If you get a parking ticket in your own country then you probably know where you’re supposed to go to pay them and what procedure you should follow when it comes to sorting them out. However, what do you do about parking tickets that you might get while you’re on vacation, especially if you are in another country?
Many European Countries are members of European Municipal Outsourcing. This means that they can share your information with one another, including your driving records. So don’t think that if you live in New York and you get a parking ticket in Italy and don’t pay it that no one will ever know. They could. In fact, the next time you visit Italy they may have penalties and fines for not paying the ticket as you enter the country. You might even be prohibited from renewing your registration or your international driver’s license.
Just keep in mind that you will have to pay for your parking tickets eventually. You can almost never get out of them and considering how inexpensive they are to start with, it’s usually pointless to even try.
For the most part, you can pay your parking ticket either by mail or online. However, you should definitely read the fine print on the parking ticket in order to make sure that you can. In some small towns, for example, you have to actually pay the fine in person. If this is true about the place where you are staying, then you don’t want to get all the way home and realize that you missed your chance to pay the ticket.
You can usually pay your parking ticket by cash, or credit card. This varies from one locality to the next, however. Some places will only take cash. If you are from out of town, then don’t expect that they are going to take a check from you, although your own hometown might. It’s best to go in with cash on you then to assume that they take credit cards and then have to turn around and go find yourself an ATM machine.
So what happens if you are going home on Sunday and you get the parking ticket on Saturday and you find out that you have to pay the fine in person? Well, this rarely happens since usually parking tickets aren’t handed out on the weekends in the majority of places. If it does occur, however, then you should call the number listed on your ticket. Explain that you are on vacation and leaving the next day and ask them what your options are.
Whatever you do, don’t ignore the parking ticket completely. These things have a way of coming back to haunt you when you least expect it. Instead, you should always try to find a way to pay the tickets. After all, you’re looking at a ticket fine that is very little in comparison to far more expensive headaches on down the road.
If your vehicle is a rental car, then you should inform the rental agency that you got a parking ticket and they should be able to help you square things away as each has their own procedures.
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