Ask The Parking Ticket Geek
Dear Geek,
Apparently I have over $4,000 in parking tickets.
Arnold Scott Harris (the collection agency) has been contacting me like crazy.
The problem is I have no money. I have been unemployed since September of 2010.
Do you have any idea what my options are? I wanted to see if they would offer me a settlement where I can pay half, but they claim they don’t do that. Do you know if that is true?
The lady said my only option is a payment plan. Is that true?
Thanks,
Jake
Unfortunately, the payment plan is your only option Jake.
The city doesn’t offer settlements–at least not under the Daley administration.
Work something out. The fact you are unemployed may qualify you for a hardship payment plan.
But try to do it with the city and NOT Arnold Scott Harris or any other collections firm.
You can probably work a better deal with the city and by doing so you may be able to screw Arnold Scott out of their fees.
Sorry to hear about your ticket troubles and the challenging employment and financial situation you’re facing now. That’s a lot of cash. But I’ve been there myself.
Thanks
The Geek
Parking Ticket Geek!
I got a ticket sent to me that is nearly 9 months old! or 3 days away from being 9 months old.
The ticket states I was too close to a fire hydrant on South Michigan.
Is there a time limit for this? Shouldn’t I have heard about this sooner? Is there a way to get them on these grounds? I attempted to look at a photo of this online, and there isn’t a photo of it. I get the feeling they were looking to patch up the end of the year budget, and this came up or something. What is going on here?
My car has New York plates, and is registered in New York state, but I use it in Chicago for most of the year.
Is my best bet to contest by mail? Or in person?
JL
The funny thing about parking tickets JL, is there is no statute of limitations.
Murder and parking tickets. No statute of limitations for each.
It’s probably due to your out of state plates that it took so long for the Violation Notice to get issued.
The fact it took so long to get you weakens their case a bit, but it doesn’t automatically make it dismissible.
Whatever you do, DON’T contest it by mail.
Fight it at an In-Person Hearing as a bad ticket for the following reasons:
1-You never received the original ticket.
2-And when you got the Violation Notice it took 9 months to get to you.
3-You don’t have a recollection of being there. ( See if you can produce any credit card statements showing you were somewhere else on that date)
4-Even if you were there, you have no memory of the event as you never received the original ticket and it happened 9 freakin’ months ago!!!! How
would you be expected to remember something this far back?
5-Explain that you know you cannot park within 15 feet of a fire hydrant and would never do that.
Essentially, you’re trying to build up some doubt in the mind of the Administrative Law Officer presiding at your hearing. It will come down to whether or not you are believable or not.
Contest it and see if this works. Either way, it’s a coin flip on whether you prevail or not. I’ve seen these situations go either way.
The Geek
Dear Mr. Geek,
I am a Michigan resident.
I was visiting Chicago last February and received two parking tickets (didn’t know I needed to feed a meter). I have not paid them. I received a letter threatening to have my car booted.
Again, I live in Michigan.
Will they bother to come up here an have my car booted?
Signed,
Bootless So Far
The vision of a Chicago boot truck on a bounty hunter road trip mission to track your car down in Michigan makes me laugh Ms. Bootless So Far.
I can see the boot crew right now, with a cooler full of Mountain Dew and/or Red Bulls, a fistful of beef jerky and a big ass styrofoam cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee merging onto the Skyway out of town.
But the reality is Chicago can only boot on the public way (streets, alleys, etc.) within the borders of Chicago only.
Not in a suburb. Not in another state. Not even on private property.
So, don’t sweat it. You’re safe hiding out in Michigan.
Thanks,
The Geek
Geek,
I have a six foot wide port in front of my garage and its blocked on one side by a building.
Recently, I have been receiving $150 dollar tickets (3) from the city for parking in the alley. Standing in the alley by the adjacent building you cant even see my car. I have sent pictures and letters but keep getting determination letters.
This is wrong!
