Rental car parking ticket, wrong state written, do anything?

[lingula6]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NYC

Searched for this great site (for about an hr) and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

I'm renting a long term rental car. Got a ticket for being 7 ft from a hydrant (2 tickets within 3 horus in fact). One of the tickets has everything correct, the second has the wrong state listed (MA instead of MD) on the license plate.

Do I need to actively plead not guilty to both tickets (where one will typically get knocked down to a slightly lesser charge, and the other will hopefully get dismissed), or should I not even bother "fighting" the ticket which was issued to the wrong state license plate? If I don't fight the wrong state ticket, will they be able to track it down? (I found one post that says they will deduct it from your state taxes, but most websites i've seen on the net say to not even bother fighting it at all!).

Thanks everyone (esp You Are Guilty - if you get around to this one).

[FlyingRon]

You won't even get a chance to fight the ticket. The rental car company will pay them and bill you.

[You Are Guilty]

The rules with rentals aren't the same as with privately owned vehicles. Depending on which company your rental contract is with, you may not even have the opportunity to contest the tickets - that may be reserved for the rental company. So first, check your contract. (If there's no provision about tickets - which would be utterly shocking if you rented in NYC - then call their corporate number to ask for guidance).

If/when you have permission to contest the tickets, you do, in fact, need to fight both. The second ticket may very well be traced back to your car, even with the wrong state. The good news is that the second ticket should be dismissed automatically for that error, whereas you will also likely qualify for the 20% discount on the first one for pleading guilty (assuming it is otherwise correctly filled out).

If you head to the PVB on an off hour, you can be in and out in 30 minutes. Either way, be sure to keep the records of your payment for 6 years, which is how long the rental place would have to sue you if they end up paying the tickets themselves (i.e. both you pay and they pay and they sue you - you have a valid defense by showing receipts for your payment).

And stop parking so close to hydrants

[lingula6]

Wow - thanks for the great response. I had no idea about the rental car policies. I've called my provider (Avis) NUMEROUS times and have never been able to get through to this department. Have left messages, and they never call me back. PITA!

More importantly, should I dispute the ticket which was issued to the wrong license plate state (MA instead of MD)? If I do dispute it, will they put 2 and 2 together and find me guilty anyway? If I don't dispute it, you're saying they'll find my rental car anyway, and PROBABLY drop the charge because it is the wrong state?

Thanks again for your help - your advice is invaluable! I actually asked my best friends about it - a lawyer - and he didn't know any of this stuff. Much appreciated.

Joe

[You Are Guilty]

Originally Posted by lingula6

Wow - thanks for the great response. I had no idea about the rental car policies. I've called my provider (Avis) NUMEROUS times and have never been able to get through to this department. Have left messages, and they never call me back. PITA!

Start here and request a copy of your agreement:
http://www.avis.com/car-rental/rental/display-rental.ac

If that doesn't have the language about tickets/other violations, try emailing their customer support center, I've had pretty good luck that way. In the meantime, I found this tidbit on their website

Originally Posted by Avis.com

Any parking tickets or traffic violations incurred by the renter remain the sole responsibility of the renter.

Although it's silent as to whether Avis reserves the right to contest the tickets, at face value, it would appear the tickets are officially your problem

Originally Posted by lingula6

More importantly, should I dispute the ticket which was issued to the wrong license plate state (MA instead of MD)?

I think it's a good idea, for two reasons. 1) The fact that its a rental means that Avis can't be counted on to argue with the PVB and will probably just pay the ticket. Once that happens, you lose all your defenses to the ticket, which, in this particular instance, is a very viable defense - the state absolutely, positively, must be filled out correctly for the ticket to be valid. 2) Because of the requirement for the proper state to be filled in, you "should" be able to get the ticket dismissed without even having to see the ALJ. Once you show the clerk at check in that the ticket and the car info (which you'd need to get from Avis) don't match, they usually just toss the ticket right there and don't make you re-argue to the judge.

Originally Posted by lingula6

If I do dispute it, will they put 2 and 2 together and find me guilty anyway?

See above - they can't, at least not legally. Of course, sometimes they do, in which case you can just appeal the decision to the judges who actually follow the law.

Originally Posted by lingula6

If I don't dispute it, you're saying they'll find my rental car anyway, and PROBABLY drop the charge because it is the wrong state?

Not if you're out of the picture. No way in hell Avis is going to waste the time or money contesting tickets on behalf of their customers, particularly when they have the right to not only bill YOU for the full price of the fine, but can probably tack on an additional surcharge on top of the fine for you to have the privilege of them paying the ticket for you.

Originally Posted by lingula6

Thanks again for your help - your advice is invaluable! I actually asked my best friends about it - a lawyer - and he didn't know any of this stuff. Much appreciated.
Joe

Welcome. And I hope your friend isn't a traffic lawyer