What If You Get A Parking Ticket In A Rental Car?

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We’ve gone over a couple of situations that involve travel, rental cars and breaking the law:

• If you’re in a rental car and get a traffic violation in another country, do you have to pay it?
• Can you rent a car with a DUI on your driving record?
• What to do if you get a speeding ticket in a rental car

But what if you get what’s probably one of the easiest tickets to get – a parking ticket – while you have a rental car?

Not surprisingly, yeah, you need to pay it.

Parking tickets are given on behalf of the car, not the driver. After all, it’s the car that’s parked in the wrong place. With that, there’s absolutely no chance whatsoever that the rental car company won’t find out about it, since they own the car. Especially in the United States. So if you get a parking ticket on a rental, expect to have to pay the fine, on time of whatever “administrative fee” the car rental company adds on top of it. Here’s how it’s explained for  each o the major car rental companies:

• ALAMO:
  Alamo will directly charge the credit or debit card listed on your rental agreement; there is no need to do anything else.
  If you would like to pay with an alternate card or if you paid for your car rental with cash follow the link below: https://www.alamo.com/citationpayment
• AVIS:
  Am I responsible for parking tickets and traffic violations?
  Please drive safely and observe all ordinances, rental customers are responsible for payment of any tolls, parking, and moving traffic violations along with a reasonable administrative fee. Payments for these violations may be processed by an Avis designated agent.
• BUDGET:
  You’ll pay or reimburse us for all fines, penalties, interest, and court costs for parking, traffic, toll and other violations, including storage liens and charges incurred as a result of your rental. You will also pay a reasonable administrative fee with respect to any violation of the Rental Agreement, such as for repossessing or recovering the car for any reason. You agree we may, in our sole discretion, pay all tickets, citations, fines, penalties and interest on your behalf directly to the appropriate authority and you will pay us for what we paid to the appropriate authority or their designated agents plus a reasonable administrative fee and any attorneys’ fees and expenses we incur. You agree and acknowledge that we cooperate with all federal, state/provincial, municipal and local officials charged with enforcing these infractions to provide any information necessary as they may request or may otherwise be required.
• DOLLAR:
  Dollar doesn’t spell it out on their website. Instead they have a website through RentalCarTicket.com.
• ENTERPRISE:
  Enterprise will directly charge the credit or debit card listed on your rental agreement; there is no need to do anything else.
  If you would like to pay with an alternate card or if you paid for your car rental with cash follow the link below: https://www.enterprise.com/CitationPayment
• HERTZ:
  By default Hertz transfers all responsibility concerning traffic violations towards the renter of the vehicle. According to Article 14.2 of our General Terms and Conditions of Sale, the renter is responsible for any traffic violation that occurs during the rental period. In such case Hertz charges the renter for an administration fee and the renter will need to pay the actual traffic violation in a separate settlement with the proper Authorities.
  It is however possible that Authorities, by lack of mandatory information, require Hertz to pay for the traffic fine. In that case, Hertz will charge the amount of the traffic fine + an administration fee.
• NATIONAL:
  National will directly charge the credit or debit card listed on your rental agreement; there is no need to do anything else.
  If you would like to pay with an alternate card or if you paid for your car rental with cash follow the link below: https://www.national.com/CitationPayment
• THRIFTY:
  Thrifty doesn’t spell it out on their website. Instead they have a website through RentalCarTicket.com.

What if I want to contest it?

Regardless of whether or not you want to contest the parking ticket, heads up that your rental car company is still going to charge you whatever administrative fee.

That being said, you do have the right to contest a ticket. Your rental car contract should say how to challenge it. Just remember that you’ll be contesting the authority that gave you the ticket, not the car rental company, nor their administrative fees.

What if I got a parking ticket outside the U.S.?

Just like with any other traffic violation, it depends on the country. But chances are good that you will be found.

OK, whatever. What if I just don’t pay it?

Welllll, it’s a great way (among others) to get on a variety of Do Not Rent lists.

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