Sincerely,
Cedric
Without seeing your situation, I can only go by your description Cedric.
If you are parked on private property, there is no issue.
An alley is considered the public way. Private property, but it’s definition cannot be the public way.
It sounds like you have this small indentation off the alley that is private property and should be legal to park.
But you need to verify this by looking at CDOT’s online plat map of your property that shows your property lines. I would encourage you to go downtown to CDOT’s offices at 30 N. LaSalle to get them to print you an official City of Chicago map of the area in question. If the map backs your contention that you’re on private property, there’s no way you can lose with evidence from the city itself.
Another important thing you need to do is quit contesting these tickets by mail.
This is much too complex of a situation to fight via mail.
My opinion is you will continue to lose if you do it by mail. Fight it in person so you can show all your evidence and interact with the hearing officer. This should increase your chances of prevailing dramatically.
I would also contact Dept. of Revenue Street Operations to complain about what seems, from your description to be bordering on harassment. Here’s the number. 312-744-4500
Also, contact your local alderman’s office to step in on your behalf. This is what they’re there for.
Hope this helps.
The Geek
Ask The Parking Ticket Geek is a semi-regular parking ticket advice column. If you have a question for The Parking Ticket Geek, please e-mail the Geek with your query at:askthegeek@theexpiredmeter.com
The Collection Agency is Full of Shit though, pardon the expression.
Two tickets…Worst case scenario at 150 each (Alley/Driveway/Firelane) doubled to 300 each to 600 total do not enable a collection agency the right to threaten a lien.
Rinzler is right….there is more to this that meets the eye.
Either Hector accrued more than ‘just’ 2 tickets while here in Chicago in 2011 or he is full of it.
Rinzler –
Are you sure about that? I am pretty sure the rental company pays, and then they go after the person who rented it.
Someone from out of town stayed with me a couple of months ago, and rented a car, using my address as the local address. She didn’t pay some tolls (intending to pay online but forgot.) A letter from the rental company came to my house, billing her for the tolls and quite a hefty fee on top of that.
This is the Ill Tollway, not the city, so I may be wrong. But since Illinois law says the owner of the car is responsible, I find it odd the city would go thru all that when the law says the owner has to pay.
I’m not sure if this helps, but it was always my understanding that if you were using a rental car, the city sent any tickets to the rental car company (the registered owner).
The rental car company would pay the tickets and would bill the credit card you gave them when you rented the car.
However, I believe if it is a longer term rental (over a week?!?) the tickets may go to the driver/renter of the car as it would be considered a lease?
Again, not 100% positive on this, but this was my general understanding.
I will try to make a few calls to Enterprise or Hertz to see what the deal is.
Going Back to the original questions of Can the city of Chicago put a lien on my house for 2 parking tickets? Can they send me for Collections and affect my credit for 2 parking tickets? The parking tickets happened during the tast of chicago. I tried leaving the event 30 minutes before it ended but underestimated all the traffic. I was 15 minutes late and I already had a parking ticket. The other ticket was also being late 10 minutes. When you are a tourist in Chicago, it is hard to find good parking and then I got preoccupied with all the museums and lost track of time. Anyway, it is clearly my fault for being late. Not disputing that. I just want to know how bad things can get if I just do not pay them.
And yes the rental car company did charge me a process fee of 20 dollars to my credit card I used to supply my information to the city of Chicago. Then, the city contacted me by mail of the tickets. Then the collection agency is the one with the threatning letters of fees, liens, insurance rates, etc. I never mentioned tickets were for expired plates. I know tickets were my fault just wanted to know what can be the consequences of not paying. That’s all. I just know that here in Texas they are not as tough on parking.
Mr Geek-
Yesterday to my suprise I came out to go to the gym And there was a boot on my car. I knew i owed tickets but the surprising part was I was on Private Property.I’ve been parking in this private lot for a while til I could come up with the money I needed to pay the tickets and the Revenue Van has rode down my block several times without touching my car. Can they boot me on Private Property?
