What to do if you get a parking ticket in a rental car

Getting a parking ticket in a rental car can be a stressful experience. But as it turns out, the process isn’t complicated or much different than if you received a ticket in your own vehicle. You need to pay the parking ticket — or you may contest it — but each rental car company has a different process in place for how you can go about it. We’ll list out what these policies are, the options you have and what to do if you decide to contest the ticket. 

Parking ticket process by rental car company

Parking tickets are issued to a vehicle, not a particular driver. Since rental car companies own the vehicles in their fleet, they may receive notice of the parking violation and fine from the municipality or ticketing agency. If you received a physical ticket and paid it right away (which is recommended!), you’ll want to let the rental car company know. Otherwise, if they also receive notice of the parking ticket, they’ll look back to see who the renter was on the date and time the ticket was issued and charge your credit card on file, plus an administrative fee. 

However, each rental car company handles parking tickets differently, including car sharing companies where the vehicle owners are locals in the community. So what should you do if you get a parking ticket in a rental car? Find the company you booked through in the list below to determine what your next steps should be. The following information was pulled directly from each company’s website, unless otherwise indicated, for the most accurate details.

Alamo

If you paid for your car rental with a credit card or debit card:

• We will directly charge that credit or debit card listed on your rental agreement; there is no need to do anything else.
• If you would like to pay with an alternate card or if you paid for your car rental with cash follow the link below: https://www.alamo.com/citationpayment

You can also pay for your toll or violation by mail. 

Avail

If you receive a physical ticket on the vehicle during your active trip, you will be responsible for paying the ticket. If Avail receives a ticket that correlates with your reservation dates, you will be billed for the amount of the ticket along with an Avail administrative fee.

Avis

Please drive safely and observe all ordinances, rental customers are responsible for payment of any tolls, parking, and moving traffic violations along with a reasonable administrative fee. Payments for these violations may be processed by an Avis designated agent.

Budget

The following was taken from Budget’s rental contract:

You agree that we may, in our sole discretion if Applicable Law allows the fine to be assessed against us or the Vehicle, pay all tickets, citations, fines, and penalties on your behalf directly to the issuing authority and charge you unilaterally for the fine or penalty, plus court costs, attorneys’ fees, bonds or sureties, or other costs incurred by us as a result, including but not limited to impound fees or other costs to recover possession of the Vehicle. We may also charge you a reasonable administrative fee, to the extent permitted by Applicable Law, for each infraction, not to exceed the lesser of $25 or 10% of the amount we incur. You are strongly encouraged to promptly pay all fines, penalties, court costs, monetary assessments, fees, surcharges, or other charges assessed against you directly to the court, county government, or other appropriate government agency, and to provide proof of payment to us, to avoid these additional charges.

Verra Mobility (VMS) is our agent for processing and billing any tickets, citations, fines, and penalties. You authorize us to release the rental and payment card information regarding your rental to VMS as our agent for the purpose of processing and billing you for any tickets, citations, fines, and penalties incurred by you or assessed against us or the vehicle during your rental plus, where allowed by Applicable Law, a reasonable administrative fee not to exceed $50 per violation. You authorize VMS to contact you directly regarding any ticket, citation, fine, or penalty assessed in connection with the use of the Vehicle from the time you take possession until the time it is returned to us.

Dollar 

Dollar directs renters to the website www.rentalcarticket.com, where payment can be submitted. The following information is provided on its website: 

During the term of your rental, the vehicle you rented incurred a toll charge or a traffic or parking violation. Per your contract with the car rental company, you authorized the company to provide your billing details to ATS Processing Services so that you could be billed for tolls, violations, fines, and/or penalties, and for related fees. To view details of the toll(s) or violation(s), please follow the log-in instructions on this page.

Enterprise

If you paid for your car rental with a credit card or debit card, we will directly charge that credit or debit card listed on your rental agreement. There is no need to do anything else.

You can also pay for your toll or violation by mail. 

Hertz

By default Hertz transfers all responsibility concerning traffic violations towards the renter of the vehicle. According to Article 14.2 of our General Terms and Conditions of Sale, the renter is responsible for any traffic violation that occurs during the rental period. In such case Hertz charges the renter for an administration fee and the renter will need to pay the actual traffic violation in a separate settlement with the proper Authorities.

It is however possible that Authorities, by lack of mandatory information, require Hertz to pay for the traffic fine. In that case, Hertz will charge the amount of the traffic fine + an administration fee.

National 

• If you paid for your car rental with a credit card or debit card, we will directly charge that credit or debit card listed on your rental agreement; there is no need to do anything else.
• If you prefer to use another card, please immediately call or e-mail us.
• If you paid for your car rental with cash, you can pay for your toll or violation by credit card by using the following link: https://www.nationalcar.com/citationpayment
• You can also pay for your toll or violation by mail. 

Thrifty

Thrifty directs renters to the website www.rentalcarticket.com, where payment can be submitted. The following information is provided on its website: 

During the term of your rental, the vehicle you rented incurred a toll charge or a traffic or parking violation. Per your contract with the car rental company, you authorized the company to provide your billing details to ATS Processing Services so that you could be billed for tolls, violations, fines, and/or penalties, and for related fees. To view details of the toll(s) or violation(s), please follow the log-in instructions on this page.

Turo

Ticket invoices received within 90 days after a trip ends

If a host sends an invoice for a ticket, we’ll notify you via email and display a notification in your Turo activity feed. You have 48 hours to pay or dispute the invoice. Open the link in the email or notification or open Trips, open the History tab, and open the trip to view the invoice on the Details page. Tap “Accept and pay” or “Dispute.”  

Tickets invoices received more than 90 days after a trip ends

We’ll notify you via email about ticket charges your host has submitted. Reply to the email with questions or to dispute.

Contesting a rental car parking ticket

If you want to dispute the parking ticket because you believe it was issued in error, you have a right to contest it. First, review your rental agreement to find the appeal deadline and understand the process you’ll need to follow, which most likely will direct you to contest the ticket with the issuing authority and not involve the rental car company directly. If after you understand the general process and timeline you still want to move forward with disputing the ticket, be sure to let the rental car company know immediately. Then gather evidence to support your claim and follow the issuing authority’s instructions for disputing the ticket, which could involve a simple online submission or be a slower mail-in process. 

Depending on the process, it may not be worth the hassle to contest the parking ticket if the fine is not a significant amount. Consider the potential time commitment or out-of-pocket costs you could incur, such as needing to appear in court or hire an attorney, and weigh these outcomes against the ticket fee.

The bottom line

It’s advised to pay a parking ticket right away. If you forget about it and let the rental car company pay the ticket on your behalf, you’ll also be charged an administrative fee. So save yourself some money by taking quick action, ideally while your reservation is still active. After you pay, download the proof of payment and share it with the rental car agency so they can save the details to your account.