Not paying a parking ticket from another state - what could go wrong?

This goes along with Adam Corolla's rant on how these LA cities will dish out parking and speeding tickets all day.

I parked my car at a metered spot in the lovely but not-so-lovely city of Manhattan Beach, CA. As I was gathering some coins to pay for the meter I had already been promptly served a parking citation for an expired meter in the sum of $53 for being in the spot less than 60 seconds. I immediately contested the fine through the cities third party website to handle these maters and was still found to be held liable for the ticket. To contest it further, the fine has to be paid in full first and some other administrative things that are put in place to make it seem impossible to achieve victory. 

My car is licensed and registered in the wonderful state of Florida as it always will be. As is my drivers license. I'm going to pay this stupid bleeping citation and fight it to the end due to the absolute ridiculousness of the matter. I'm just curious what the effects would be from not paying this citation. What kind of power does California have to make my life even worse in this state while I'm here? Do they have reciprocity for these kinds of matters with Florida?

Having an open warrant for your arrest in another state seems like a recipe for Not Good later down the road.  Pay the fifty bucks.

The least that will happen is Cali will issue a license suspension order to Florida DMV.  You pay Cali and they will lift the suspension, then you have to pay Florida a reinstatement fee to get your license back.  This will happen when you least expect it, like when you are renewing your license plates or renewing your drivers license.  Don't expect to get a notice in the mail, even though they are supposed to do so.  Do yourself a favor and pay Cali now..

Ticketed within 60 seconds of parking?  I'd look like cool hand luke with a big pipe cutter!

I owe my home state for several old parking tickets.  Get a few tickets, sell the car, move on.  Nobody has ever said anything in the intervening 20 years.

LA like money... gimmi, gimmi, gimmi.... (pooping or shooting heroin on the street is juuuuuuussst fine though)

Something like that happened to me withing CA (fix it ticket).  It did not go to warrant but did end up suspending my license.  Not sure if a parking ticket could go farther.  I can guarantee you it will get REALLY expensive eventually!  Does the $53 include the "court fees" and such (which can at least double the cost of a ticket!)

In related news, as I remember, there was a case where someone parked their car (in LA) and walked to the machine to pay for it and got a ticket on their way to the machine.  Judged as a good ticket... uhm.... yeah....

Pay the ticket and then spread the word on how bad the city/town it.  Very unfriendly towards business /tourism or people in general.
 

 Sounds like guilty until proven innocent. Hell post up on Facebook and tag the mayors office about your issue. If in deed you got a ticket while putting $$$ in the meter and was only in the spot for less than 5 min it sounds like they have software/hardware problem and or the company that is subcontracted you enforce things is overly aggressive because they probably get a part of every ticket. 
 

There should be a procurement law preventing that but sadly then you would have a company that would do as little as possible to enforce parking laws and they would collect a flat fee and people would be screaming about that. 
 

Again just pay it and consider it a use/access  tax for that town. 

The only tickets I've ignored successfully were the ones from my "campus safety" group at college.  They were worthless as the org was not a law enforcement agency.  They couldn't look up your plates nor could they do anything.  I had an out of state car, they had no way of looking me up and I kept a few tickets in my glovebox. When I was parking someplace sketchy, I'd put one of the old tickets under my wiper.  Noone gave me new tickets, noone towed my car.. I did move my car around alot though to ensure no towing.  It was a game when I had more time than money.

As much as the injustice of it stings, paying the $53 is probably the least painful way to proceed.  Then you can divert your energies into clandestine ways to bring absolute and total financial ruin to the city of Manhattan Beach, CA.  Revenge is sweet!  Muwahahahaha!

nderwater said:

Having an open warrant for your arrest in another state seems like a recipe for Not Good later down the road.  Pay the fifty bucks.

Must have missed the part where I said "I'm going to pay it" lol. 

But seriously, I parked my car, opened my center console to grab a few quarters while also making a phone call to see where my dinner party was, looked up to see the Manhattan Beach, CA PD Meter Maid lifting up my wiper to slide the expired meter citation in. I made the phone call as I was parking a 8:39PM, the citation is for 8:40PM. 

Also I love when people say "It's just $50" like it's nothing. It takes my wife a whole day of work after taxes to barely put $50 in her pocket. I have to throw a whole day of her wages down the toilet to justify this meter maids job - who was wearing a braided belt and Nike Air Monarchs (Corvette Racing fan likely) **edit - This is snark**

Are you saying you where sitting IN THE CAR when they gave you a ticket, on THAT car?!

As in, when they put the ticket on the car window they would be staring you in the face when you looked forward?

Certainly would not surprise me, but wow.

My dad got a pulled over for crappy $5 fuzz buster that I bought from my buddy and as a teenager I insisted we use it on a family vacation to Washington DC.

It got confiscated and would be returned when he paid the fine.  He lived under the law for 35 years and always thought it was funny to mention his "pending warrant" in DC.

