Validity periods and pricing overview

Two vignettes described as "annual" can differ by two months of coverage, and two described as "one day" can differ by up to 24 hours of driving. This page compares how the clock actually runs in each country. For the exact, source-verified amounts per vehicle class, open the country guide — prices there come straight from the official tariff.

How long each product really lasts

The three timing traps

A "day" is usually a calendar day, not 24 hours. Hungary's 1-day e-matrica dies at 23:59 on the day of purchase; buying it at 21:00 leaves three hours of driving. Slovakia's runs to 24:00 of the single day you selected. For late-afternoon transit, the next product up is almost always the better buy.

Two countries give you fourteen months, and everyone forgets January. Austria and Switzerland both run their annual products from 1 December to 31 January of the following year. A January trip is still covered by last year's vignette — and conversely, buying in December for a single crossing costs the full annual price, because neither charge is refunded or pro-rated.

Only the Czech Republic forbids buying in the past — explicitly. Its road act states that the start of the paid period may not precede the moment of payment, and must begin within 30 days of it. Everywhere else the same result is achieved in practice, but Czech law is the one that says it outright.

Where the price comes from

Only two systems publish a single rate rather than a table. Switzerland charges one annual amount for every vehicle up to 3.5 t, unchanged since 1995. The Czech Republic sets only the annual rate in law and derives the rest from it — 30 days is 19%, 10 days 12% and 1 day 9%, each rounded down to whole tens of crowns — which is why all four Czech prices move together whenever the annual rate is indexed.

Exact tariffs per vehicle class: Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova.