Parking ticket penalties beyond the fine
2017 Chrysler Pacifica
As tempting as it is, ignoring a parking ticket will make that fine reverberate in surprising and frustrating waves of consequences. It doesn’t matter if you think the parking ticket was undeserved, the no parking zone was unclearly marked, or the ticketing officer made a mistake, a parking ticket, almost 100% of the time, is non-negotiable.
Parking tickets have a strict deadline for payment; if you miss it or ignore it, you’ll have to pay more, warns Reader’s Digest Writer Marissa Laliberte.
“For instance, in New York City, ignoring a parking ticket for more than 90 days could add an extra $60 in penalties to your first ticket cost. After 100 days, you’ll have to pay nine percent interest for every year it goes unpaid,” Laliberte reports.
Unpaid parking tickets will result in a literally curbed car; that yellow boot that affixes so nicely to your tire making it unable to move will stay in place until you settle your fines, according to Laliberte who warns that if you keep neglecting your parking ticket fines, some states, such as New York, will repossess your vehicle.
Cars from telemarketers are awful, but they’ve got nothing on the pestering persistence of debt collection agencies.
“Your city’s parking enforcement bureau doesn’t want to deal with you forever, so it might hand your case over to a collection agency. Those debt collectors could inundate you with letters, phone calls — even on your office or cell number — or even show up at your home,” reports Laliberte who notes that your outstanding parking tickets can also negatively impact your credit score, your ability to renew your vehicle registration, and send you to court.
Bottom line when it comes to parking tickets – it’s best to treat them as the threat they are and pay them off as soon as possible.
News Source: Reader’s Digest
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