How many parking tickets before a car gets towed?

We all know that when a car collects enough tickets it risks getting booted and towed—but how many tickets can a car get before the tow truck rolls in? Well, it depends where your car is parked. Every city has a different policy about when and why cars are towed, so let’s take a quick look at a few big ones that are big on cars (but tough on parking!) as of the time we wrote this article—Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, and Chicago.

los angeles

In LA, the Bureau of Parking Management considers your car liable to be towed after five or more unpaid parking violations. So that’s five strikes and you’re out. After that, your car will get booted - which leaves you with 48 hours to contest the fines, pay up, or get towed.

phoenix

Things are less easy going in Phoenix, where it takes just three tickets before your car is eligible to be booted. You’ll get a letter to notify you about the situation, and from that point on you have 21 days to put in a challenge, or pay the fine. Otherwise, your car is on the boot list and could get clamped at any moment. Once your car has been booted, you have until the next business day to pay the fine or…you guessed it…get towed.

seattle

Up in Seattle, car owners can rack up four unpaid tickets before they get on the scofflaw list. That means that if the police spot the car it risks getting booted. Once that happens you’ll have 48 hours to either pay the fine or set up a payment plan. After that, your car is due a visit from a tow truck.

chicago

It takes three or more unpaid parking tickets in the final determination status—or two unpaid tickets in final determination that are older than one year—before the city of Chicago will boot your car. Just like in Phoenix, you’ve got 21 days to request a boot hearing. Otherwise you’ve got 24 hours ’til the tow truck comes.

So that’s the gist of it. If those parking tickets are piling up, draining your bank account, it might be worth having a real hard think about whether the car is worth keeping.

That’s where we come in. Here at Peddle we’re pros at junk car removal. If you sell your car to us, we can arrange a pick up truck to come and collect it within days. But the biggest difference is this pick up truck pays you rather than fines you. We love our carrier partners!

Tell us the details about your ride and we’ll give you an instant cash offer. If the car is parked in a tricky location be sure to tell us when you’re scheduling your pick up, and we’ll figure out the best solution for you. It’s gotta be better than dragging yourself down to the impound to free that car you wish you’d gotten rid of years ago. And hey, maybe you can use the extra cash to clear those parking fines!

Anyway, we get it, that junk car is probably the last thing you want to deal with on your to-do list—especially if it has a parking ticket (or a few). But we can help you get it sorted. Peddle is a quick and easy way to get cash for junk cars—and solve your parking problem before the city does.