Hello Connie,

Maybe they gave Budget a BOGO (buy one get one free) discount since you got two tickets. 😀 Or they only paid one of the two tickets?

Guessing you found the ticket on your windshield, so ticket issued to car. Not sure how it works for car rentals, it they get a statement of outstanding tickets for all their cars? For individuals if you don't pay your ticket after receiving it, when you try to do annual inspection/registration for your car the ticket will be there waiting. This may be how it works for the car rental agencies too. Either way the cops knew who the rental cars belonged to, Budget, and got the money for the tickets from them.

Did your rental agreement state that tickets would be billed to you if you received one, or in this case two ;)? Do you know when Budget paid it? If it was recently maybe you will see it on your credit card soon enough. If you want to get it straightened out then ask Budget about it, see if you owe them anything.

Open question, What's the correct thing to do with tickets on rental cars? Tell them about it when returning the car?

--Islander

Hi Islander.....

It said on the back of the original ticket (probably have a copy somewhere) that they "could" charge our rental car company. I believe that's because people think they can run off and not pay the ticket. The week I got home I paid both tickets and that check was cashed.

I will ask Budget, thanks for that idea. Hopefully, won't be a problem when we go down there next week. Renting from Budget again.

I didn't bother telling them about the ticket. Two peoples job was getting the cars back and the others went straight to the airport.

I always intended to pay the ticket, but in a way, this seems rediculous that the ticket was paid, at the latest. Then...they decide to charge the rental company, who in turn, probably charged our credit card, then they send me a 50.00 check.

Ahhhhhh.....the government at work.

Connie: with all due respect, I don't think this is cause for a generalized, "ahhh...the government at work." I would venture to guess that in any jurisdiction where rental cars operate, parking tickets are charged to the rental agency because they own the ticketed cars. For instance, if you happen to borrow a neighbour or friend's car which gets ticketed, the onus is on the owner, not the driver.

Anyway, where rental vehicles are concerned, the rental car company will in turn pay the fine but charge the ticketing fee back to the customer via a credit card debit (which is why the majority of rental car companies insist on dealing with credit cards and not cash.}

Check your credit card bill and you'll probably find that ticketing fine or fines have been debited to your account. Frankly, I think the fact that you received back your direct payment to the local government goes to show that local government agencies and their employees do "go by the book" very well and diligently for the most part. The few bad apples always make press.

I can only begin to imagine the outrage you might have expressed had you (or anyone else who had done the same thing) not only paid these fines directly and were NOT reimbursed by the local government but were also charged back by the rental car company.

The bottom line is that you paid fines for which you were, of course, responsible but instead of going to the rental car company upon leaving island or contacting them right after your return home, your chosen route of paying directly involved a whole lot of paperwork and time for the government agency )the VIPD for sure) who had to reimburse you. Cheers!

The bottom line is that you paid fines for which you were, of course, responsible but instead of going to the rental car company upon leaving island or contacting them right after your return home, your chosen route of paying directly involved a whole lot of paperwork and time for the government agency )the VIPD for sure) who had to reimburse you. Cheers!

STT...as I said earlier, the ticket said on the back that the rental company "could" be charged for the tickets. It didn't say they "would" and that's why the tickets were paid immediately when we got back. That was in May. Maybe the tickets language should be changed to make that clearer. I'm not responsible for that paperwork at all. All we did was get tickets and pay them.

I have not been billed as of yesterday on my credit card and my girlfriend has not had a charge on hers (2 vehicles, 2 different credit cards).

Again, thank you Islander for suggesting I call Budget. I will today.

I've never gotten a parking ticket in a rental car, and I'm not sure that I would've thought to contact the rental company if I did. I probably would just either stop by the local police department before I left or mail a check like Connie did.

I would guess there is probably someone at Budget who works with the police to make sure there are no outstanding warrants (which is what a ticket is after it's unpaid after the time limit) on their vehicles. I don't understand why that person would've gotten your tickets if you paid right away, but maybe it took a while with mailing them and the post office's own special brand of island time or why budget didn't bill you when they had to pay it. They're never that nice to me.

Just check with Budget and offer to pay it. You don't want a surprise when you go to pick your car up.

I like that Lulu: "They're never that nice to me." Too funny!

--Islander

The check I received yesterday was dated 10/25, so it didn't take that long to get to PA area. Maybe my check I sent down sat on somebodies desk for awhile because it's been close to 6 mos that I paid those tickets.

I called Budget today and although the gal was not looking up our particular rental in May, she did say that tickets are charged to the rental company, and we in turn would of been charged on our credit cards for the fines. Neither husband, myself or friend (who charged one car on her charge card) were charged anything more then the rate we were quoted.

Hopefully, when we get down on Wed to pick up our car for the week we won't have a problem. We had a problem before with Budget, but all 3 times we've been down to STT, they have been the cheapest, so we decided to go with them.

Sometimes tickets sit on desks for a while. My friend paid one she got on my birthday in May and it got returned to her several months ago. Turns out the police officer forgot to turn it.

The same police officer ticketed (and towed) my car in August, but I haven't gotten my check back and I suspect that I will not. 🙁 Didn't forget me. Oops.

Hello Connie,

Here is a comment we received from a car rental agency:

"If the customer calls us and tells us they have a parking ticket we advise them to go to the court house, pay the ticket and get a receipt which we will make a copy of for our records.

All other tickets (such as moving violation) must be paid by the customer since their name will appear on that ticket not the name of the car rental agency."

--Islander

Hi Islander. When we got those 2 tickets, there were 9 of us and we were headed back to STT. Yes, we could of stopped at the court house (wherever that is), but we were rushing to make the ferry. Like I said, we paid the ticket immediately when we got home and I now have the receipt that I will take with us just in case.

As long as it's paid and we have a receipt, then I'm not worried about anything.

Thank you for that information. At least I know where we can't park when we're over in STJ.

Islander,
Thanx for the help in answering this issue.

I was up in Ithaca, NY this summer and got a ticket as tho I THOUGHT I was parked correctly by the meter and put my money in it, I was a head of the meter SO got ticketed!
I came home, paid my money to Ithaca for my ticket and didn't mention it to the rental agency (as Connie did). Ithaca cashed my ck and I had no problems. THO I will go back in my CC bill to ck that I did not get charged for that ticket twice!

At least now, we know how to handle tickets here in the area for car rental vehicles.