Thanks
Confused and Booted
Confused and Booted,
No, unless the law has been changed without my knowledge, you cannot be booted on private property.
Please email me with more info at: info (at) theexpiredmeter.com
I’d like to know more about this.
The Driveway or PRIVATE PROPERTY?
If the vehicle is on the Street Side (even if it is in the Driveway) of the property line…or if the Property Owner has an agreement with the city…the Vehicle can be ticketed AND Booted.
And Hector….the City can Sell your Debit to a Collections Agency that can Affect your Credit Rating.
As for the Lien….it is possible…but there is a ton of legal work and actual court dates that must happen First.
Hello Geek,
I just got a call from a collection agency trying to collect on a 10-year-old parking ticket from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I had lived in Fort Lauderdale at the time of the ticket, and for SEVERAL years after the ticket, and never had an idea of an unpaid parking ticket. What’s the deal? Are they really trying to come after me now for this. I don’t believe that this is a true ticket. Thoughts?
Really?!?
I heard the city of Chicago can take your tax refund for unpaid tickets what if you on a payment plan are you safety or will they still take it
Can your car be booted in a Starbucks parking lot, even if you will buy something (after) you have gone to another store? I did not go into the Starbucks first because my friend had not arrived yet. I had been gone an hour.
We live in the northern suburbs. We were issued a parking ticket in the city of Oak Lawn, which we have never been to Oak Lawn. In April of 2011 we traded in a car and got new plates. The old plates were never re-registered which the Secretary of State has confirmed that information. In March of 2012 we were mailed a ticket for $75.00 from the City of Oak Lawn for a car that was silver and the plates written down were the old license plates that have been sitting in our garage for a year. We provided the Bill of Sale on the car as evidence that these plates are no longer in our name and that our car was black not silver. The city of Oak Lawn found us guilty and lowered our ticket to $57.00. In order to file the appeal in Bridgeview which is 2 hours from us and will cost us a $124.00 and we. I don’t understand how they can do this as it’s not legal.
Geek,
I got a parking ticket in Irvine last Tuesday and paid it off on Thursday. Will they still send me a notice to my house referring to the ticket?
Thanks,
Michelle
hey,
a past roommate borrowed my car to drive up to Canada for a day. later i find out that he got a parking ticket while up there.
it is now unpaid for ~5 months, which after 1 month the form says it went up to over $100.
will they ever come after me, the car owner?
or if i never drive that car into Canada again, will nothing happen?
why would Canada have access to any information pertaining to who the car’s registered to or be able to do anything about it if both car and owner are out of their country?
thanks!!
Jarod,
This is just an opinion based on experience, but not based on any empirical data.
I think the chances are VERY low that you will hear anything about this ticket again. The Canadian city or province which issued the ticket will have to expend the energy and jump through legal hoops to get your address via the Illinois Secretary of State.
I would ignore it, at least until you get, on the off chance, a letter from Canada.
thanks for the response! :0)
the city is Vancouver, BC.. so if that means they have any more power / funding than usual..
i was also just advised to contact the city department listed on the ticket and tell them what happened, that it was not me, and that if they check their border records, they’d see i was not in their country during the time of the ticket issuing.
what do you think? or is that potentially a bad idea cuz then they’d have my contact information, which they likely would have never obtained otherwise?
thanks!!
thanks for the response! :0)
the city is Vancouver, BC.. so if that means they have any more power / funding than usual..
i was also just advised to contact the city department listed on the ticket and tell them what happened, that it was not me, and that if they check their border records, they’d see i was not in their country during the time of the ticket issuing.
what do you think? or is that potentially a bad idea cuz then they’d have my contact information, which they likely would have never obtained otherwise?
thanks!!
