Crolibertas fines and unpaid tolls: an unofficial guide
After 1 March 2027, the start date HAC has announced, no barrier will stop an unregistered car, but the gantries photograph every number plate. The amounts are already fixed by law. Here they are, with the article each one comes from.
Not the official site. croatiatolls.com is an independent guide. It is not part of Crolibertas and is not affiliated with HAC, the other motorway operators or the Croatian government. It cannot register a vehicle and takes no payments. We use the name Crolibertas only to say what this guide is about, and we do not use the Crolibertas logo. Register only through the official channels announced on crolibertas.hr.
From the Toll Collection Act (Narodne novine 156/2025), whose articles on enforcement take effect on 1 March 2027. Last checked on 6 November 2026.
In short
- Driving unregistered, you owe the toll and a fixed charge of €120.
- Pay when the notice comes, and that is the end of it.
- Leave it unpaid, and a fine of €300 to €600 can follow for a private driver.
The charge of €120
Whoever uses a tolled road without having registered owes the operator two things (Article 22): the toll they would have paid, and a statutory penalty of €120. The €120 is fixed. It does not depend on the vehicle or on how far you drove, and it is owed for each use of the road.
The driver owes it. The owner of the vehicle, a lessee and the holder of the ENC device are liable together with the driver, and the claim lapses only after five years. If someone takes the car without the owner's consent, that person is liable in the owner's place, unless the owner, or whoever was looking after the car, was at fault in letting it happen (Article 6). A member of the owner's household, an employee who drives the car, or anyone the owner lent or rented it to does not count.
The operator sets out what is owed in a statement it issues, and under Croatian enforcement law that statement is an authentic document (Article 22): if it goes unpaid, the operator can use it to start enforcement proceedings.
How the notice reaches you
When the later check of passages shows an unpaid journey, the operator sends the owner a written notice with the amount and the date to pay by (Article 42). It comes by post, or into the state's electronic inbox for those who have one. A posted notice counts as delivered 28 days after it was issued, an electronic one after eight.
If you do what the notice asks, the case is closed and no misdemeanour proceedings are opened (Article 41).
If you are stopped on the road
The operators' toll supervisors drive white vehicles marked “Nadzor cestarine”, with blue lights; HAC has announced 74 of them. A ministry rulebook published in October 2026 also sets their uniform, including high-visibility jackets with “Nadzor cestarine” on the sleeves, and their identity card, with the Crolibertas logo, the operator's name and the supervisor's number. They may stop a vehicle or send it to the next rest area, and they can register you and take payment on the spot (Articles 43 and 45).
An unregistered driver who is stopped registers there and pays the toll and the €120. A driver who refuses must leave the motorway at the next exit, still owing both; staying on counts as a new unpaid use (Article 22). After a refusal an inspector may also take the vehicle off the road by holding its registration document and plates for up to three days, and the driving licence for the same time (Article 46). Not obeying a supervisor's signal is an offence in itself, fined €300 to €600 (Article 54).
The fines
If the notice is ignored, the operator passes the file to the ministry's toll inspectors (Article 42), and the misdemeanour fines of Article 52 apply.
| Who | Fine |
|---|---|
| A private driver | €300 to €600 |
| A sole trader or self-employed person, for a vehicle of the business | €800 to €1,300 |
| A company, for a vehicle it owns or leases | €1,000 to €1,900 |
| The responsible person in that company | €300 to €600 |
The same fines apply for not keeping the number plates readable, unless objective reasons make that impossible (Article 18), and for a device in the vehicle that interferes with the gantries. There is no offence where the toll was collected from the registered means of payment within the time the operator's terms allow (Article 52).
Vehicles registered abroad
A foreign number plate is no protection. For unpaid tolls the Act gives Croatia access to the vehicle registers of other EU countries through the EUCARIS system, so the notice goes to the owner's home address (Article 39). Checks are carried out first of all at the exits that lead to border crossings (Article 43), and at the border itself police and customs officers can pick out a vehicle with an unpaid toll and call the supervisors (Articles 41 and 48).
Rental and company cars
The notice goes to the owner, so for a rental car it reaches the rental company first. The owner must name the person who was driving when asked (Article 49); a company that does not is fined €1,000 to €1,900 (Article 56). Expect the rental company to pass the charge on to you with a handling fee of its own. Tolls with a rental car.
How to stay clear of all this
- Register before you join the motorway, or at the first quick-registration lane.
- Check that the card behind the registration has not expired: without a valid means of payment the vehicle counts as unregistered.
- Keep the number plates clean and readable, in winter above all.
- With an ENC, drive the vehicle whose plate it is linked to, and fix the device where its maker says (Article 19).
- Sold the car, or lost the plates? Report it, or the charges stay with you.
Until 1 March 2027
None of this applies before that date. Until then you take a ticket and pay at the exit: see how to pay tolls in Croatia.
Sources
- Toll Collection Act (Zakon o naplati cestarine, Narodne novine 156/2025, in Croatian), Articles 16 to 22, 39, 41 to 43, 45, 46, 48, 49, 52 to 56 and 67.
- Rulebook on the system's name and visual identity (Pravilnik o nazivu i vizualnom identitetu, Narodne novine 123/2026, in Croatian, in force from 5 November 2026): the toll supervisors' uniform, identity card and vehicles.
- tportal, 7 September 2026: what the Act provides for vehicles with foreign plates.
- HRT, 18 December 2025: HAC's presentation, with the 74 control vehicles.
This is a summary for drivers, not legal advice. Where it and the Act differ, the Act applies.