I say roll the dice.

don't expect to land another job with a "pending warrant"  It's part of most coporate background checks.

I got a ticket in Allentown PA once and it was raining so heavily that the ticket kinda disintegrated and went down behind the cowl so I didn't know I got one.

About a year later I got a letter in the mail from the district magistrate in Allentown that a warrant had been issued for my arrest.  In my case, I called and just paid the ticket and they ditched it, but CA's system is no joke.  It might take them a couple years to issue a warrant, but that also means it might take a couple years to get it removed.  The beaurocracy out there is intense.

Pay it, fight it, whatever.  Get it handled.

aircooled said:

Are you saying you where sitting IN THE CAR when they gave you a ticket, on THAT car?!

As in, when they put the ticket on the car window they would be staring you in the face when you looked forward?

Certainly would not surprise me, but wow.

Yeah, the $50 parking ticket would pale in comparison to the Disorderly Conduct arrest I'd have gotten for screaming at the ticket writer.

The power they have is that any time you're in CA in the future...

It's certainly not an extraditable offense.  They won't send the FBI to your door, but they can issue a warrant and you'll be a criminal while in the state.

Duke said:

aircooled said:

Are you saying you where sitting IN THE CAR when they gave you a ticket, on THAT car?!

As in, when they put the ticket on the car window they would be staring you in the face when you looked forward?

Certainly would not surprise me, but wow.

Yeah, the $50 parking ticket would pale in comparison to the Disorderly Conduct arrest I'd have gotten for screaming at the ticket writer.

 

Ohh ohh.. please yell " Im a sovergin citizen, I know my rights" as you read from some "prepared statement"...  

Ensure you have video rolling and post to Youtube..  Thanks!

Duke said:

aircooled said:

Are you saying you where sitting IN THE CAR when they gave you a ticket, on THAT car?!

As in, when they put the ticket on the car window they would be staring you in the face when you looked forward?

Certainly would not surprise me, but wow.

Yeah, the $50 parking ticket would pale in comparison to the Disorderly Conduct arrest I'd have gotten for screaming at the ticket writer.

 

I would have held the horn until the battery died. 

Pretty sure they sit on the Cali border and wait for you to come back.

I've had to pull employees' driving authorization when unpaid out-of-state tickets hit the driving record.  The company can't let them drive until it's all straightened out and showing clear on the MVR.

One time I got a notice in the mail about an unpaid parking ticket from Baltimore.  At that point I had never been to Baltimore so called the number on the notice, explained I had never been to the city and they canceled it.  Worth a try maybe.

Aaron_King said:

One time I got a notice in the mail about an unpaid parking ticket from Baltimore.  At that point I had never been to Baltimore so called the number on the notice, explained I had never been to the city and they canceled it.  Worth a try maybe.

This city is sly. They take pictures of your plates while writing the ticket and attach it to the website where you pay so there is irrefutable evidence you disappointed the crown. I had a similar thing happen to me with a toll violation from Chicago. The only time I've ever been to Chicago is to catch a layover however some toll road there thought one of my Florida plates had ran through enough to rack up $400 in tolls. Trying to explain to these people that I've never stepped foot on actual soil in Illinois was painful but it was eventually squared away. 

Javelin said:

I would have held the horn until the battery died. 

It took a small amount of will power not to throw the roll of quarters in my hand at this guy. 

aircooled said:

Are you saying you where sitting IN THE CAR when they gave you a ticket, on THAT car?!

As in, when they put the ticket on the car window they would be staring you in the face when you looked forward?

Certainly would not surprise me, but wow.

That is correct. I was so wrapped up in trying to locate that roll of quarters that I didn't notice anything until I caught someone leaning over my windshield from the corner of my eye. It really doesn't surprise me. In the last year I've received over $200 in parking citations in LA county and its not even my permanent residence. Some have been dismissed because the cities actually read the contest. Like Hermosa Beach gave me a ticket for being parked in a street parking spot for over 72 hours. Impossible since I was only there for 48 hours and I had flight plans to prove it. At least that one was only like $25 or so. 

I didn't realize they could actually issue a warrant for your arrest for failing to pay of all things a parking citation. That's what I was most curious about it and if I were to go the delinquent route, would it ever get back to Florida's DMV. 

Side Note: It's beautiful out this way. Way to crowded, way to expensive; but, just last weekend I went skiing at Mt. Baldy in the morning and watched the sunset on the beach in the evening. Still not worth the price of admission. 

Double check your ticket, does it actually say thr word "parking" on it? Because if you are in the car technically it's "standing" not "parking" and you bet your butt I'd have those two term definitions and the relevant code references down pat when I was talking to anyone. 

I beg everyone, please don't look up "Skiing Mt Baldy" on Urban Dictionary.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

don't expect to land another job with a "pending warrant"  It's part of most coporate background checks.

It was 1981 and he was self employed until retirement.