Receiving a parking ticket is never a good experience. If you’re working with a tight budget, you may not always have the money to cover it. In this case, you may question what will happen if you don’t pay your parking tickets. Do they eventually go away? Or, is it possible that you’ll face consequences such as extra interest and penalties or damage to your credit score?
Keep reading to learn if it’s really necessary to pay parking tickets and the potential consequences associated with unpaid parking violations.
What Happens if You Get a Parking Ticket
If you’ve never had a parking ticket or it’s been a while since you’ve received one, here’s what you can expect.
- You get a ticket on your vehicle or in the mail. Your ticket typically includes a ticket number, the date of the parking offense, and your license plate number. It also includes a date that you need to pay for your ticket. Some cities offer discounts if you pay your ticket early. For instance, in Calgary, you receive a discount if you pay in the first ten days, a smaller discount if you pay between 10 and 30 days, and no discount if you pay after 30 days.
- You get a second notice. If you don’t pay your ticket by the first deadline, you can expect another notice in the mail. Typically, you’ll incur additional fees due to late payment and this notice may include a first appearance date for you to appear in court.
- Notice of conviction. If you don’t pay your fine and don’t go to court, you will typically be convicted and receive a notice of conviction in the mail. This will include the updated fine you have to pay and the date it must be paid.
How can you pay for a parking ticket?
How you pay for a parking ticket will partly depend on where the ticket came from (private parking tickets vs. city parking tickets). Generally, you can pay a parking ticket in person, by mail, or online.
Can you dispute a parking ticket?
If you feel that you don’t deserve the parking ticket you received, most Canadian cities give you a few weeks to dispute it. For example, in Halifax, NS, and Vancouver, BC, you have 14 days to dispute your ticket from the time of issue. You can’t dispute a ticket once you have paid for it. Paying your ticket is an admission of guilt for the offense.
What Happens if You Don’t Pay Parking Tickets
The cost of parking in many Canadian cities is high. While it’s tempting to try and avoid paying to park, the consequence of a parking ticket is even more expensive. If you’ve recently received a ticket and you’re struggling to find room in your budget to make the payment, you may think avoiding payment is best.
The consequences associated with a parking ticket can vary greatly based on the type of ticket and the city where you get it. Private parking fines are different from a ticket from a city-owned parking lot.
If you choose not to pay, or forget to pay within the allotted time frame, here are some of the potential consequences associated with a city parking ticket:
- Towing. The city can tow your vehicle if you have multiple unpaid tickets, You may then have to pay extra fees to have your car released.
- Interest and penalties. Additional court fees and penalties can be added to the original amount. This usually occurs after thirty days.
- Delayed registration. You can’t obtain or renew your vehicle registration or driver’s license until all of your outstanding tickets are paid.
- License suspension. Your license can be suspended.
- Arrest. In serious cases, a warrant can be issued for your arrest.
Tickets from private parking lots come with different rules and consequences.
Can a Parking Ticket Affect Your Credit Score?
Yes, believe it or not, unpaid parking tickets can affect your credit rating. However, failing to pay a parking ticket will not immediately affect your credit score. Instead, if you accumulate multiple tickets the city’s traffic authority can sell your debt to a collection agency. In this case, this information is listed on your credit report and can negatively impact your credit score.
What can collection companies do?
If you don’t pay your parking tickets and the city sells your debt to collections, the collection agency can contact you to try and recoup the money. Once it is in collections, then it does affect your credit and you will have to deal with this debt.
If you’re tired of receiving collection calls, you can request that the debt collector stop calling you and only contact you in writing. To do this, you have to send a written request to the creditor.
Do You Have Debt From Unpaid Parking Tickets?
If you have unpaid city parking tickets that you can’t afford to pay or tickets that have gone to collections, and you’re not sure what to do, reach out to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT).
A LIT at Allan Marshall & Associates can assess your full debt financial situation and advise you on where to start. You don’t have to navigate this situation alone. For a free, no-obligation consultation, give us a call at 1-888-371-8900 or fill in our online contact form.
