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NYC Parking Tickets Now Include Parking Boots

As reported by The Daily News, NBC News, and other news sources, New York City has begun testing the booting of cars with unpaid fines. The program is slated to begin in the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx in a 3-6 month test program. If you have in excess of $350 in unpaid parking ticket fines, your vehicle may be subject to a boot by a city contractor called Paylock. The boot fee is $180. The city receives a $70 fee and there’s the 5% convenience charge of paying by phone with a credit card. If the boot stays for 2 days, and you haven’t satisfied your wrong doing, you are towed. Failing to respond to the “boot” will cost you an additional $185. The parking boot program hasn’t reached the borough of Manhattan yet. It’s likely the pilot program will make money for the city, and “Paylock” will sell many boots. I think the boots will become a common sight in all the boroughs.

This new “collection tool” will increase the number of vehicles “impounded”. It will be more efficient for the NYC Department of Finance, by increasing the number of vehicles that can be held hostage without need of tow trucks. I think Finance has latched onto a real money maker here. New York City drivers will have to tow the line. They will have to learn to park legally. They will have to pay parking tickets upon receipt to avoid the penalties and towing. Failure to satisfy your “boot” will result in more tickets, and to add insult to injury, your car will be towed. Don’t be asleep at the wheel if this happens. The city can sell your car at auction. If the sale brings $2500.00 at auction and you owe $5,000.00, you are still on the hook for the balance. Obviously, you should always do your best to park legally. When you receive a parking ticket that is not defective, or amenable to a valid defense, you should pay promptly.

Commercial vehicles are relentlessly ticketed, even when legally parked on service calls or deliveries. Unfortunately, companies that operate commercial vehicles will no longer be able to “hide in the tall grass” if they have parking tickets in judgment. There will be a new, larger, and more efficient army of Department of Finance collections soldiers out in the field. I think this program will overshadow what the City Marshalls presently do with their tow truck enforcement. There are several tools that the city has made available to avoid parking tickets. Visit one of them here.

We encourage commercial fleets to contact us to learn more about how Citywide Parking Ticket Service can lower your parking ticket expenses.

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