Parking Ticket

August 29, 2019, 11:22 PM

jprebb

Parking Ticket

My son was in Ocean City, MD and parked in one of the municipal lots. He paid for 3 hours but overstayed. The charge for the 26 minutes that he overstayed was $1.50 plus an administrative fee of $25.00. To top it off, they charge a $2.00 fee to pay the fine online.

Am I wrong to be pissed? Another $25 admin fee will be assessed if the fine isn't paid within 15 days of the date of the infraction.

These assholes are presiding over what many in MD consider to be a "destination" town on the Eastern Shore. These fuckers are capitalizing.

I already know the answer, but do I have any recourse on the admin fee? It's a principal thing.

JP

August 29, 2019, 11:28 PM

ZSMICHAEL

quote:
I already know the answer, but do I have any recourse on the admin fee? It's a principal thing.

NOPE. Big revenue generator for them. The old expression being "You cannot fight City Hall." Move on.

August 29, 2019, 11:29 PM

Beancooker

Sorry, but you’re wrong to be pissed. The $25 admin fee is how they profit.

Pay on time and don’t run over and you don’t pay ridiculous fines.

No recourse on the admin fee.

FYI, I live in AZ. My stepson still runs the tolls in MA. I get the tickets. (Don’t ask, seriously, do not ask about that)but I feel your pain. Damn MA sucks you dry.EZDriveMA can eat a hot bowl of dicks, along with the parking authority that is sold on screwing you.

August 29, 2019, 11:37 PM

ridgerat

Your son should pay it.

It's a principle thing.

August 29, 2019, 11:41 PM

Skins2881

quote:
Originally posted by ridgerat:
Your son should pay it.

It's a principle thing.

Here's your answer.

August 30, 2019, 08:22 AM

jprebb

quote:
Originally posted by ridgerat:
Your son should pay it.

It's a principle thing.

That goes without saying. I just have a hard time getting my head around a $25 "administrative" fee on a $1.50 charge.

JP

August 30, 2019, 08:31 AM

Fed161

quote:
Originally posted by jprebb:
My son was in Ocean City, MD and parked in one of the municipal lots. He paid for 3 hours but overstayed. The charge for the 26 minutes that he overstayed was $1.50 plus an administrative fee of $25.00. To top it off, they charge a $2.00 fee to pay the fine online.

Am I wrong to be pissed? Another $25 admin fee will be assessed if the fine isn't paid within 15 days of the date of the infraction.

These assholes are presiding over what many in MD consider to be a "destination" town on the Eastern Shore. These fuckers are capitalizing.

I already know the answer, but do I have any recourse on the admin fee? It's a principal thing.

JP

Only thing that surprises me about this is that you are getting off this cheap. If this were to happen in Philadelphia or New York, you would be paying a whole lot more.

August 30, 2019, 08:36 AM

Batty67

Bummer. Sorry, I JUST got back from Ocean City, MD, yesterday from a business trip to the conference center.

August 30, 2019, 08:36 AM

RHINOWSO

quote:
Originally posted by jprebb:
quote:
Originally posted by ridgerat:
Your son should pay it.

It's a principle thing.

That goes without saying. I just have a hard time getting my head around a $25 "administrative" fee on a $1.50 charge.

JP

It's the administrative state backdoor tax - lots of states have obscene 'admin' fees for all sorts of civil tickets like parking, speeding, etc.

It's a good lesson for your son to pay so he can start hating this kind of bullshit early in life, rather than having daddy fix it for him.

August 30, 2019, 08:43 AM

HRK

quote:
Originally posted by ridgerat:
Your son should pay it.

It's a principle thing.

Bingo, good time to learn a lesson, and we bitch about the cost of running a government all the time, I'd venture $25 is about the cost of processing the fine from tip to tail...

I do agree that charging a fee to e-pay is a dick move, one of my creditors does it, pisses me off every time I do the work to e-pay them saving them time on processing...

August 30, 2019, 08:57 AM

trapper189

Somebody has to pay for the person writing the tickets. Having the payee be the person who's actions caused the ticket to be written seems like a good policy. Apparently, your son felt his time was worth more than the $25, otherwise he would have gone back and fed the meter before it expired. More likely, he was lazy and figured he wouldn't get caught.

You are right to be pissed, but your anger is misplaced.

August 30, 2019, 09:01 AM

oddball

quote:
Originally posted by jprebb:
Am I wrong to be pissed?

Yeah, I'd say you're wrong.

Look at it from another angle; how much admin labor goes into dealing with your son's mistake? How much time? If your son came back to the car on time, there would be no extra labor to deal with it.

I don't get parking tickets often, but when I did, I was pissed at myself.

_{"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965}

August 30, 2019, 09:05 AM

DaBigBR

I guess $25 isn't an abnormally large parking fine where I am. It's maybe odd that they're calling it an administrative fee, but it's within the range of normal fines here anyway. It still sucks, but I bet he's more conscientious about it in the future.

August 30, 2019, 09:06 AM

chellim1

quote:
The charge for the 26 minutes that he overstayed was $1.50 plus an administrative fee of $25.00. To top it off, they charge a $2.00 fee to pay the fine online.

In Clayton, MO (St. Louis County seat) the fine for an expired meter used to be $3 if you went and paid at City Hall within an hour of the time it was written. I thought that was pretty cool.
I bet they had nearly 100% compliance within an hour. No "administrative" fees or other bullshit.

Now... it's like Ocean City. Kinda sucks.

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor

August 30, 2019, 10:14 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
quote:
I already know the answer, but do I have any recourse on the admin fee? It's a principal thing.

NOPE. Big revenue generator for them. The old expression being "You cannot fight City Hall." Move on.

What principle thing? If they changed the name of the fee to “fine” would that make it OK? Parking violations cost money. I detest municipalities charging for parking but there is nothing you can do about it. Pay it and be done with it. You really want to fight city hall over $28.50?

August 30, 2019, 11:24 AM

slosig

If you want to really show ‘em, don’t ever go back. Never spend another dime in their burg. Other than that, suck it up, pay the fine, and move on. Life is too short to waste it worrying about little stuff like that.

August 30, 2019, 11:29 AM

Fredward

That's pretty reasonable actually. My daughter was towed in Louisville a few years back. Ran nearly 300 bucks by the time it was over. Pay the man, move on. Life is too short.

August 30, 2019, 12:59 PM

RAMIUS

Jersey is getting sued right now about those ridiculous admin fees for easy pass violations.

It’s like $50 just for the admin fee.

August 30, 2019, 01:10 PM

kb377

quote:
Originally posted by HRK:
I do agree that charging a fee to e-pay is a dick move, one of my creditors does it, pisses me off every time I do the work to e-pay them saving them time on processing...

Generally, municipalities don't do their own on-line processing...the fee your paying is because they're paying an outside source to process the transaction. If they had to dedicated personnel and equipment to do it, it would add much more than the $2.00.

August 30, 2019, 03:22 PM

Aeteocles

quote:
Originally posted by jprebb:
quote:
Originally posted by ridgerat:
Your son should pay it.

It's a principle thing.

That goes without saying. I just have a hard time getting my head around a $25 "administrative" fee on a $1.50 charge.

JP

If there wasn't an admin fee or fine, nobody would pay to park in the lot and only pay when they got caught and ticketed.

Also, it costs money to enforce laws. If there wasn't a separate admin fee, nobody would enforce the parking rules, because a couple bucks in parking fees isn't worth the trouble.

So, no. On principle, you are wrong.