Getting a traffic ticket here in Brasilia is not a hard thing to do; there are speed and red-light cameras everywhere. And if you are unlucky to be caught parking your car in a no parking area you will be fined by the countless traffic police that are roaming the streets.
Normally you will receive two fine notification to the address your vehicle is registered. The first one is just to let you know that you were naughty and informing you about it. It will give you a date by which you can object to the ticket.
After this time has passed and you have not objected you will receive another notification; this time it is the payment request. On the bottom of this notification you will see a barcode. Now if you have a banking app that has a barcode reader you can just scan it and pay it that way. If you pay within the deadline you will also receive a discount.
Now sometimes you will not receive a notification. Do not ask why. In that case you will not know if you have any current or outstanding tickets. And that can cause problems when renewing the Brazilian license or paying the yearly taxes and fees for the car (called IPVA).
The Brazilian road and traffic authority (DETRAN) has an exceptionally good website which you can access to search everything about your car. If you do not speak Portuguese just click on translate website on your browser. So if you want to check about any outstanding vehicle debits, including traffic tickets, license fees and taxes, just click on the section on the home page.
Now you just must enter your number plate and Renavam number (which you find on the vehicle registration document and you will see how naughty and good you have been.
If you have overdue traffic tickets you will not be able to pay them and the website will advise you that you have to visit a DETRAN office. And that is a nightmare. But there is a way around it, but that will be another post.