I am from the UK and have recently returned from the states (San
Diego) where i have been living for 5 months. Whilst there i picked up
two parking tickets which were still unpaid when i left the country.
What repercussions can i expect from this? Im sure they must have this
sort of thing happening with temporary residents all the time - do
they tend to discard these claims or will this come back to haunt me
if i reenter the states? Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by tar_heel_v-ga on 28 Oct 2002 16:33 PST

Were the tickets issued by San Diego city police or another juristiction?

Dear Crisis, 

I will answer this question based on my personal experience with
parking tickets, testing the system throughout the US, and all the
knowledge I have gained as a result.  I doubt that they are official
sources for this online.

First, there will be no repercussions re-entering the US.  The federal
government, which has jurisdiction over the borders and in the
immigration officers, does not share information with the
municipalities, especially not for parking or minor infractions.  They
do share information on those persons that commit crimes, and get into
the lists of “most wanted”.

In fact, most states do not share information either.  For example, I
got a heavy ticket in Nevada for getting to an accident in the desert,
and since I thought it was so unfair and mean, I refused to pay for
it. I lived in California at the time.  The worst thing that happened
was that the Nevada department sent my citation to the California
police department. They in turn claimed that Nevada was not their
jurisdiction, and simply noted that that I should consider paying for
the citation.

The worse thing that can happen to you if you return to California
within five years of your citation is that you might need a license
renewal, car registration, or an identification, and the DMV will
withhold that from you until you pay two- to three-times the amount of
the original citations.  Your insurance will also increase your rates.
 After a five-year period, the police/DMV/insurance delete files from
the system, and you are absolved from tickets.

Basically, you are safe if you don't return to California for the next
five years.  Nobody outside of California will ever know anything
either.

That said, I don’t advocate not paying for tickets because if you must
return for any reason, you will not be happy to be back.

I hope this answers your question.  If you need further clarification,
please let me know.

Claudietta

While I'm not an authority, I do have some experience with tickets and
the answer you received seems correct for tickets that are "moving
violations".  These tickets cite the person driving the vehicle such
as an accident or running a red light.  Your question was about
parking tickets, which generally run with the vehicle because often
the driver isn't present when the ticket is written.  If you owned the
vehicle and then sold it before returning to the UK, the odds are the
tickets went away.  If you still own the vehicle or you borrowed the
car from a friend, the parking ticket would be included in the cost of
re-registering the vehicle when the yearly tags expire.  As for
whether you would have any difficulty returning, definitely not.  I
don't even think you would have any problem if you got stopped by San
Diego Police (unless you were driving the same vehicle), in which case
they might impound the car.  And that would be unusual.

As an aside, I am a licensed insurance agent for numerous states,
including California.  In California, the DMV keeps a violation record
for 7 years and an accident record for 5.  Most insurance companies
doing business in California could care less about your parking
tickets- its moving violations they care about and which will increase
your rates.  As for my experience with parking tickets, generally a
municipality will send a couple bills to your home, each time doubling
the fine until it is 8x the starting cost.  After that they keep the
record until you pay it or they find you again.  But that is in
Maine/New Hampshire.

I agree with all the other posters, but, if you get towed for any
reason within the same jurisdiction and they find the unpaid tickets,
you will have to pay it all, including fines etc. in CASH before you
get your car back, Had the unfortunate experience myself..... and they
even charged me for storage as they kept the car overnight while I
went to the bank to get the cash!

From experience, your insurance does not go up for non driving infractions.

Dear Crisis:

You are using in the perfect name. REASON: In certain states, ie.
TEXAS you will be issued a WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST for unpaid tickets.
This in view with the new 9-11 regulations could put in peril as you
enter the USA. There could be an arrest warrant issued to you.
Remember that each state has different regulations.

Good luck