sure to specify the date of use!
- Use of the highway is only possible with a valid vignette!
- The ticket (in case of electronic purchase, the confirmation letter containing the vignette series) must be kept for one year from the date of expiry. The confirmation letter does not need to be printed and carried.
CargoTrack offers the solution of automatic road toll payment services through an on-board unit, which is an efficient alternative to simplify the processes of carriers.
With the help of automatic road tax payment services, you can rest easy knowing that you will pay quickly and without complications exactly the amount you owe for the roads outside the border.
Why choose CargoTrack for Hungarian toll payment?
The advantages you can get from purchasing HU-GO automatic toll payment services from CargoTrack are:
- Route recording and automatic toll payment – vehicle data once entered remains saved and is automatically sent to the Hungarian authorities, thus avoiding certain data errors that can lead to costly fines.
- Constant monitoring of equipment and correct payment – CargoTrack constantly checks that the monitoring equipment is transmitting correct information in real time.
- Automatic SMS & e-mail notifications for account top-up – by carefully monitoring vehicles and preventing fines that can reach hundreds of euros.
- The flexibility of changing the route without depending on tolls – CargoTrack constantly checks the monitoring equipment to transmit correct information in real time.
HU-GO payment process
To complete the payment process, the following steps will be performed:
- A unique id is generated for each GPS device for which HU-GO is desired
- An account is created on the HU-GO platform;
- You will load your own virtual account with the money needed to pay the fees;
- Add vehicles with complete information (number of axles, pollution rate, etc.)
Remarks:
HU-GO transfers the responsibility of the correctness of the payment to the customer so you have both the HU-GO interface and the CargoTrack app available to observe any problems in charging.
Choose CargoTrack’s services and you will benefit from a complete handbook of best practices for paying road taxes in Hungary for free.
The purpose of this manual is to help you understand the processes simply and quickly:
- Loading the account in the HU-GO platform, in gas stations or customs terminals
- HU-GO balance check
- Change category J2/J3/J4 (number of axes)
- Checking the cost of a route on the territory of Hungary
- VAT recovery