Which NYC Parking Ticket Settlement Program is right for you?

Last Updated on June 24, 2017 by Lawrence Berezin

Here’s a hypothetical case history about a commercial organization’s first foray into the NYC parking ticket wars. This post is for you, if you deliver products or services in NYC, and need to find parking to conduct your business.

Here’s the story

February 18, 2009, marks the first day of a six-month push to open three major accounts in NYC. My name is Jake Daniels (fictitious). I am the CFO of a national facilitation company with accounts across the United States. We make time sensitive deliveries to retailers. Our service level agreements include significant penalties for not completing deliveries on time. Our mission is “Deliveries on time, every time”.

Our company has three solid prospects in NYC.  Revenue projections are significant, but margins are small. No room for a mistake on the pricing we offer each prospect.

Our business is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Most of our accounts are in the Midwest in cities such as; St. Louis, St. Paul, Evanston, Milwaukee, and Madison. Parking tickets don’t play a significant role in our revenue model. I understand NYC is a nightmare for commercial organizations. It costs UPS about $1M per month in NYC parking ticket fines. I’m happy with our revenue growth, but we are not UPS.

I understand that 10M parking tickets were issued during the last fiscal year in NYC, generating more than $625M in revenue. Big business. I’m meeting with consultants from three companies to manage our parking ticket challenges in NYC. I need to hire a company right away, but I don’t even know what questions to ask.

Jake, here’s what you want to hear from your prospective parking ticket consultant.

“I’m going to to enroll your company in the NYC Department of Finance (“DOF”) Fleet Program”. Why? Three benefits:

• Detailed monthly reports of all your company’s NYC parking tickets
• Additional time to respond to each ticket
• It’s FREE

Next, you have three opinions to consider:

• Enrollment in the DOF Stipulation Fine Program (“SF”), managed by your consultant
• Enrollment in the DOF Commercial Abatement Program (“CA”), managed by your consultant
• Allow your consultant to decide, on a ticket by ticket basis, whether to fight or settle each NYC parking ticket

The difference between the SF and CA is that the SF is for commercial organizations completing deliveries in thirty minutes or less. The benefits from the programs are that many of the parking ticket fines are reduced or eliminated automatically. Your consultant will receive a monthly report and your company pays its parking ticket fines, as per the fine schedule. You give up your right to contest each ticket, individually.

I suggest relying on the numbers. Numbers don’t lie. Allow your consultant to fight or settle each person parking ticket for several months, and compare the results with the savings you would have realized in the SF or CA settlement program. Choose the option that saves your company the most money!

How does your company handle its NYC parking ticket challenges? Do you make decisions by the numbers? Or, just close your eyes, right a check and hope one of your vehicles isn’t towed.

Please comment and share your experiences.