Unpaid parking tickets? (1 Viewer)

[Scott L]

So my college parking decal expired a while back and the price raised to $75 per semester... you get the picture.

After 1.5 years of hassle-free parking I finally got a ticket for $75. I'm about to graduate soon so I'm asking this out of curiosity... What happens if I don't pay it? I'm pretty sure my college's parking security system isn't connected to a national database.

I admit I am a cheap guy but I do plan on paying it, just wondering what kind of penalty is waiting for me if it remains unpaid, with me graduating and moving to a different state.

$75.00 -- that's like 6 DVDs!!

*imagines visiting 10 years later for reunion to have my car towed*

 

[James Davis]

I think here at my school, if a ticket is from campus police, there will be an encumberance on your record. If yours does it the same, you won't be able to register for classes til it is taken care of, which doesn't matter since you will be done.
My experience of tickets comes from the city police though. I managed to get a ticket for parking too far off the side of my drive way into the yard, and another because I forgot I moved my car off the driveway and onto the street to let my roommate out. Since I was strapped for cash, those had to go ignored.

 

[Jon_Are]

Maybe it's just me, but I think you ought to pay it. You knowingly did the crime, now you should "do the time".

Basing whether you fess up or not to a wrongdoing on the likelihood of getting caught, to say the least, immature.

Lemme guess: political science grad?

Jon

 

[Don Black]

At my school, they won't let you graduate if there are any outstanding tickets. This is strictly enforced and has screwed up the lives of many a cheap senior. I gave up wiggling out of campus parking tickets a long time ago. Their system is too good and all I wound up doing was paying late fees on top of the initial fines.

 

[Allen_Appel]

My wife did not receive her diploma due to unpaid traffic tickets. She graduated, but the university wouldn't send her the sheepskin until she paid them.

 

[Jay H]

That's what I was thinking, they could hold your diploma until they get paid. I got a parking ticket once while playing tennis at a local college (now university). Since I wasn't a student, I wasn't going to pay but looking at the ticket, they messed up my license plate and put 4-door BMW so I simply sent them a letter saying BMW makes alot of different 4-door cars and the license plate was wrong so they simply replied with a letter saying I was excused.

Jay

 

[DaveF]

The school may have an appeals process, where you can request the first ticket to be forgiven (and it sounds like this is your first parking ticket).

 

[MikeAlletto]

I'm pretty sure my college's parking security system isn't connected to a national database.

Don't be so sure. My roommate back in college got quite a few campus parking tickets then he totalled his car. Figured the car was gone he's not responsible for them. Well the campus cops took the plate from his old car and looked it up in the states database to figure out who owned it and sent him a bill for his old car. Eventually he had to pay it if he wanted his slip of paper that said he graduated.

 

[Randy_Sh]

At my school, in order to receive your diploma your "bursar bill" had to be $0. Tickets given while on campus counted toward that bill.

See if there is an appeal, if not pony up.

Pretty crappy for me, but they managed to keep your car on file, so after I graduated I still picked up a couple tickets while visiting. Geez.

 

[MarkHastings]

At my school, in order to receive your diploma your "bursar bill" had to be $0

My school wouldn't even allow you to sign up for "Senior Week" or rent a graduation gown without having a balance of $0.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

More importantly they may not send transcripts when you are out looking for a job......

 

[Ryan Wright]

From a "we can screw you if you don't pay" standpoint, I'd pay the ticket.

However, I totally disagree with this:

Basing whether you fess up or not to a wrongdoing on the likelihood of getting caught, to say the least, immature.

Parking tickets are bullshit. They are nothing more than an instrument to extract additional money from the people - whether issued by a college campus or by an actual police officer. Say all you want about needing a tool to enforce proper parking - I'm not buying any of it. If someone parks where he shouldn't, you have his car towed. Period. Then he can deal with towing & storage fees. That's fair.

But you see, it's not really about enforcing proper parking. It's just another revenue stream. See, if they had the car towed like they should, they wouldn't see any of the money. So they're perfectly content to let you park your car inappropriately as often as you want.

My point is thus: I have no moral issue with not paying this. Personally, if I could weasel my way out of it, I would. It's a joke.

However, from a practical standpoint, I recommend he pay it. At least find out what they can do to you if you don't, so you understand the consequences. More often than not, they are extremely severe according to the "crime": When I received a fine for not licensing my indoor dog (that never leaves my house, from a city employee going door to door peeking in windows looking for unlicensed dogs), I had no intention of paying it. But I made sure to research the consequences beforehand. The consequence for not paying the $20 fine was an additional $100 per day fine. In 100 days, the fines would reach $10,000, after which the city would (according to state law, they claim) place a lien upon my home, physically remove me from the premesis via police force, and sell my home at auction to pay the lien. God bless America, the home of the free and the brave. :rolleyes

Needless to say, I paid the $20. So make sure you know what you're getting into before you decide you aren't paying this.

 

[Cees Alons]

Ryan,

That's utter nonsense, and you know it. A parket ticket is just what it is: a fine. No one is served better by having all wrongly parked cars towed away, so "we", the citizens, made it possible to issue a ticket instead.

It's as simple as that. And yes, the income is part of the tax system too. If it wasn't there, taxes had to be higher.


No about if I would pay if I could wriggle myself out of it....

Cees

 

[Ryan Wright]

A parket ticket is just what it is: a fine.

Put in place as a means to generate income. Let's make sure we understand the true meaning of the word "fine". It is an instrument intended to make money. Case in point, this fine was received for not purchasing a parking permit. See the money circle there?

So no, it's not "utter nonsense". It's nothing but a revenue stream, which is all I was trying to say in my previous post.

 

[Cees Alons]

Ryan,

It's definitively more than a revenue stream. It's a "punishment" and as such an aid to help people make the right decision by taking some profit away from doing certain things that favour only oneself or at least: the things that are legally prohibited.

And you had a vote. Not immediately, probably, but the way the democracy works. I don't think I need to go into that.

Cees

 

[MarkHastings]

It is an instrument intended to make money

And considering the world revolves around money, what better way to prove a point? Sure, a better way to make a point is the death penalty, but let's get real. What other (Legal) way would you suggest they implement that makes a point? (other than money)

 

[Ryan Wright]

What other (Legal) way would you suggest they implement that makes a point? (other than money)

Again, tow the car. Remove it from the premesis. It's simple: You didn't pay for that parking space. Someone else who did pay can't have one now because of you. Your car is on our private property without permission. Therefore, we're removing it. If you want it back, go deal with the towing company.

Simple and effective. And perfectly legal. What, you don't have these signs in your community?



I see them in private parking lots all the time. They get the picture: They don't have their own little parking police. They just tow the car away. Solves their problem quickly and enacts a fair punishment to the offender without greedily fattening their pocketbooks.

 

[MarkHastings]

Solves their problem quickly and enacts a fair punishment to the offender without greedily fattening their pocketbooks.

Why do you keep thinking schools are greedy? They need every cent they can get. A system that allows the school to profit from wrong-do-ers is ok in my book and shouldn't be thought of as a "greedy" act.

 

[David Lawson]

When the "punishment" has a direct financial benefit to the "punisher", I stop seeing it as an appropriate form of discipline.

What steps would you have libraries and video rental stores take instead, I wonder?

As for me, I always paid my college parking tickets, but I'm withholding any donations to the school until the amount of donations I've been asked to make catches up to the amount I paid in fines.

 

[Matt Gordon]

Really? What if they're blocking traffic or a handicapped space? What if it was in the fire lane in front of the building? The cars of people who park there need to be towed. Not as punishment or mere enforcement of rules, but for traffic or public safety reasons.