12182 car hire - check your insurance documents

We have hired many cars from Ciampino but last week needed to hire from AVIS in Trieste as we were doing a bit of a tour, starting in Venice and going through Slovenia, Austria (to collect son from ski trip with school) and back to Rome. We are due to hand the car back on Sunday at Ciampino. So far so good. Journey was a real pleasure. Car ran nicely. Today, only a km from our Italian home, we were stopped by a routine patrol of the Polizia Locale and asked, as you are, for documents. We then found out that the car insurance had expired a week before we picked the car up in Trieste ( I know, we should check these things, like the yellow jacket, the tyres, warning triangle etc etc but..) The polizia explained that they could impound the car (I was sorely tempted to let them have it) but instead issued me with a verbale and fine for 38 euros to pay within 15 days or things would escalate badly. We tried to get hold of AVIS but kept being put on hold and then time ran out (good job we hadn't broken down). When back at our house we rang Avis in the UK who suggested we get Trieste to fax us the insurance document. After all, the car still has no insurance document and we could get stopped again tomorrow. Trieste said it was no problem, the car is insured. MOH ranted and raved (in Italian) about how we could explain this to another policeman. He demanded a copy of the insurance certificate. Trieste suggested we call in to collect it (from Rome???) then promised to fax us a copy. Needless to say it has't happened. Trieste suggested it was just the police trying to raise money through fines (the point that there would have been no fine if the document had been in the car seemed to pass him by). We are left with the alternative of spending the last day of our holiday at Ciampino sorting this out or leaving all the paperwork with the Ciampino office on Sunday morning as we depart. As long as Avis pay the fine and take the insurance document to the police it will all be OK (except for the nasty experience of being caught driving without insurance - which in over 35 years of driving I have never done).:Dancing_peevedoff::madd::Dancing_peevedoff: We are going to take the chance - the police said it is quite common that car hire companies don't issue cars with up to date insurance documents, though they said it was the first time theyd had this experience with Avis. As you can tell I'm livid with Avis, and with their response to the situation. If I get stopped tomorrow, they can impound the car!