Bulgaria E-Vignette in a Rental Car: Prices and Fines

Check the car before leaving Sofia

The e-vignette is a record in BG TOLL's system, not a sticker. The official validity check on bgtoll.bg shows it as Active, Expired or Unused, according to the Road Infrastructure Agency's price notice. It works for any e-vignette, whoever sold it.

Avis Bulgaria's terms also list a €300 loss charge for a lost vignette sticker, registration documents, keys or plate. That line comes from before e-vignettes; ask whether any paper sticker remains on the car.

How much is a Bulgarian e-vignette and where do you buy it?

The new tariffs apply to vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes and M1 motor caravans. They took effect on 1 August 2026, after a government decree published on 31 July. The BG TOLL web shop showed them in euro on 23 September 2026.

The English e-vignette page still showed the older lev prices on the same date. Go by the shop and the 31 July notice.

Beyond bgtoll.bg and the BGTOLL app, the agency sells through its staffed desks and 464 self-service terminals, and through a long list of named partners. These include several fuel station chains, Bulgarian Posts and mobile operators. Its notice stresses that partners must sell at the set price with no extra fees.

A wrong plate, category or period counts as an unpaid fee. BG TOLL allows a correction of no more than three characters, by email or in person at the National Toll Administration or a regional road administration. The application form is on bgtoll.bg.

Which roads are charged

BG TOLL points to a 2018 Council of Ministers decision that lists the charged roads, and publishes a map of the charged sections. The list includes the motorways and many national roads. Assume you will need an e-vignette once you leave Sofia on a national road, and check the map for your exact route.

What happens if you drive in Bulgaria without a vignette?

Enforcement is automatic. According to BG TOLL's control page, 295 fixed cameras and 105 control cars check plates around the clock against the vignette database. The police and customs check too, including when a car leaves the country at a border crossing.

Paying the compensatory fee closes the case with no fine. BG TOLL's Q&A notes that the police cannot take it on the spot. It can be paid by bank transfer, at points of sale and at the cash desks of main border crossings, including the Danube bridges at Ruse and Vidin.

What are Bulgaria's speed limits and speeding fines?

The Your Europe page for Bulgaria gives car limits of 50 km/h in built-up areas, 90 km/h outside them, 120 km/h on expressways and 140 km/h on motorways. Daytime running lights are compulsory even in daylight. The blood alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l.

Speeding fines are set in Article 182 of the Road Traffic Act, last amended in September 2025, still in leva. Bulgaria now uses the euro. BG TOLL's control page converts lev amounts at the fixed rate of 1.95583, and the euro figures below use the same rate.

The jump between 30 and 31 km/h over is the one to remember. In town, it quadruples the fine.

Renting in Sofia: the other conditions

Avis Bulgaria's terms show what to check before you book:

• Age: 21 for small and medium cars, 25 for larger groups; drivers under 25 pay €6 a day, capped at €60.
• Licence: held for at least a year. Licences from outside the EU need an International Driving Permit in the Roman alphabet, or an official Bulgarian translation. Without one, Avis charges €20 for a standard translation, which some authorities may not accept.
• Winter: every car has winter tyres and an ice scraper from 1 November to 31 March, included in the rate.
• Driving abroad: only on request, with a scan of your licence and passport sent 3 working days before pickup. The fee is €65 for EU countries and €85 for non-EU countries, rising by €20 if documents arrive late. Travel to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova, Kosovo and several other countries is not allowed.

If you plan to cross the Danube bridge at Ruse into Romania, get cross-border permission first. You then need a Romanian rovinieta for Romanian national roads. The BG TOLL pages reviewed here do not list a bridge crossing charge, so ask at the crossing and carry a card.

For the drive from the airport, see Sofia airport, metro tickets and intercity buses. Road signs mix Cyrillic and Latin script; reading the Cyrillic alphabet helps with town names off the motorway.

Worked example: a week from Sofia to Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo

A traveller rents an Avis compact car in Sofia for seven days, driving to Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and back.

The Avis vignette fee is €3 cheaper than a weekly e-vignette at €10, so take it and confirm the plate is covered.

Now suppose the car is caught at 84 km/h in a village with the standard 50 km/h limit: 34 km/h over. The fine is BGN 400, about €204.52. The same excess on an open road would be BGN 300, about €153.39. Add Avis's €30 administration fee and the village mistake costs about €234.52, nearly five times the week's surcharges.