Austria vignette 2026: prices & rules

For cars up to 3.5 t, Austria offers 1-day, 10-day, 2-month and annual motorway vignettes. The 1-day and 10-day products suit most short transit trips; the 2-month and annual products need extra care online because consumer purchases in the ASFINAG toll shop can start only after the withdrawal period.

€200.00 if caught — not a fine, but an offer to settle.

The substitute toll is a statutory way to settle a toll offence before an administrative penalty is imposed.

For a written demand, the full amount must reach the specified account within the deadline, with the correct identification number. Sending a transfer on the last day is not sufficient.

For cars, no. The Federal Road Toll Act (Bundesstraßen-Mautgesetz, BStMG) requires the time-based toll to be properly paid before you use a toll road — the sticker attached to the windscreen, or the plate registered for the digital vignette. Buying afterwards does not repair a trip you have already made, and no rule lets you enter first and settle later.

One written tolerance does exist in Austrian toll law, and it does not apply to cars: vehicles over 3.5 t on the distance-based GO toll are given the opportunity to pay the toll within five hours and 100 kilometres — at a GO sales outlet, for example — and only owe the toll fine if they fail to do so.

What stands in for a grace period on the car side is the substitute toll, and the law fixes exactly how long you have to pay it:

§ 19(1) BStMG caps the substitute toll by law, and ASFINAG currently sets €200.00 for cars and camper vans and €100.00 for motorcycles. Miss the deadline and the case moves to an administrative offence under § 20 BStMG, punishable by €300.00–€3,000.00 — at the top of that range, more than ten times the substitute toll.

Where Austria is genuinely generous is at the other end. The annual vignette is not a calendar-year product: the 2026 vignette is valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, fourteen months in total. If you drive in Austria in January, last year's annual vignette still covers you until the end of that month.

Two things carry no tolerance at all on the sticker side: it may be attached only once — removed and re-stuck, it is invalid — and foils, suction cups or adhesive tape are not accepted as a way of fixing it. On a motorcycle it must go on a clean, non-replaceable part; on a pannier or luggage case it does not count.

The 1-day vignette is digital only and covers the selected calendar day until 23:59, not 24 hours from purchase. A same-day purchase starts only when it is completed. The 10-day vignette covers the start day and the following 9 calendar days; the 2-month vignette ends at the end of the same numbered day two months later, or on the last day of that month if the matching day does not exist. The annual 2026 product ends on 31 January 2027 at 23:59. Choose and check the start date before driving.

For a consumer buying in the ASFINAG shop or app, a digital 2-month or annual vignette cannot start the next day.

ASFINAG states explicitly that this rule applies only to digital 2-month and annual vignettes purchased online by consumers in its own toll shop. Digital 1-day and 10-day vignettes can start immediately, and the 18-day delay does not apply if you buy through an authorised distributor, at a toll station or at a vending machine.

Three ways to avoid this trap:

Roads requiring the vignette

The requirement applies to designated ASFINAG A- and S-road sections, with the exemptions and section-toll stretches below.

Three short cross-border approach sections are exempt from the vignette requirement:

The exemption covers the named stretches, not every motorway after the border. ASFINAG also lists the A 26 Linzer Autobahn as exempt until the end of the day its connection to the A 7 via Linz-Hummelhof opens to traffic. Check the current operator notice before travelling.

Roads with a section toll instead of a vignette

ASFINAG operates six Alpine segments as section tolls (Streckenmaut). On these stretches, a separate per-direction ticket is required — the section toll replaces the vignette requirement on the designated stretch, and the section toll ticket does not replace a vignette for the rest of the motorway network. If your route uses both a section toll stretch and regular motorway, you need both.

For the A11 Karawanken tunnel, ASFINAG sells only the southbound direction in its shop; the northbound return toll is collected by the Slovenian operator DARS. Section tolls can be paid at the booth or in advance as a digital ticket; with a valid digital ticket you can use the green lane where available.

Roads outside the ASFINAG vignette network

Provincial roads (Landesstraßen, commonly B or L) and municipal roads outside that network do not require the ASFINAG vignette. This does not mean every Alpine road is free: the Großglockner High Alpine Road, for example, requires a separate ticket. Check the operator and each segment before choosing a route without tolls; avoiding motorways alone does not guarantee a free journey.

Use the registration document and the applicable transitional conditions to identify the toll system.

The deciding factor is field F.1 (technically permissible maximum laden mass / TPMLM) on your registration document — not the actual loaded weight, not the vehicle size, not how it looks.

Since 1 December 2023, the general criterion is TPMLM (field F.1), not the nationally authorised maximum weight (field F.2). The exception through 31 January 2029 requires all three conditions: first registration before 1 December 2023, authorised maximum weight set at no more than 3.5 t before that date, and no more than 3.5 t authorised weight when the road is used. If all apply, the vignette/section-toll system remains applicable despite F.1 exceeding 3.5 t. Confirm the case with ASFINAG before travelling.

If you continue toward the Adriatic, Slovenia has its own vehicle-class rules — see motorhome rules and classes for Slovenia.

ASFINAG confirms that the 2026 sticker vignette is the last of its kind. In 2026, both the classic sticker and the digital vignette remain available, but from 2027 Austria switches permanently to a digital-only vignette system.

The 2027 vignette year starts on 1 December 2026: products valid from that date are digital only (§ 11(2) BStMG).

For drivers who still prefer the sticker, this means 2026 is the last year to buy one. From 2027 the digital vignette is the only option, so it is worth getting used to the digital purchase flow now — including the 18-day rule for 2-month and annual products bought online.

If you choose the sticker, it must be glued directly to the inside of the windscreen — in a visible position outside the tinted strip; ASFINAG recommends the top left or near the rear-view mirror — otherwise it counts as invalid. Note also that tariffs from earlier years (2021–2025) no longer apply: ASFINAG indexes the prices annually.

Driving through more than one country on this trip? The Europe vignette route planner works out, country by country, which vignettes your whole route needs. For the classic corridor, see also Germany to Croatia via Austria, Slovenia and Hungary.