lynnejoel1015

Help! My brother-in-law is visiting us in L.A. from D.C. and he got a parking ticket on his rental car (it was a LAME misunderstanding). He was using our guest parking pass for the neighborhood and parked on the block next to ours. Apparently the fine print on the parking pass literature states the pass is only valid for our block. LAME!

Anyways, we're wondering if he omits paying the ticket, what will the rental car company do? Nothing? Bill his credit card directly?

Thank you!

wantsomesun

You should probably make a visit to your local police precint and see what needs to be done, and explain that he is a visitor using your pass. The car rental company will come after him for the cost of the ticket.

nytraveler

Yes - they'll bill his credit card directly. And if there's any penalty for non- or late payment they'll bill that as well.

It would be better for him to handle this ASAP. (Or if you're the ones that gave him the wrong info on parking perhaps you should pay it.)

TxTravelPro

PAY IT! I got a parking ticket in downtown LA and found out that if you don't pay by the deadline you have to pay the ticket PLUS other penalties and they go through the rental car company, who turns over your information immediately. Another ticket lapsed and I found this out... the rental car company does not bill you for the ticket.
This may be different for toll infractions.
You will ultimately pay it, so get out while the gettin's cheap!

P_M

I've had a few parking tickets due to a lame misunderstanding, but that doesn't make it any better. There's no harm in trying to get it dismissed, but it probably won't happen. I agree with the others, if he can't get it dismissed, then don't simply ignore it. It will bite him in the butt sooner or later, as it will appear on his credit card bill. Better to deal with it ASAP before charges pile up.

TxTravelPro

Looking into this, it appears that tickets are handled in a variety of ways depending on the city.
Some take the info from the car company and pursue, others simply bill the car company who then bills you.
In my personal experience the car co gave my information to the city.
In LA I paid it before the due date.
Either way, fees and penalties apply after the due date so PAY IT.

OneWanderingJew

Pay it or fight it but don't ignore the ticket.

I can speak from personal experience on this one. Years ago, I got a ticket in a rental parked in NYC. I never saw the ticket. Seriously. I'm guessing it either blew away or more likely some other illegal parker took it from my windshield and put it on their own to fool the meter reader...anyway, it must have been over a year later when the rental company contacted me. Apparently, NYC went after them and they went back to their records and tracked me down. I was quite indignant. Not only had I forgotten I had rented that car on that particular date but now I was being accused of something...I ended up having to pay the ticket and I believe add'l late fees. It still irks me to this day.

LoveItaly

Hi OWJ! Sometimes life is irritating. A friend's daughter who works in NYC told me a few years ago about people taking parking citations off of other cars and putting in on theirs to avoid getting their own citation. I would be irked too.

budget4me

That citation trick didn't work for me. I had a ticket, so I figured, what the heck, I already have a ticket, might as well leave the car parked there. When I returned several hours later I had ANOTHER ticket under the other windshield wiper!!!

Yeah, pay the ticket. They will come after you, trust me.

rb_travelerxATyahoo

I went thru an EZPass lane with my EZPass (held in my hand) and the transponder didn't register and the "call EZPass light came on (NYS Thruway). I called Enterprise, the renter, and they told me they would be adding a $25 "administrative fee" to whatever ticket came to them.

I registered the car I was renting w/ EZPass, called them, and apparently they match the plate # to my account when they processed the camera pictures - I found the travel I made that day billed to EZPass - tolls only - and apparently they let it go at that without sending tickets to Enterprise.

$25 to find out who was renting their car Feb 26! That would have frosted me.

NorthwestMale

The Police/city will contact the rental company and get your brother in law's info and ticket him directly.

So he should pay it.

A few years ago I had an even worse (victimization) involving a parking ticket on a rental car.

It seems that some rental car employee (most likely) went out to lunch in one of the fleet vehicles. S/he parked and lunched and returned to find a ticket. So then apparently he took MY name and info from another rental-in-progress and put it in the records so the main headquarters in Florida would offer MY name and info to the city/police when contacted.

Too bad the morons in the city judicial system/parking enforcement weren't equipped to handle/explain photographic evidence I presented showing me in a different country very near to the time the ticket was supposed to have been issued in the U.S.

Unfortunately I'm not so confident that your brother-in-law has a way out of his ticket. Just bite the bullet and pay it.

L84SKY

Well it was a silly mistake to not read the fine print but lots of people do it. But LAME seems a little strong.

He should pay the ticket and take the lesson to read the fine print.

vegasnative

lynn, what would your BIL do if this happened in his own car? If he would pay the ticket if it was actually his car parked then I don't see the difference. If he was in violation, he should have to pay...and as others have suggested I would follow up with this ticket asap to avoid further fees. My BIL received a ticket (speeding) ticket while visiting Phoenix, he let it go...guess what when he returned to Phoenix he got pulled over again, needless to say they were not friendly to him and come to find out he had a warrant out for his arrest. Moral of the story, take care of the situation before it worsens.

nytraveler

Well they won;t issue warents for parking tickets - but they will definitely track you down - since they'll have the rental car company to get credit card info from - and the charges will be increasing all the time.

A friend of mine from New Jersey ignored a parking ticket in NYC - and by the time he paid it the $100 had become $225.

lynnejoel1015

If it were me, I'd pay it. I still think it's lame that LA city parking dept (or whatever dept it is!) only allows for guest parking on your exact block - and if you saw the density of apartments in my neighborhood, you'd understand!

However, I'm a "play by the rules" kind of person and I myself would pay it. He didn't think they could do anything about tracking him down so I said I'd ask on his behalf.

Thank you for your responses!