Parking Tickets From Private Companies

[alasdairm]

^ i tend to agree.

queenbee, you knew you had to pay to park there - a simple exchange of a service (use of a parking spot) for money. you chose not to and, even if you didn't know the full details, you had to assume that there would be some kind of penalty for taking the service without paying? you rolled the dice (which is a perfectly valid decision) but you crapped out on this occasion.

why not pay the ticket, learn a lesson (that $6 now is better than $40 tomorrow among other things) and move on knowing that took responsibility for your actions and you'll definitely not end up in collections, thus preserving your (financial) integrity?

if you don't pay the ticket, perhaps you get to make a point to yourself about how their signage and small print should be more visible, and their customer service should undoubtedly be better. further, you managed to dodge a ticket and 'steal' (for want of a better word) a parking spot for an hour or two. the cost of that is a possible hit to your credit.

seems the dice are back in your hands...

alasdair

 

[thujone]

I don't see what the justification is to ballooning this simple issue into a huge moral debate. We're just talking about a bit of free parking at a pay lot. We've all cheated the system at some point or other, which is easy as pie to accidentally do when everything is run by an autonomous system or machine instead of people. We live in an impersonal world, it doesn't seem right to deny ourselves the small freebies, especially when not paying $6 to use a spot of asphalt leads to being extorted for six times as much.

the cost of that is a possible hit to your credit.

Under the new FICO guidelines, debts under $100 will have no impact on your credit score

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/09/fico08-forgives-small-debt.asp

 

[AmorRoark]

This wasn't an accident. Anyway, I'm wondering if this ticket will accrue interest? If so it could easily go over $100 if its ignored for a while... I'd be worried about that.

 

[bagochina]

I hope you threw the ticket in the trash already. Fucking private parking garages and there outrageous fee's and fines. Fuck um and the parking permit they rode in on.

Fight the Power!

 

[alasdairm]

I don't see what the justification is to ballooning this simple issue into a huge moral debate.

i don't think it's a huge moral debate. she asked for opinions and she's getting them. you think she should just blow it off. i'm inviting her to take responsibility for her actions and just pay the ticket. it's a perfectly valid opinion and my response is civil and directly on-topic. i'm not sure what the problem is.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/09/fico08-forgives-small-debt.asp

indeed. thanks.

alasdair

 

[queenbee1127]

^ I understand the point you're making, and in hindsight, I should have just paid the measly six dollars. But, I didn't.

If this were a city ticket, which could get turned into the DMV, affect my driving record or potentially boot or tow my car, I would have paid it. I have received several parking tickets from the city, and paid them with no issue. My problem is this is a private company, blatantly charging me out the ass, when I don't even know if they actually have the authority to do so.

All I wanted to know through this thread was whether this could get turned into collections, and possibly become a bigger issue, or if I should ignore it.

thujone - it is great to know that info. Thanks!

 

[alasdairm]

an expired meter in denver is $25. this is $40 - in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much more and i don't think it could be reasonably described as "blatantly charging me out the ass".

why does the fact that this is a private company make any difference to your response? if you use a city spot without paying, you pay the ticket with no issue. why not do the same when you use a private spot without paying? what's the difference?

aside, the bbb has accredited 'parking revenue recovery inc.' as an 'A'. (bbb grades are described here: overview of bbb grade.

further, the bbb closed 117 complaints against the company in the last 3 years. you could always consider contacting the bbb but i'm not sure how sympathetic they'd be when you admit that you chose not to pay for parking at their lot.

alasdair

 

[tambourine-man]

In the UK, there's plenty of private companies who will fine you if your ticket expires while parked on their land.

Under UK law, they can take you to a small-claims court for the cost of damages incurred by your breach of contract (your excess stay). In most cases, that would amount to a couple of GBP. In other words... not worth the effort as they would probably recoup less than what it cost them to drive to the small-claims court.

They know this, so they issue official-looking letters to people (complete with Police-esque badges and livery) demanding ridiculous amounts as fines and threatening untenable legal action should you refuse.

Of course, one simply ignores them.

There was a time when I'd occasionally write back to the more persistent companies, and counter-threaten them with a more realistic prospect of suing them for harassment, or informing the Police of their malpractice under Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970. :D

Alas, how applicable this is to you...

 

[alasdairm]

this looks mostly to do with public/city tickets but there may be some related reading: http://theexpiredmeter.com/2011/03/ask-the-parking-ticket-geek-23/

alasdair

 

[thujone]

i don't think it's a huge moral debate.

Sorry, I must have misunderstood. As per the why-not-pay argument, well, $40 is a fair bit of money for millions of Americans. For me, that represents half a week's worth of food. IMHO, one of the greatest failures of American society is that anyone who doesn't live in a major city needs a car to get around. It's a bit of a slap in the face to be fined by a private company that bought expensive property for the sole purpose of earning bottomless profit for decades off commuters who need nothing more, and are being given nothing more than a spot to let their car sit for a while.

 

[LuGoJ]

Sorry, I must have misunderstood. As per the why-not-pay argument, well, $40 is a fair bit of money for millions of Americans. For me, that represents half a week's worth of food. IMHO, one of the greatest failures of American society is that anyone who doesn't live in a major city needs a car to get around. It's a bit of a slap in the face to be fined by a private company that bought expensive property for the sole purpose of earning bottomless profit for decades off commuters who need nothing more, and are being given nothing more than a spot to let their car sit for a while.