Yes, I parked and blocked the alley, BUT my husband was in the car. Cop car pulled up in front of my car and sounded the horn, my husband was out of the car on his way to get in the driver’s seat to move the car when I walked up. I got in the car, backed out, and was on my way. Two weeks later, I get a $150 ticket for “Park or Block Alley”. Doesn’t the cop have to either 1) leave the ticket on my car or 2) hand it to me (or my husband who was in the car)? I looked up municipal code and found this, which seems to say yes. It seems to support the fact that a cop can’t just send you a ticket in the mail if he/she did not approach you in person (and you were there!) when the violation was observed.,,do you think I have a defense?
9-64-220 Parking violations – Enforcement – Prima facie responsibility designated.
(b) Whenever any vehicle is parked in violation of any provision of the traffic code prohibiting or restricting vehicular parking or standing, any police officer, traffic control aide, other designated member of the police department, parking enforcement aide or other person designated by the city parking administrator observing such violation may issue a parking violation notice and serve the notice on the owner of the vehicle by handing it to the operator of the vehicle, if he is present, or by affixing it to the vehicle in a conspicuous place. The issuer of the notice shall specify on the notice his identification number, the particular parking regulation allegedly violated, the make and state registration number of the cited vehicle, and the place, date, time and nature of the alleged violation and shall certify the correctness of the specified information by signing his name as provided in Section 11-208.3 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.
Becca,
This is a pretty easy one to beat.
It is illegal to block an alley. However, you can park in an alley momentarily to load or unload passengers or objects.
Fight this in person. Get your husband to write a letter supporting your story. Perhaps you had to bring a box back into the house. His letter should be notarized at a Currency Exchange.
So use the law. Explain what you were doing. Use your husband’s testimony and you should be good.
Of course, make sure you both mention you never got the original ticket.
Mike…there is an exception to that one…
The City Requires that there always be 10 feet of clearance in all alleys for thru traffic flow…the Expeditious loading/unloading clause is over ruled by the Fire Code clearance requirement…but that Cop was a punk for air mailing it.
They just went through the whole bad PR debacle of bogus remote issued tickets….
If I deny that I was blocking the alley completely, could they prove otherwise–would they have a picture or video? Also, just thought of this: if the cop doesn’t show up, don’t they have to dismiss the case?
When you show up just point out that the vehicle was occupied…the occupant was not ordered to pull away…and the ticket was never placed on the car nor handed to you. Insist on being placed under oath.
And dare the police officer to do the same.
The person who issues the ticket doesn’t have to show up – in fact, they won’t. They never have. With parking tickets, the burden of proof is on you to prove you did not commit a violation. With moving violations, its the opposite.
And you will be placed under oath whether you insist on it or not, and since the officer is not required to be there, you can’t “dare” him to.
And you can say everything Drew mentioned, but since all of that is pretty much impossible to prove, its a crap shoot whether the hearing officer believes you or not.
I think Drew means well, but it appears he never has been to a parking ticket hearing.
Greg…
I’m a City ALO
Forgive me, but what is an ALO?
Administrative Law Officer
Thank you Rinzler.
Greg…you are correct…CPD do not show up for Parking ticket hearings..
however…Since the person states they were never handed the ticket, nor was the ticket ever placed on the vehicle…they can still demand their 6th Amendment Rights and potentially have the ticket dismissed due to the fact that the Officer that wrote the ticket isn’t present for the scheduled Hearing.
I understand that – but you made it sound as though the officer would be there – that’s what was confusing. Also, you said, demand to be put under oath. Every time I have been to a hearing, I have been put under oath automatically.
And I actually had a hearing for a ticket that wasn’t placed on my car – I received it in the mail. When i brought up that the ticket wasn’t left on my car, the hearing officer said it didn’t have to be left there, so that wasn’t a defense I could use.
Everything you mentioned is a good defense, but you still have to admit its a crap shoot whether the hearing officer will believe it. I have seen cases in hearings where the officer seemed to believe and accept anything, and then ones that would accept nothing.
