Foxtbh

Hi guys,

I rented a car from LAX from 2nd Sep to 17th Sep.

On 11th Sep I received a parking violation which stated I had 10 days in which to pay online before the registered keeper of the vehicle would be contacted.

I paid the parking violation online as soon as I returned to the UK on 18th September and thought no more about it.

Today I have received a violation notice from ATS Processing Services informing me that my credit card will be charged $30 for processing a violation notice from... the people who issued me the parking ticket which I paid promptly and within the time allowed.

What can I do? I don't want to pay $30 to Hertz because I've nothing to pay for them. I paid my parking violation exactly as requested within the time limits stated. I owe nobody any money.

I am considering disputing the charge with my credit card company but am worried that if I do this I may have my rental privilages revoked - something I dont want as I was very happy with my Hertz rental and wish to rent again on future trips.

What can I do guys? This seems very unfair!

The whole thing was very annoying anyway - the parking warden literally ticketed my car within 30 seconds of the meter expiring. I returned to the car 2 minutes late as I was held up in a shop. I paid it because rules are rules but at least over here we get 5 minutes or so grace period!

3Cforme

See post #2.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...l#post14355673

Foxtbh

So what can I do? It seems its the parking authorities fault for sending out the request for details even though the ticket was paid within the time limit. But they are hardly going to pay my $30 for me, are they?

The ticket I received specifically said that if I paid within 10 calender days, no request would be sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle.

I complied with this 100%, but they've sent one anyway and now I'm facing a bill?

crabbing

contest the charge with your credit card. if you provide proof of payment on time, they should remove it. this happened to me, and i knew that a "processing fee" of some kind would be coming my way, so i sent a letter with my cheque to LADOT assuming full responsibility for the parking violation, and cc'ed the rental car company. i later provided that letter to my credit card company as proof that i should not be charged.

jbcarioca

I have had such events twice. Once a parking violation in Northampton which was given as I was returning to the vehicle after having purchased the ticket in the machine. BTW, the alleged UK five minutes discretion for parking were not allowed to me. Further, I was visible to the parking warden as I was buying my ticket. Responded Northampton authorities; we don't care, you pay. Responded Hertz, you pay of we suspend renting privileges. I paid.

The other was in the US, in Charlotte, NC when I was ticketed for improper lane usage, using a Florida driving license. I paid the next day with a US Postal Money Order but the Mecklenburg county lost the record so suspended my driving license, which caused a Florida suspension also. I proved the payment but Mecklenburg refused to accept it. I then had to pay again, plus penalty and also pay Florida to remove the suspension. It cost me $250 plus the original $45 ticket. I did consult an attorney who told me it would cost $500 plus a court appearance in Charlotte to contest this, so I paid.

Moral: The authorities will get you if they wish and it is usually cheaper to submit than it is to fight.

JLewisinSyr

The ticket may have said one thing, but if you read the contract with Hertz, regardless of if you pay the ticket directly with the issuing authority, they have the right to charge you (or sub it to another agency) a fee for handling the ticket.

spades097

Sometimes, the city who is issuing the ticket will have "special" processing for rental cars. All of the special processing is just another way to get more money out of tourists. The one I can specifically remember is in Florida dealing with toll violations. You can normally call up and send in the toll amount unless it is a rental car in which case they will not accept it as payment...

Foxtbh

This feels so unfair. I paid my parking ticket as asked a month ago

Dave Noble

Hertz can immediately contest any chargeback request. Hertz charges for processing the infringement notice when it is requested and there is no grounds to contest the charge via credit card. Any claim should be against the party that requested the information from Hertz

TravelFlea

This happened to me once too, also with an LAX rental. There should be a phone number on the 3rd party bill you got. If you call them and tell them you paid the ticket within the specified timeframe, they will give you a fax number to send a copy of your payment receipt. Once they have that, you are not charged the fee. Worked fine for me that way - I was never charged the fee and I only had to call once and send the fax.

crabbing

i'd be curious to see where it says that. from what i read online, hertz says that "processing and payment" are handled by ATS, but when the ticket is paid, there is no processing or payment that needs to be done.

i don't follow you regarding "requested." if "the party that requested" is ATS, they're hertz's agent and the claim is against hertz. if you're talking about the ticketing agency, they're not requesting any information, and if you've paid the ticket, the full extent of their "claim" has been satisfied. at that point, it's just correspondence, and hertz has no right, contractual or otherwise, to charge renters a $15 or whatever fee just because they got a letter.

Dave Noble

They do have the right to chage a fee for processing the violation . If he had paid in time and no violation should have been sent is irrelevent to the fact it was.

Dave

JLewisinSyr

If Hertz or ATS still receive information (which they very well could have within the 8 days it took to pay), they are still processing the event, regardless of if payment was made direct.

If my attorney receives a notice of claim, but the claim was already taken care of, I'll still receive a bill for his time, his processing. Same concept, basically, if you get any sort of violation notice, Hertz (or ATS) will charge a fee.

crabbing

Dave, hertz has a duty to mitigate its damages. whatever "processing" they choose to do is irrelevant and superfluous.

and JLewisinSyr, your attorney can be disbarred for that.

JLewisinSyr

I was trying to make a point without going into details, but yes in the terms I placed it would be incorrect for the attorney to try to collect a fee for the service, so I guess it was a bad example without providing the additional background that would have clarified the action.

The point I was trying to make is that there is a cost of processing, whatever that processing may be, even if it is to prove that the fee has already been paid.