So I let a friend borrow my car for a Friday night date. He went and parked in a private parking lot without paying the meter/machine/whatever and got a ticket (thank GOD he didn’t get it towed). Anyways, he threw the ticket away and just told me about it today (it was 2 weeks ago).
Since he was in my car, do they have the right to come knocking on my door? Generally speaking, I know that laws vary from state to state, of course!
On a closely related note, the school I work at registers parking tickets via license plates. In my state (Kentucky), license plates stay with the car regardless of owner, forever unless stolen. Hypothetically speaking, say someone sells me a car with several school tickets on it. After the car is in my possession, can they look up the tags, see that the car belongs to me, and mail me the tickets?
Here in Ohio, private parking lots can lawfully tow cars that don’t have permission to park there so long as the lot has signs announcing that your car could be towed if it was parked there without permission. Such signs are frequently posted in apartment complex parking lots. I never heard about private issued tickets though.
My university would withhold a student’s transcripts if he got a parking ticket by the university meter maids. After I graduated I borrowed my dad’s car went back to visit an old girlfriend who still lived on campus. Several weeks later my dad got the parking ticket in the mail announcing that he was no longer eligible to get his transcript from State U. Since State U wasn’t his alma mater, he didn’t sweat it too much.
It varies from city to city, and may very well vary from lot to lot. Generally speaking, such tickets are only actionable if the city chooses to grant them color of law. For instance, a city may license a parking lot owner to operate his lot as if it were public parking, in exchange for complying with certain regulations and paying fees. The city would then enforce parking regulation on the lot. Kentucky state law does not require law enforcement personnel to enforce parking regulations in for-hire lots, but the city can direct its own personnel to do so.
The main risk, I suppose, is that it’s possible that if you ever park your car in a lot belonging to that operator, he’s well within his rights to have it towed, even if you pay the fee for that lot.
Good points, Nametag and zamboniracer. I totally agree that they could have it towed. But if I never park there, is it actionable at all? In this private lot… do they (generally, or in KY) have the authority to run the plate number, find out I own it -even though I wasn’t driving at the time- and send collections after me for the $5 parking fee? (plus some ungodly “surcharge” or whatever). I have this nightmare of some repo man coming to my house and taking my car!
Around here what happens is the parking lot owners call the local police who will issue a parking ticket for trespass parking, a law which includes parking in a private lot and not paying, parking in employees only lots, etc… The fine is between $50-$300 depending on the municipality. The vehicle is usually towed to the impound lot within 24 hours of the citation issue, and it’s another $350 to get it out.
It’s a pricey proposition. But I know of no “private tickets” that have any enforcement value.
I would be very worried that, in fact, you didn’t receive a “private” ticket. What pkbites said is the case around here in Illinois too, and I suspect that in fact your car received a real ticket from the police.
Oh, and slap your friend for throwing away a ticket on your car. Hopefully he didn’t run any red-light cameras either.
So someone borrows my car and runs a red light or illegally parks and I am on the hook for it? I can’t understand why this is the case.
If someone borrows my gun and shoots up the mall, I don’t go to jail for murder. What if (while they were using my borrowed car) intentionally hit and killed someone? Surely they would be charged with murder and not me. Where does the line stop?
Generally, if it actually was a “private” ticket, they can’t just come after you like an actual government ticket. They could do whatever they can do on their own (putting you on a list of people not ever allowed to park their again, towing you next time you park on one of there lots, etc.). If it’s a body like a college or university, they probably have something in their rules that allows them to withhold your diploma until you pay all outstanding fees (including this).
A private parking lot could come after you legally, though.
they could file criminal charges with the local police for ‘theft of services’ or something similar.
they could sue you in civil court (small-claims, probably) and get a judgment against you, and then collect on that via legal process.
You mean “friend”. Any “friend” who borrowed my car, parked illegally in it, and threw away the ticket, would not be a friend much longer. Being an idiot when it’s your own self who will suffer is one thing. Being an idiot when it’s going to cost someone else money is a whole other thing.
That’s the way it is in many states. This includes not yielding to emergency vehicles.
It defeats the argument that the owner wasn’t driving, etc… Most of these laws include an out that allows the owner to finger the actual driver.
I’ve issued a couple of tickets to parents who refused to point out it was their kid driving their car. Oh well. You take the fine and the demerit points, Pop. And Jr. gets to not suffer the consequences of his actions. Whatta deal!
In some Canadian provinces, the privacy rules forbid the government from telling any third party (other than law enforcement) who the license plate belongs to. So yes, either you got a legal ticket for a violation of a bylaw, or you got a piece of paper that means nothing.
I guess the other question is - if you got basically a demadingpiece of paper with no legal force, can they tow your car if they catch you on their private property again? (Is it cheaper to just replace your plates if you can?) One city I lived in, most of the private parking was run by one company so you wanted to be careful not to get caught.
As for red-light tickets, and photo-radar where applicable; most states and provinces know that it’s a pain to prove who was driving the car, and since the tickets are essentially just a money-grab, not a means of law enforcement, they change the law to target the owner.
OTOH, there was a court case many decades ago in Ontario, where the mechanic took a car from his garage and while drunk driving on a Saturday night, killed someone. The court ruled the owner and his insurance company were also liable (I guess the mechanic has limited funds) simply because he owned the car. I’m sure the law is changed since then, but be sure to distinguish between legal criminal liability and civil liability for damages. For example, if they tow your car, whatever the reason - you’ll either pay to get it out or let it sit there until the court case is done, even if it was not you who parkwed it in the wrong place.
But you could possibly be charged as an accessory, for supplying the weapon used in the crime. Especially if the person you loan your weapon to does not have the required carry permit, etc.
