Traveler's Aide: Fighting a parking ticket on a rental car

Question: I rented a car from Hertz in September 2014. We went to New York City, where we parked and paid a meter, then returned an hour later to add additional time. I left my mother at the car and walked one block to use the meter (the kind that prints a receipt you leave on the dashboard). While waiting for me, she noticed an officer issuing a violation and explained the situation, but he said since the ticket was already in the system there was nothing he could do. He indicated the ticket could be waived upon dispute.

When we returned the car, we informed Hertz that we were going to dispute the ticket. The agent made a note of it in the computer. When I returned home, I filed a dispute online with New York, but I had trouble uploading documentation to their system. I waited to hear something.

In January, my mother received a bill from Hertz for the $65 ticket plus a $42 fee. Hertz had paid the ticket while it was being disputed, negating the legal process to which we were entitled. I made a trip to the Department of Finance in New York to speak to someone in person and was told that a reversed decision upon appeal was unlikely because the ticket was not contested by Hertz. I did file an appeal, but at the end of February, I received notice that my appeal was denied.

I spoke with a long line of unhelpful Hertz employees, and called Hertz's representatives at American Traffic Solutions (ATS). I said I would reimburse them for the ticket but I was not willing to pay the administrative fee. They refused to waive it.

Meanwhile, my mother has received multiple letters and emails from Hertz and ATS threatening legal action. She has been told the case will be handed over to a collection agency. She was also told she would never be able to rent a vehicle from Hertz again, after being a loyal customer for decades.

Had someone told me that the dispute and appeal process was going to take six months of my time, I would have paid the initial $65 ticket with a quick five-minute session online. Can you convince Hertz to waive the fee?

— Pamela Domittner, Darien, Conn.

Answer: Domittner received one of the estimated 9.5 million parking tickets slapped on windshields across New York every year. The city brings in about $550 million in revenue from parking citations. Drivers contest about three million of those tickets, according to Larry Berezin, a lawyer who runs newyorkparkingticket.com, a site dedicated to fighting parking citations.

"The city does have a fair process in place for disputes," says Berezin.

The dispute procedure is fairly straightforward. Drivers can contest tickets online, by mail or in person within 30 days of the violation. Although spending a few hours in a New York Department of Finance Business Center might prove to be an authentic travel experience, Berezin advises drivers to submit their disputes online: It's fast, relatively easy and avoids wasting hours of your time in line.

Domittner did just that back in September—or rather, she thought she did. She was unable to include her attachments, however, including the two paid meter receipts.

"You must upload evidence in order to fight a parking ticket," says Berezin.

You should be able to review your uploaded evidence and your argument online before submitting the dispute, explains Berezin. But Domittner didn't see her uploaded files, and never received a confirmation of her dispute via email. She mailed copies of the receipts to the Department of Finance, and waited to hear back, but never did. Apparently her dispute was lost in cyberspace.

Hertz, on the other hand, did hear from the Department of Finance, about 30 days after Domittner got the ticket. That's because citations are linked to the car's license plate, not to the renter, so all official notices such as unpaid parking tickets go to the car-rental company.

Some jurisdictions, including New York City, allow rental car companies to release liability by passing along a renter's information, so local authorities can collect citation fees directly. However, Hertz is contracted with ATS to handle its cars' citations, so it handed off the ticket to ATS for investigation and action.

"All parking, traffic and toll violation processing is administered by ATS," says Hertz representative Beth Davis.

ATS did ultimately pay Domittner's parking ticket—but not while her dispute was underway, as she thought. ATS filed its own citation dispute with the Department of Finance in mid-October. There was no pending dispute in the system when ATS filed, according to Davis, or the company would not have been able to proceed with its own dispute and subsequent hearing.

ATS's dispute of Domittner's parking citation came up for a hearing in December, and the Department of Finance deemed the ticket valid. ATS then paid the ticket and started billing Domittner's mother shortly thereafter. Hertz's rental agreement holds renters liable for parking tickets (as well as toll violations and tickets from red-light cameras). Renters are also on the hook for administrative fees.

"Due to the increase of violation notices, Hertz can no longer absorb the additional costs associated with processing infringement notices," says Davis.

You can get dinged with said fees even if you pay a ticket and no action is required by your rental car company. For example, if your payment squeaks in just under the deadline, it may cross in the mail with an outgoing notice of unpaid violation. That means someone has to check to ensure it's been paid, and you'll pay for that.

"If Hertz/ATS is contacted then the administration fee is billed," says Davis.

ATS wasn't able to bill Domittner's mother's credit card, which she had canceled after it was lost. That's why she started receiving collection notices, and later was placed on the Do Not Rent list of non-payment.

I asked Hertz to look into Domittner's complaint. It worked with ATS to waive both the administrative fee and the original citation amount. Hertz also removed Domittner's mother from its Do Not Rent list.

Now, about that parking ticket. New York extends a five-minute grace period for expired meters. That window can give you just enough time to get to the meter, pay for parking time, and zip back with your receipt. But as it turns out, Domittner was just a few minutes past that window. She got the ticket just after the grace period ran out, which is doubtless why she lost the original appeal.

How can you avoid trouble?

• Check whether the ticket is valid and free of mistakes. Tickets must contain certain required elements, says Berezin, and if they don't, they can be dismissed. "Take 10 minutes to review it and submit your dispute," he says.

• If you intend to dispute a ticket, do it immediately. You'll normally have 30 days to respond, but don't wait until the last minute.

If your citation was on a rental car, Berezin advises that you send a certified letter to the rental car agency explaining that you are disputing the citation, and that you will appeal if you lose the initial decision. That should stop the company from paying your ticket midstream, ending your dispute before it's heard.

• If the ticket is valid, pay it quickly. Nobody likes handing over hard-earned money for parking tickets, but waiting will just make it worse. You could end up with increased penalties and, with rental car companies, substantial administrative fees for taking care of your fine.

Do you have a travel consumer issue you'd like Traveler's Aide to pursue? Email Linda Burbank at usattravelersaide@gmail.com. Your question may be used in a future column.