Snow Tires / Winterreifen

One of the secret costs of owning a car in Austria is snow tires. It was something Peter forgot to mention until October was winding down when the car suddenly had to go back to Citröen for an appointment, and we had to purchase a new set of tires for the C3. Snow tires? It's not as though we are planning on heading to mountainous regions with our car this winter. In fact, I have no plans of driving anywhere in the snow. But, all cars in Austria must have snow tires on before November 1 and keep them on until April 15. It is the law. And it is a potentially costly law to break.

Depending on the weather conditions, if you are caught without winter tires, you can be fined between 35 Euros (on a warm sunny day) and 5,000 Euros (if conditions are bad and you could be putting yourself and others at risk). A police officer also has the right to seize your car. If that's not bad enough, if you have an accident during the time period of snow tire requirement and you don't have snow tires, your insurance company will not cover you. It's pretty good incentive to follow the law.

So, four snow tires and almost 400 Euros later, we have an-almost-brand-new set of summer tires in our basement storage area and a completely-brand-new-set of winter tires on our car. Now it just needs to snow.