Pay Romanian road tax online – all steps explained

Are you looking for an option to pay the Romanian road tax ("rovinieta") by other means than directly at the gas stations? Well, of course you do... if this makes it easier and quicker... The next question is: are there any such options, and, if there are, what are those?
Romanian road toll online

Well, we have good news for you: there are two alternatives to pay the Romanian road tax (in Romanian “rovinieta”) in addition to the “classical” one – which involves paying at the cash registers of the gas stations. These are: paying by SMS or paying online.

If you choose the payment option via SMS, this can be done in 2 simple steps, as detailed below. What you should know is that the SMS payment option limits the validity of your vignette to the minimum available period. For regular cars this is for 7 days.

So, if you want your Romanian vignette to have a validity longer than 7 days right from the start, you should buy it online (please see below the detailed steps for online payment). Of course, you can extend it beyond 7 days later, through another SMS purchase, but this can become expensive and annoying in time.

How much does the Romanian road tax cost?

The prices of the Romanian road tax differ, depending on the category of the vehicle, and the period for which you wish to have it valid.

The prices have remained unchanged since 2021. Thus, for regular cars, the rates are as follows:

  • 3 euros for seven days,
  • 7 euros for 30 of days
  • 13 euros for 90 days
  • 28 euros for 12 months.

In the case of transportation vehicles with a technically permissible total weigh less than or equal to 3.5 tons, the rates are:

  • 6 euros for seven days,
  • 16 euros for 30 of days
  • 36 euros for 90 days
  • 96 euros for 12 months.

Paying the road tax by SMS

  1. First, you must send a text message at the number 7500. The text message must contain the registration number of the vehicle (the one on your registration plate – e.g., B01ABC), followed by the category to which the vehicle belongs. The car number must be written without any spaces between the characters, just as shown in our example. Cars are included in category A, irrespective of whether they are small cars, medium or SUVs. So, following our example and assuming you drive a regular car, your SMS should look like this: B01ABC A.
  2. Immediately you will receive back an automated message informing you on the cost and the number and type of the vehicle. To get the vignette, you must reply with a confirmation message, sending the text “YES” at the same number. Once you have done this, you will receive the final confirmation message regarding the purchase of the vignette.

If you choose to pay online, you can do this by paying via credit or debit card without any commissions, and you will also be able to check the validity of the vignette, and extend it in due time before expiring. You must know that you will need to register an online account as well as the details of your vehicle on the online portal of the Romanian National Road Infrastructure Management Company (CNAIR) – erovinieta.ro.

Please be aware of other websites that sell the “rovinieta” online, and which practice prices that can be double, or even websites that may trick you!

Paying the tax online (on erovinieta.ro)

For this option, you will first need to open the online portal erovinieta.ro. Unfortunately the instructions on the website are not in English (yet), but we will translate them into English in the images below, together with providing explanations for each step.

Next thing to do is to open a user account. In the right (top) corner of the page you will find a button with the text “AUTENTIFICARE”. Here you will be able to create a new account where you will enter all data required. So, the first step is to click on the “CREEAZĂ CONT NOU” button from the new window, as shown in the image below:

Romanian road tax online

The next step is to enter the email address you want to use with this account and the password (password will also have to be confirmed), as well as your phone number. Please note that the password must be at least eight characters long and must contain at least one digit, one capital letter, and one lowercase letter. Please refer to the image below for details:

Romanian road tax

As part of the next step you will need to enter your billing details. First, you have to choose between the two types of users: Individual or Legal entity. In Romanian individual is “persoană fizică” and legal entity is “persoană juridică”. Secondly, you must enter your name (full name preferably), your Romanian personal numerical code (CNP, which you find in your Romanian residency permit). If you don’t have any Romanian CNP, you can enter any code of 13 digits. Then, you need to select your country and input your home address – i.e., locality and street should be sufficient.

Read also: Driving in Romania – basic rules you have to know in advance

Finally, before you tick the box regarding the agreement with the terms and conditions of use (ticking is mandatory, otherwise you will not be able to complete the process), you will also need to enter the verification code in the white box. You can ask for the image change as many times as you want, until it is clear to you. After you make sure all data is correctly entered, click on the “CREATE NEW ACCOUNT” button (in Romanian: “Creează cont nou”). Please refer to the image below for English translation of the text:

In the next window you will see a confirmation message informing you that an activation link will be delivered to the email address that you provided. So now you will have to check your email for the activation link message. You will have to click on the activation link and your account will be confirmed and activated.

As next step you will have to log into your newly created account with your email address and password, and register your vehicle. This will be same step as above: just click on the button “Autentificare” that you see in the upper-right corner, then insert your email and password and click on “Autentificare” button.

Once you have logged into your account, you must register your vehicle to be able to make payment and activate your Romanian road tax. The registration of the vehicle entails entering the identification data of your car: the plate registration number, the country, the chassis series (identification number) and the registration number of the car (number on the car’s registration certificate). Please refer to images below for more details.

Click “Înregistrare vehicul”

Next step:

Read also: Risk of significant fines if car windows not clean – Romanian driving legislation updated

Once you successfully register your vehicle, a new window will open where you will be able to select validity of the vignette (7 days, 30 days, etc.), as shown below.

Here you also have the possibility of selecting the starting date and select between more than one cars, if you registered more than one. All you have to do is select the vehicle category (category A is the one corresponding to the normal cars), the date from which you want to have the vignette valid, and the registration number and chassis series of the car for which you want the vignette.

Once you compete all data, then you can click on the “Add to cart” button to go to checkout page. On next page you’ll get to verify the purchase details and then click the button “Spre plată” (To checkout), as shown below. As final step, you will have to click on the “PAYMENT” button, where you will enter the card details and pay.

Romanian road tax

Hope all steps explained above will help you successfully get your Romanian road tax online. If you have any useful information you would like to contribute, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Attention: Drivers who are caught by authorities driving on Romanian national roads without having the road tax (rovinieta) paid can be imposed fines ranging between 250 lei and 4,500 lei, depending on the weight of the vehicle.

For regular cars, the fine is currently between 250 and 500 lei.

If the fine is paid within 48 hours from the date of issuance, the driver may pay half the amount.

Wish you safe trips on the Romanian roads!

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Georgiana Dima

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