When I went through instructions for the position, I was informed that the Only reason to accept a ticket that wasn’t placed on a vehicle was if there was an appended comment in the file of “Driver Refused Citation/Drive Off.”
Drew -
I know that it is in the statutes as well – but the hearing officer said it wasn’t a defense.
What can I say.
Nobody would ever get a ticket dismissed just because it wasn’t handed to them or left on the vehicle. If the city started allowing this as a defense, everyone could use it since there’s no way to prove it either way.
Hi, I wanted to know can the city of chicago give you a boot if your car is parked in a lot were there once was a house there?
Keyonda,
The boot can only be applied on the public way or on public land or a city owned parking lot. It is my understanding, a car cannot be booted on private property.
The Geek is partly correct.
But…if the Property owner has an agreement with the city for enforcement…oh you bet we can boot you.
I got a couple of tickets with Massachusetts plates when I moved to Chicago. I have since gotten Illinois plates. I got 2 tickets. Will they go to Massachusetts to figure out the owner? Since it was a vanity plate, my father currently has the same plate in MA. I don’t want him to be responsible for them. Should I just pay them? What are the odds? What do I risk by not paying?
Chris,
The tickets may get lost in the system and will probably NOT get back to your dad if the registration on that vanity plate has changed from you to him (different name, address, etc.). But it is not impossible that it could track back to you or him.
Look. Just wait until you get a notice from the City of Chicago. If no notice shows up, then you’re ok. If it does show up then you need to make the decision to pay or not. Although if this happens you may want to pay and clear it up so it’s not hanging over your head later.
In the meantime, just take a wait and see stance.
I bought a city sticker ahead of time but forgot to put it on. So a couple days ago I was parked on the street and I went inside to get some goo gone to put it on, but as soon as I walk back out I had a city sticker ticket. Is it possible to contest this by mail by showing that I already had bought a sticker and that it was bad timing?
And after a year, that plate # and State of Issue will be entered into the Chicago Database for Bootable Vehicles.
Christian,
You could try contesting it, but I would be shocked if you would prevail.
The violation is for “failure to display” your city sticker.
I wholeheartedly believe the law should be changed to allow dismissal if you have purchased your city sticker but forgot to display it.
Here’s why.
The law was written this way because some people were skirting the system by bringing in their receipt every time they got a city sticker violation and the ticket would be dismissed.
But the problem was, some people were abusing the law and using one un-applied city sticker as a defense for all the family’s vehicles. Essentially, people would weasel their way out of paying for their family’s fleet of city stickers.
But now, the City Clerk has made changes to city stickers so your vehicle’s license plate is also on the front of your city sticker. So, even if you tried to cheat the system you couldn’t.
The law needs to change in my opinion. Because if you paid for your city sticker and you goofed and forgot to put it on your windshield is MUCH different than someone who just never bought one to begin with.
Friend….I have a question regarding Nassau County New York and the NCPVA. Do parking tickets bear a Statute of Limitations ? I have 2 from 2000 that are still on my registration record for a vehicle that I no longer own. I have some recent tickets that I am trying to get dismissed but the prosecutor seems to be trying to cross-collaterallize the two seperate issue. Any advise is welcomed.
Joe L.,
I don’t have an answer for you. My knowledge base in Chicago tickets.
Maybe one of our readers can help you out.
While you wrote that parking tickets don’t expire, I just got a call from my mother-in-law. She said that my wife had a letter from a collection agency for a parking ticket issued way back in ’98.
How do you defend against this. Either A, getting the ticket, or B showing that you paid the fine back in ’98? Not even the IRS requires you to maintain financial records that far back.
Ian Michael Gumby,
It’s crazy right?!?
There’s really nothing you can do. You can try contacting the Dept. of Finance and see if you can get a manager on the line. But my guess that will go nowhere really fast.
