Parking fine
 

Hi
I really appreciate some advice!

A friend of mine who stayed a couple of months in Massachusetts some years ago got a parking fine for a rental car. She forgot the parking fine at the hotel the day she left the USA, and forgot about the fine when she came back home to the country she lives in. She has never heard from the rental company or the ones who issued the parking fine. We are planning a trip to the USA together (and it was first now she actually remembered she had got a fine). My friend worries she will get a huge fine or be arrested (or something like that) when she comes back to the USA because she hasn't payed the fine. Anyone who knows anything about cases like this one?

I'm surprised she didn't get a bill from the rental car company. That's what usually happens. Was it a parking ticket or a moving violation (that she was stopped while driving the car)?

I don't think she has to worry about being fined or arrested. But since she's worried about it, maybe she should try to clear it up before traveling. Where did she get the ticket and what did she do with it?

It would be the rental agency who would have the record for a parking violation, unless it was a moving violation where she had to show her license.

Ok, thanks for reply!

She found the parking fine on the front window of the car, and forgot it in the hotel room when she left. She got it because she had parked on a spot where there wasn't allowed to park.

She says she showed her driving license to the rental agency.

I can't imagine they would have any record of this, I'm sure there isn't some national database of delinquent parking fines in the US. I don't think they could even track moving violations that well across state boundaries, let alone parking fines. And of course, they don't know who she is, the fine would go to the car's license plate. The only one who could have record would be the car rental company, and if they didn't contact her to pay it, I'd forget about it.

People don't get arrested in the US for parking fines no matter who they are. the worst they can do is not let you renew your car registration or something like that, until you pay it, or boot your car on the street if they find it (put a lock on your wheels).

<People don't get arrested in the US for parking fines no matter who they are.>
Not actually true, because in many jurisdictions the fine keeps doubling until the amount owed is substantial enough to trigger an arrest warrant.

Thanks a lot! She's a bit relieved I think.

But NewbE does it often happen?

Parking fines are connected to the owner of the car, not to the driver. So think it is a correct statement: "drivers who don't own the cars that get parking tickets don't get arrested."

Ok. Thanks a lot!

It may have been charged to her credit card by the rental car company all that time ago and she didn't notice.

Yes, that is a possibility... But it's not unlikely she payed with cash though...

Can you pay for a car rental with cash? I think it has to at least be secured with a credit card.

<i> I don't think they could even track moving violations that well across state boundaries, </i>

In 1987 my insurance premium on my car registered in California increased because of a speeding ticket in Utah; I no longer qualified as a safe driver. I suspect that tracking has gotten even better since then.

michael: But that is a moving violation -- a state citation. Parking tickets are different. They are issued by individual jurisdictions and are a revenue/parking issue, not a driving/possible misdemeanor issue.

My guess is, since it happened years ago (you don' say how many) she either paid it w/ her credit card to the rental agency, or it was before the data bases became as sophisticated as they are now.

But the bottom line is there is no way on earth that immigration or law enforcement will know your friend's name or anything about a single parking ticket a long time ago.

Are you traveling to Massachusetts? If you are going somewhere else it is even LESS likely since parking tickets aren't shared state to state.

I recently had to go to court to take care of an unpaid fine from 1978 that was still in the system. (I am a US citizen though. Was the driver but not the registered owner of the car.) I was involved in quite another court matter as complainant when this was discovered. Told that if I didn't clear it up, I could be held at some time in the future if it came to light again. Likely? Probably not, but worth getting it cleared up and gone.

Ah, and this was in Massachusetts.

Thak you so much for your replies! It was btw. 16 years ago she got the fine

Thank*

16 years ago . . . jeeze -- forget about it.

Understand - even IF there was a record of this and there probably isn't, your friend was not the registered owner of the car (the rental agency was). And the rental agency won't have records that old showing who was driving it at the time.

just relax . . .