For a car in Romania the national vignette, the rovinieta, costs from 22 lei for one day to 254 lei for 12 months if the car is Euro 6, and from 26 to 330 lei for the older classes, VAT included, under Order 888/2026. It is electronic: you pay for your number plate, and nothing is stuck on the windscreen. Below: prices, coverage, validity, buying and the fine, from the law and CNAIR's pages read on 17 October 2026.
What the rovinieta covers
The rovinieta is the usage charge for the national road network, run by CNAIR, the national road infrastructure company. Article 5 of Law 226/2023 applies it to the national roads, express roads and motorways, except national-road stretches inside the municipii, the towns and cities with municipiu status, between their entry and exit signs. It is due for passenger vehicles (cars, minibuses, buses and coaches) and for goods vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes.
Heavier goods vehicles pay TollRo, and bridge crossings are a separate service in the CNAIR app; neither is part of a car's rovinieta. GOV.UK says you must pay the rovinieta to use the national roads, or you may get a heavy fine.
Romania vignette prices for a car in 2026
Order 888/2026 of the Ministry of Transport, published in the Monitorul Oficial no. 818 of 25 September 2026 and in force that day, fixes the rovinieta in lei, VAT included. Law 226/2023, Article 29, starts the CNAIR system on 1 October 2026, and the order applies to rovinietas that start on that date or later. The table gives category A, a passenger car with at most nine seats including the driver.
| Period | Electric | Euro 6 | Euro 5 and 4 | Euro 3 to 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 20 | 22 | 26 | 29 |
| 10 days | 27 | 30 | 35 | 39 |
| 30 days | 43 | 48 | 55 | 62 |
| 60 days | 68 | 76 | 87 | 99 |
| 12 months | 228 | 254 | 292 | 330 |
Prices in lei. The class is the one in the registration documents; without data, Article 6 and the order put the vehicle in Euro 0. An electric car without a Euro class counts as electric when its registration certificate shows electric power in field P.3, or the equivalent document of the country of registration.
CNAIR's "Acte normative" page lists only Law 226/2023 and Order 888/2026, but its price calculator, loaded on 17 October 2026, names its active price list "OMTI 959/2026 din 08.10.2026". We found no published text of an order 959/2026 that day, and all 160 amounts in that list, categories A to D, match the annex of Order 888/2026.
Articles 2 and 3 of the order have the lei amounts updated by the consumer price index by 31 December each year and applied from 1 January. Expect new figures from 1 January 2027.
When it starts and when it ends
Article 6 says a rovinieta starts at 00:00 on the first day of its period and ends at 24:00 on the last. If it starts today, it runs from when the payment is registered. A 10-day rovinieta is the start day and the next nine, a 30-day one the start day and the next 29. You can buy it up to 30 days ahead (Article 5, paragraph 3).
How a foreign car pays
GOV.UK says you can buy the vignette at border points and at most petrol stations. CNAIR's payment page adds online card payment on approved web platforms and apps, and payment around the clock in cash or by card at the points of CNAIR and authorised distributors. The CNAIR mobile app sells it too. At CNAIR's control and collection agencies at border crossings, Article 8 also allows freely convertible currency, at the European Central Bank rate of 1 October, applied from the next 1 January.
Two rules catch foreign drivers:
- Pay first. Article 5 says the rovinieta is paid before the network is used. Paying for the current day by 24:00 the next day is for Romanian-registered vehicles only.
- No SMS payment for your plate. CNAIR accepts payment by text message only for plates registered in Romania.
CNAIR's check page, which asks for the plate, the chassis number (VIN), the registration certificate and a security code, shows whether a purchase has been recorded.
The fine for driving without a rovinieta
Article 18 calls driving without a valid rovinieta a continuing contravention, punished by a fine between a minimum of twice the 12-month rovinieta and a maximum of four times it, updated every year by the consumer price index. The law gives no lei figure and does not say which category or Euro class is meant. A worked example, our own arithmetic and not an official amount: with the 254 lei of a Euro 6 car's 12-month rovinieta, the range would be 508 to 1,016 lei.
For vehicles registered outside Romania, road transport inspectors, traffic police, border police and CNAIR staff at the border can check by query terminal, and paragraph 6 says the fine is then imposed on the spot, after the driver has been identified. CNAIR also checks by camera; for a vehicle registered in another EU state, paragraph 7 has the keeper identified through that state's national contact point. A fine can be applied only within four months of the offence. It is a summary, not legal advice.
Other things to know before you go
GOV.UK points to the RAC's Romania guide, which lists a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, a red warning triangle and a fluorescent jacket, and winter tyres or snow chains whenever snow, ice or sleet is on the road. GOV.UK adds that if you are tested and found to have any alcohol in your system, you may get a fine and possible imprisonment. A UK photocard licence is accepted; for a paper licence see the international driving permit guide. The wider checklist is in driving in Europe from the UK.
Hungary and Slovenia sell vignettes differently: see the Hungary vignette and the Slovenia vignette. The tolls overview compares the four ways a toll is charged, and more guides are under driving abroad.
What BlitzBuddy does in Romania
BlitzBuddy gives no speed camera warnings in Romania. Your speed and your trips (while that setting is on) still work there; camera warnings switch on by themselves when you arrive in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France or Türkiye. The app does not sell the rovinieta and does not check whether you hold one. BlitzBuddy is free, with no ads and no subscription. It is available for iPhone; the Android version is coming soon.
Sources
- Legea nr. 226/2023 privind aplicarea unor tarife rutiere pe reţeaua de drumuri naţionale din România, CNAIR portal (in Romanian, pdf, consolidated 30 September 2026)
- Ordinul nr. 888/2026 pentru aprobarea categoriilor de vehicule şi a nivelului rovinietei, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, via CNAIR (in Romanian, pdf)
- Informaţii rovinieta, CNAIR (in Romanian)
- Tarife rovinieta, CNAIR (in Romanian)
- Acte normative, CNAIR (in Romanian)
- Verificare rovinieta, CNAIR (in Romanian)
- Întrebări frecvente TollRo, CNAIR app portal (in Romanian)
- Moduri de plată rovinieta, CNAIR (in Romanian)
- Întrebări frecvente, CNAIR (in Romanian)
- Romania travel advice: Safety and security, GOV.UK
Sources read on 17 October 2026 and checked again the same day.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a vignette to drive in Romania?
Yes. The rovinieta is compulsory on the national road network, except on national-road stretches inside towns with municipiu status, between the entry and exit signs. GOV.UK says you must pay it and that driving without one may bring a heavy fine.
How much is the Romania vignette for a car?
For a Euro 6 car Order 888/2026 lists 22 lei for one day, 30 for 10 days, 48 for 30 days, 76 for 60 days and 254 for 12 months, VAT included. Older classes pay up to 29 lei a day and 330 lei a year.
Is there a sticker for the Romanian vignette?
No. The rovinieta is an electronic record in the CNAIR database, and its validity is proved only by that record. You pay for the number plate.
Can I pay the rovinieta after I have started driving?
Not as a foreign driver. The law says the rovinieta is paid before using the network. The exception to pay by midnight the next day is for vehicles registered in Romania.
What is the fine for driving in Romania without a rovinieta?
Article 18 of Law 226/2023 sets it between twice and four times the 12-month rovinieta, updated every year by the consumer price index. When a foreign-registered vehicle is checked by an inspector or the police with a query terminal, the fine is imposed on the spot.