Hello PT Geek,
I recently got back from my only week long vacation this year to find that I had 6 tickets on my car (3 no city sticker + 3 no zone sticker) totaling $815… For the moment, lets assume I had no sticker. Is there anyway to talk to the clerks office about these duplicated tickets? I had received no prior tickets to warn me or give me a chance to address this (assumption). In general, I am rather frustrated as the city sticker (with late fee) plus tickets = more than $1000. Your advice would be appreciated. If I didn’t have the city sticker I can understanding paying one set of tickets ($200 +$75 hurts a lot already) but paying for 3 sets of tickets on my one week of vacation is a kick in the pants and is rather unreasonable.
Thanks for the help.
Oh my Chris,
That was an expensive vacation. Damn!
I’m not sure I have any uplifting news for you here Chris.
Your vehicle can be ticketed every day for both violations. As long as the tickets occurred on separate days, the tickets will probably stand.
Is there any chance in hell you just bought the car? If so, you have a 30 day grace period to get your city sticker. That would be a defense.
The only thing I can think of is fight all 6 tickets at an in person hearing.
Bring in a receipt of your city sticker purchase to the hearing.
Contest all 6 tickets at the same time. Admit to the first ticket for each violation. Show the receipt and perhaps some photos of the city sticker on your car. Then, for the remaining tickets…beg for mercy.
I’m not sure this works, but what the heck–it’s worth a shot to save all that money.
I Had 2 DIFFERENT CARS 15 YRS AGO EACH HAD A UNPAID TICKET I NO LONGER HAVE THESE CARS FOR OVER 13 YRS . I JUST GOT THIS INFO ON UNPAID TICKETS ON THESE CARS ON 9-20-2012 BUT THE ORIGINAL TICKETS WHERE ON 3-7-97 AND 2-25-97 I NOW HAVE A DIFFERENT CAR AND DIFFERENT PLATES WITH A LOAN ON THE CAR MY WIFE ON THE LOAN AS A COSIGNER CAN THEY BOOT THIS PRESENT CAR BY THE WAY I THINK THEY ARE LYING ABOUT THOSE PAST CARS I ALWAYS PAY MY TICKETS (CAN THEY BOOT THIS CAR I HAVE NOW ? )
Tyler,
It is possible your current vehicles can be booted.
If the previous cars were registered in your name and your name is on the registration of these current cars, the city may be able to cross reference them.
You could check the status of your current vehicles online to see what their status is. If the plates come up with Boot Eligible or Seizure Status, you could be in trouble.
Check here:
https://parkingtickets.cityofchicago.org/CPSWeb/web/SearchTickets.jsp
I gave a friend my car as a present in NYC 1969. He went to Florida and got some parking tickets on my registration. What happens If I drive to Florida and get stopped for a check?
Tickets from 1969? I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.
Hi Parking Ticket Geek,
I received a ticket for expired license plates in Chicago for my vehicle registered to South Carolina June of 2011. According to my registration my plates were valid until 6/15/2011. Nonetheless, I had renewed the registration and it was being mailed to me, I received a ticket beginning of the month for “Expired Plates”. I contested it with all the proof I had including a copy of my old registration stating exact expiration date of 6/15/2011 and renewed registration stating I had the registration dues paid and was in the mail. Judgement was against me but I didnt receive a notice for judgment until December of 2011. I didnt pay it and now I am receiving letter from Arnold Scott Harris, stating “set up a payment plan and avoid being booted”. I am not in Chicago any longer and not planning on being there anytime soon. Do I have to pay the ticket? I am absolutely pissed that they didnt dismiss the ticket even with submitting full proof of my registration being valid. Thank you
Hi,
I got a ticket for “Double Parking or Standing” however I was in the vehicle the whole time, with my car on, and was picking up a friend since the CTA train wasn’t running. I was only there for a short while waiting for her to come to the car. The officer never pulled up to tell me anything nor was I handed the ticket.
Do you think I could contest it and win?