How to Deal With a Lost Parking Garage Ticket?

Losing a parking garage ticket is a major headache-inducing experience. Firstly, the parking attendants will find it hard to locate your car without the ticket number. Secondly, you also need to prove ownership of the vehicle. And losing the ticket means you will be charged a lost ticket fee, which in some states, could be prohibitively expensive. In this article, we will provide you with insights on what to do when you lose a parking garage ticket.

What To Do When You Lose a Parking Ticket

If you lose a parking ticket, it is helpful to understand how garages process vehicles that park. First of all, take note that even if you don’t have a ticket, the attendant at the exit will still need to determine your entry time. This will allow the attendant to correctly calculate the charges you need to pay. The entry process is as follows:

1. When you enter, the garage attendant takes a photo of your license number.
2. When you leave with a lost ticket, the attendant at the exit makes a call to the security officer to verify the time you entered based on your license plate.
3. Some garages will charge a “Lost Ticket” fee on top of your parking rates.

To avoid the hassle of losing a ticket, we suggest keeping the ticket in a safe place. Also, remember to keep the ticket away from your mobile phone to prevent damaging the magnetic strip.

What Happens If I Don’t Pay My Ticket?

There are no rules set in stone as to what happens to unpaid tickets. The ramifications vary according to city and state. However, jail time is not a possibility. A host of other potential problems can arise from unpaid tickets such as:

• Unpaid tickets are subject to late penalty fees, which means that your ticket could accumulate late fees over time. In some states, an expensive civil assessment could be applied and your ticket could accrue interest.
• When you have unpaid tickets, the police has your license plate on file, and your car could be towed or booted even if you were parked legally at the time.
• In some states, your car could be possessed by the city and put up for auctions to make up for unpaid fines.
• The city could forward your case to collection agencies that are known for their high-pressure means of collecting.
• The Parking Violations Bureau could report your debt to a credit bureau, which will damage your credit score. This can potentially damage your ability to get a loan approved when you need to.

Contest Parking Tickets in Any City with DoNotPay

In most cases, disputing a parking ticket can be straightforward in theory but not so much in practice. There are documents to draft and different statutory deadlines to keep track of. That is where DoNotPay can help. We are the world’s first AI Consumer Champion and we help make disputing tickets quick and easy. Our chatbot has an astonishing 64% win rate. With our service, all that’s needed from you is:

1. Go to DoNotPay and create an account
2. Select the Parking Tickets feature
3. Answer a few questions and upload photo evidence if needed
4. Choose the reason for your appeal
5. Tell us which state you got your ticket from

Voila! The app will generate an automatic letter written specifically for any state. You can have DoNotPay mail it for you, or you can send it in yourself! Once submitted, all that’s needed next is to wait for a few weeks to receive an update and find out if your appeal won.

Will DoNotPay Help Me Fight Parking Tickets From Private Companies?

In addition to cities, DoNotPay can also help overturn tickets from private parking companies. Here are some of the private garages that our app can help you appeal tickets for:

What Else Can DoNotPay Do?

• Find Unclaimed Money
• Negotiate Your Bills
• Catch and report robocallers
• File warranty claims
• And a bunch more things!