DC parking ticket - worth to contest ?
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Anonymous
| We just got a letter from DC DMV saying we own $200 for a parking violation from July. $100 extra because we didn't pay or contest it in 30 day... The thing is: there was no ticket in our car, nor we received anything through the mail regarding this until today. Also, something similar happened last year and I decided to pay thinking maybe I had threw the correspondence away by mistake.... But twice? What's up with that? Should we contest this? |
Anonymous
| Contesting is worth a try if you have some pretty good proof supporting your car's alibi. Failing that, you can see if they got any of the facts wrong on the ticket...eg the make of the car. You can also check into that ticket amnesty and see if it applies to you. |
Anonymous
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Definitely try to dispute.
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Anonymous
| This is DC's modus operandi. Their government is run by a bunch of outlaw thugs and the current mayor is Marion Barry's cocaine dealer. Contest away. |
Anonymous
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Well, you wouldn't get anything in the mail until it's late. Do you think the ticket might be accurate, i.e., you did park illegally on that day? In that case I'd pay the $100 and write a note explaining you never got the ticket on your car. I've done that before and they never came after the rest of the money.
Also, as a PP mentioned,there's a ticket amnesty going on right now so you can look into that. (Amnesty as in you don't have to pay late fees) |
Anonymous
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I contested a ticket once. I took a half day off work to do it, just on principle. I was ticketed for parking in a loading zone, while I was unloading a rented keg and returning it to the store. I had a letter from the proprietor and everything. I left my car for less than 2 minutes.
When I got to the office, I waited all damn day. Then I got in the room with the official and he said, were you parked there? (Yes, but I was unloading.) But that doesn't apply to you - just commercial trucks. (But the sign doesn't say that. And I was unloading.) Yes, but it doesn't apply to you. (How are people supposed to know that?) I agree it was unclear, but now you know. So don't do it again. He reduced it by half. I was furious. I'd just pay it and move on. |
Anonymous
| OP here: it was my husband's car/driving.... it is not about the ticket itself because it is believable to me that he might have stayed beyond 4pm.... what I am upset is the extra $100.00 as in "late fee" since we did NOT received a ticket through the mail... so we didn't know we own them the parking ticket. Last year I payed something JUST LIKE THIS - ticket and $100 extra for fee in the SAME circumstances, but twice? It makes me think it is some sort of scheme to get more money out of people. |
Anonymous
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The Post had an article about high rates of ticketing in DC today. Sounds like it might be worth contesting it:
"Townsend said that, unlike in many other cities, people who fight parking tickets in the District have a reasonable chance of success. He said that hearing examiners at the Department of Motor Vehicles dismissed 43 percent of tickets in 2010 and had tossed out 47 percent of the 89,068 contested tickets as of May this year." http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/commuting/district-rings-up-millions-in-parking-ticket-revenue/2011/08/23/gIQAxcefZJ_story.html |
Anonymous
I've never heard of getting tickets through the mail unless it's a red light camera. They put parking tickets on your car. |
Anonymous
| I contested a parking ticket by mail several years ago. I had taken photos of the pole that should have had the No Parking info on it - the actual sign was missing. But despite this, DC refused to dismiss my ticket. Seemed totally unfair and arbitrary to me. |
Anonymous
Well, it was not ON the car for sure. |
Anonymous
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i admit this is only anecdata, but i know NO ONE who's ever gotten a dc ticket dismissed.
dc uses ticketing as an involuntary taxation system. if you've ever seen their ridiculously confusing signage for street parking or gotten caught by a mobile speed camera on a HIGHWAY, you'd know. they just want your money. it'll be hard to get anything dismissed or reduced. |
Anonymous
| OP if you have to wind up paying the ticket, I'd snail mail a check in to the DMV. But make sure to wipe your ass with that check first before sealing it in the envelope. F DC, their usorious charges and their convoluted laws and regulations. |
Anonymous
amen! |
Anonymous
| OP, are you sure your husband would have noticed the ticket on the car and taken it if it'd been there in the first place? There's no chance he might have driven off and the ticket flew out from under the windshield wiper? |