Would you rather there not be private parking lots so you can try your luck parking on the street?

@queenbee

If you choose not to pay the ticket just keep that in mind next time someone steals $40 or "forgets" to pay you back as you really won't have the right to complain

 

[alasdairm]

As per the why-not-pay argument, well, $40 is a fair bit of money for millions of Americans. For me, that represents half a week's worth of food.

i understand that. the op says she pays city tickets (plural) with no issue but is considering not paying this ticket because it's a private company. i'm trying to understand why there's such a distinction.

of course, i know the answer to that already. it's because the city has you by the balls and you can't wiggle out of it - if you have outstanding tickets you can't register your car, renew resident parking, etc.

IMHO, one of the greatest failures of American society is that anyone who doesn't live in a major city needs a car to get around.

indeed.

It's a bit of a slap in the face to be fined by a private company that bought expensive property for the sole purpose of earning bottomless profit for decades off commuters who need nothing more, and are being given nothing more than a spot to let their car sit for a while.

that's one way of characterising it. you could also argue that the mona lisa is nothing more than a painting and the golden gate is nothing more than a bridge and, for the cost of monthly apartment rent, you get nothing more than a roof over your head...

you said it yourself - the company bought expensive property. they're entitled to get a return on their investment. and all this fuss for six lousy bucks

alasdair

 

[captainballs]

You guys are missing the real point: this decision requires no analysis of butterfly economic/social effects - city tickets get paid because the consequences are real. Private tickets don't get paid because the consequences are pretend. If I'm a private contact parking operator, I have a chart that looks like this: rent, tickets paid, tickets ignored, insurance. I know that no matter how society should be or could be, there are going to be unpaid parking tickets. If the ratio is such that I can't afford rent and insurance, then gosh darnit I guess I should be in another business.

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

private lots usually tow for exactly this reason. it's not worth their effort to set up a deal with a tow company? don't bother with their ticket.

 

[alasdairm]

You guys are missing the real point: this decision requires no analysis of butterfly economic/social effects - city tickets get paid because the consequences are real. Private tickets don't get paid because the consequences are pretend. If I'm a private contact parking operator, I have a chart that looks like this: rent, tickets paid, tickets ignored, insurance. I know that no matter how society should be or could be, there are going to be unpaid parking tickets. If the ratio is such that I can't afford rent and insurance, then gosh darnit I guess I should be in another business.

if they send her to collections, the consequences could be quite real.

alasdair

 

[AmorRoark]

Think of it this way, if this went to small claims would you win? No, if you were being honest. The justice system isn't based of a rash system of decision-making schemes. Their logic behind their holdings is generally lineal and reasonable.

Also, I agree with alasdairm, the spreadsheets of the person who owns the lot is REAL. That's REAL money. Those are REAL collections services possibly hired to basically harass debtors. And that's a REAL way to hurt your credit.

 

[captainballs]

if they send her to collections, the consequences could be quite real.

alasdair

In more flush days, I would completely concur. The consequences you're implying are two-fold: a black mark on the credit score and a judgment from a civil court. The second one will never, ever happen - not over $40, not over $400. Now, when something goes to collections, it will hurt your credit. But it will not hurt it much. So, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis: is $40 more important than having zero blemishes on my credit report? For a lot of Americans right now, the answer is "yes." $40 out of a paycheck-to-paycheck budget can have a cascading effect on someone's finances. Next thing you know there are NSF fees and bank accounts in collections. Because even though $40 isn't a lot of money, it might as well be a million dollars if you just don't have it a week and a half after a paycheck.

I empathize with all business owners, but they know what it is - sometimes it comes down to you or them, and in a situation where you have no choice but to fight on the wrong side, then you may as well not let the moral arguments phase you into being screwed.

 

[alasdairm]

you make your point well, as ever.

i think the $40 point you make is misleading as op says she pays the city's ($25) ticket with no issue. so her 'will-pay' threshold for a ticket is set at least at $25 (as long as the parking spot is a public spot).

so her point seems to be that she knowingly used a service and is annoyed (to the point is starting an online discussion about it) for the sake of a $15 incremental difference to her will-pay limit and it's worth this fuss even though she might take a credit hit here solely because the spot is a private spot and not a public spot. it seems like an odd fuss over such a small amount and such an odd (to me) point of principal (but her mileage obviously varies).

your final paragraph is well put.

alasdair

 

[queenbee1127]

While I am "annoyed" at the price of the fine of this ticket, the point of starting this thread was to determine whether I should give in and pay the fine to the private company or whether I should blow it off. All I really wanted to know about was the validity of these types of companies - no one wants to be scammed into paying money just to find out they could have ignored it with no consequence (which happens ALL the time with stuff like this).

You will be happy to know that last time I parked downtown, I did in fact pay the requested amount - I have learned my lesson

However, this thread is about the time that I didn't.

 

[AmorRoark]

The companies don't want to be scammed either. I'm glad you learned your lesson. Just pay it IMO. FWIW I think this discussion has become somewhat circular and probably doesn't merit any more discussion... or should be moved to another entirely new thread about the ethics of parking fines lol.