Do Parking Tickets Stay on Your Driving Record?

Parking tickets don’t reflect your safety habits, so they shouldn’t affect your auto insurance rates or driving record

Reviewed by Eric EstevezFact checked by Betsy PetrickReviewed by Eric EstevezFact checked by Betsy Petrick

It’s a sight that no one wants to see. You’re walking back to your car to head to your next destination, and there, pinned under a windshield wiper, is a long piece of paper. You immediately know what that means: You’ve just received a parking ticket. While your day may be ruined, you can at least take solace in knowing that this ticket will have very little impact on your standing as a driver.

Key Takeaways

• Insurers mostly care about your safety habits as a driver and the likelihood that you will file a claim.
• A parking ticket won’t increase your car insurance rates.
• Failing to pay your parking tickets could lead to higher fines and the potential for police intervention.
• Unpaid parking tickets hurt your credit score, which could affect your car insurance costs.

Do Parking Tickets End Up on Your Driving Record?

As a motorist, your driving record must remain as free of blemishes as possible. As a collection of past and ongoing motoring behavior, potentially including violations, accidents, and other roadside incidents, your driving record serves as a snapshot of your time behind the wheel. While that may be embarrassing to some, it’s of particular importance to car insurance companies.

Past evidence of either negligence and poor decision-making behind the wheel often causes insurers to raise a person’s premiums, because past experiences suggest that such drivers would be more likely to file an insurance claim. That means drivers with a pristine driving record get to enjoy lower premiums, while individuals with major incidents on their record like at-fault accidents or DUIs/DWIs will watch their insurance costs spike, the degree to which depends on the state.

So if you’ve just received a parking ticket, what does that mean for your driving record? Absolutely nothing. While the penalty for certain parking violations will vary at the state and municipal levels, they are non-moving violations in all instances.

As such, a parking ticket doesn’t go on your driving record because it doesn’t reflect poorly on your safety habits as a driver. After all, your vehicle can only cause damage while it’s in motion.

You can generally look up any parking ticket or traffic violation online on the state’s motor vehicle website by providing your ticket number or license plate number.

Are Car Insurance Premiums Affected by Parking Tickets?

By themselves, parking tickets don’t have any effect on your car insurance premiums. As they don’t end up on your driving record, there’s no way for car insurance providers to even know of the ticket’s existence. As long as you pay the associated fine by the deadline, you should have zero concerns that your insurance costs will increase.

That being said, a parking ticket can cause problems with your insurer if you fail to pay on time. Depending on the severity of the fine and how long you go without paying it, the consequences can grow in seriousness. Penalties can include an increase in the fine itself, your car getting towed by the municipality, or even suspension of your driver’s license.

Furthermore, failure to pay a parking ticket could have a direct impact on your credit score, which is something that insurers care about. Having a lower credit score often signals to insurance companies that you tend to mismanage your funds and fail to pay your bills on time. While some insurance companies may make decisions due to credit scores—such as increasing premiums or refusing coverage—some states have passed legislation that prohibits these policies. Check with your state legislature to see if you are affected by these laws.

What Consequences Can Result From a Parking Ticket?

While your parking ticket won’t end up on your driving record, that doesn’t mean receiving one is a nonissue. The following are just some ways that a parking ticket could cause you problems.

• Fines. First and foremost when it comes to parking tickets are the fines associated with it. Exactly how much they cost depends on rules set at the municipal, county, and state levels. These fines eventually will come with a due date, and failing to pay on time means you likely will have to pay a larger fine.
• Confiscation or disabling of your vehicle. Though your parking ticket won’t be on your official driving record, local law enforcement will still see that you have an unpaid parking ticket. If an officer finds your car parked on a public road and you have an unpaid parking ticket, then the authorities can have your car impounded or disabled with the use of a boot.
• Negative impact on your credit score. Failing to pay your parking ticket on time can hurt your credit score. This sort of thing lets insurers, banks, and other financial institutions know that you’re less trustworthy than others. Depending on the state you live in, your rate and coverage may be affected by your credit score.
• Driver’s license suspension. This is the big one. If you wait long enough and don’t pay your fines, then the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) could suspend your license altogether. Driving with a suspended license is a dangerous proposition because you potentially could get pulled over by police and ticketed. Once they find out that your license is suspended, you likely will have your car towed, at the very least. Driving with a suspended license is an illegal moving violation and will reflect poorly on your driving record. In many states, those who drive with a suspended license face arrest and possible jail time. Check your local regulations to see how you might be affected.

What Happens to Unpaid Parking Tickets?

Depending on the state, unpaid parking tickets can incur penalty fees, lead to a hold being placed on your vehicle or your car registration not being renewed, and your state tax refund may be affected.

Do Unpaid Traffic Tickets Expire?

No, unpaid traffic tickets don’t expire. They remain on your record and show up if you receive another ticket, try to renew your license, or try to change your license from state to state. It doesn’t matter the length of time, unpaid traffic tickets don’t expire and go away.

Does a Parking Ticket Affect Your Insurance?

No, a parking ticket doesn’t affect your insurance. Your insurance rate won’t change because a parking ticket isn’t a moving violation. But there are other repercussions to parking tickets, however, such as penalties and your car possibly being towed or booted.

The Bottom Line

While parking tickets may not directly affect your driving record, they could end up coming back to bite you in terms of blocking access to your car or driver’s license—not to mention hurting your credit score—if you don’t deal with them sooner or later.

State and city governments tend to have long memories and little sympathy for scofflaws. The expression “the long arm of the law” can certainly apply to parking tickets even if they don’t explicitly show up on your driving record.

Read the original article on Investopedia.