I'm responsible for this parking ticket, right?

[Anonymous]

I had a car when I lived in the suburbs and you could park anywhere. I sold the car and moved to another city far away, and haven't owned a car in 20 years. This week I am house-sitting for people, and they told me that today I needed to move the car to the other side of the street until 2pm for street cleaning. I went to move the car this morning, but it was electric (first time driving one), it was rush hour, and the only spot was a tight parallel parking job. I couldn't do it, so I went around the corner and parked there.

I just went to get the car and got a ticket! Turns out that street has specific times you can't park on the side I parked. Ugh, it didn't occur to me to look for street-parking signs! I'm fully responsible for paying this, right? Not the owner of the car?

[Anonymous]

Yes.

[Anonymous]

No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

No, do not ask them to split it with you. Your mistake. You pay.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

Only do this if you don’t want them to hire you again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

No, do not ask them to split it with you. Your mistake. You pay.

OP here. THanks, this is what I thought. I can't believe I made such a stupid (and expensive) mistake! I'm so angry at myself. First time I drove in three years and I tried to do the responsible thing by not trying to squeeze in on a busy road and was irresponsible in a different way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

No, do not ask them to split it with you. Your mistake. You pay.

NP. I disagree.

Did the house sitters disclose this ahead of time? That you'd be responsible for moving their car, and did they share with you how best to do for the neighborhood?

If the OP knew all this and agreed in advance, then they should pay. But if the owners didn't share this info in advance, I think it's on them.

I've had someone hosuesit for my home, and I left detailed neighborhood parking info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

No, do not ask them to split it with you. Your mistake. You pay.

NP. I disagree.

Did the house sitters disclose this ahead of time? That you'd be responsible for moving their car, and did they share with you how best to do for the neighborhood? If the OP knew all this and agreed in advance, then they should pay. But if the owners didn't share this info in advance, I think it's on them. I've had someone hosuesit for my home, and I left detailed neighborhood parking info.

OP here. They told me ahead of time and to park in front of a specific person's driveway, that they'd cleared it with him. I chose to go around the block to a quieter/less busy street.

Last question: I will pay this ticket. Do I have to tell them? I feel so stupid.

[Anonymous]

This is why professionals have insurance.

[Anonymous]

Of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, legally it’s the car owner’s responsibility.
But ethically, yes, you made the mistake.
Talk to the owners. See if they’ll split with you. Next time do not agree to move a car.

No, do not ask them to split it with you. Your mistake. You pay.

NP. I disagree.

Did the house sitters disclose this ahead of time? That you'd be responsible for moving their car, and did they share with you how best to do for the neighborhood? If the OP knew all this and agreed in advance, then they should pay. But if the owners didn't share this info in advance, I think it's on them. I've had someone hosuesit for my home, and I left detailed neighborhood parking info.

OP here. They told me ahead of time and to park in front of a specific person's driveway, that they'd cleared it with him. I chose to go around the block to a quieter/less busy street.

Last question: I will pay this ticket. Do I have to tell them? I feel so stupid.

Don’t beat yourself up, everyone makes mistakes. You should tell them but don’t act like it was an unforgivable thing. Stuff happens. They might offer to split it with you (you should not ask but you could accept if they offer).

[Anonymous]

Tell then and offer to pay. They might offer to pay it for you. Or at least realize that they need to be clearer in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a car when I lived in the suburbs and you could park anywhere. I sold the car and moved to another city far away, and haven't owned a car in 20 years. This week I am house-sitting for people, and they told me that today I needed to move the car to the other side of the street until 2pm for street cleaning. I went to move the car this morning, but it was electric (first time driving one), it was rush hour, and the only spot was a tight parallel parking job. I couldn't do it, so I went around the corner and parked there.

I just went to get the car and got a ticket! Turns out that street has specific times you can't park on the side I parked. Ugh, it didn't occur to me to look for street-parking signs! I'm fully responsible for paying this, right? Not the owner of the car?

Well yeah. You moved it. Should have left it alone. No good deed goes unpunished right?

[Anonymous]

Personally I’d be pretty pissed if this had been sprung on me with no instructions or directives.