by Jim Thompson |
Last Updated: January 11, 2021 Parking tickets probably seem pretty mundane, and something that you could probably just ignore, but not paying those small fines could land you in serious trouble over time. Not only are you likely to accrue additional fines from your failure to pay the original ones, but you could also lose your license or have your vehicle booted if you aren’t careful.
Track Down the Ticket
The first and often quickest option is just searching for the lost ticket. You’ll probably find it turning up between your car’s seats or some other unlikely area. This is the best option if the ticket is floating around somewhere and you just haven’t found it. Before you go through the trouble of reporting the lost ticket, make sure you take another look around the house and your vehicle to see if you can find it.
Report the Lost Ticket
When you simply cannot find the ticket, no matter how long you look, it’s time to report it to the proper office so you can get the information from it or help to figure out how to make your payment on time. To do this, you can get in touch with the local police department, the municipal court, or a parking authority in your area if you live in a larger city. Have your license plate number available, and you should be able to get help from one of these authorities.
Look it Up Online
If you have to deal with a court system or you have to talk with a parking authority specifically, you might be able to get your information right online. That means you would just sign into the organization’s website and look up the ticket with your plate number. You may even be able to pay off the ticket on the site and save yourself a trip down to the courthouse or the authority’s processing center.
Act Fast
Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you act quickly to take care of the ticket before it becomes a real problem. Most of the fines have short time limits for you to pay them, and if you don’t act fast enough, you’ll face late fees or worse for not taking care of the problem. This isn’t something that you can ignore without consequences, and waiting too long will only make things worse. So the same day that you get the fine, you should try and take care of it if that’s possible.
Parking tickets can be frustrating, especially when you misplace one. It’s not the end of the world, though, just a minor inconvenience. Instead of getting worked up over the issue, just take a minute to find a solution for it. As long as you call the local office that handles parking tickets, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting the issue resolved. The fee will be very minimal most of the time, making it much easier than a traffic ticket to resolve.