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Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rental-car companies dodging traffic tickets

How often do you think a private citizen gets away with simply ignoring a traffic ticket? If you answered, “Pretty darn seldom” — Bingo! You’re right.

Vehicle-registration and license-tab renewal, not to mention a new driver’s license, can be denied to a registered owner of a vehicle with two or more unpaid tickets.

But not so, says current state law, if the vehicle is “leased or rented under a bona fide commercial vehicle lease or rental agreement.” And it’s not only parking tickets: rental-car companies are exempt from paying tickets for red-light-camera violations, evading bridge and road tolls, parking tickets, school-bus safety cameras, and tickets from private-pay lots.

Rental car companies get pass on traffic-camera fines“, a Nov.13 KING 5 TV investigative report, “determined that rental-car companies have more unpaid parking tickets that any other business or individual.” The biggest of the companies combined to rack up “more than 2,100 unpaid parking tickets” in a recent 18-month period.

traffictickets“Fair’s fair,” says state Rep. Gerry Pollet, who will introduce a measure in the 2014 Legislature “to put an end to the current exemption afforded car-rental companies from taking responsibility for traffic tickets, parking tickets, and tolls. We need to put a stop to this exemption from responsibility. The rental firm should have the financial obligation for this liability if the rental-driver doesn’t pay the tickets and tolls.”

Pollet’s measure would place the burden back on rental-car companies to provide contact information to municipal courts and cities for notice to pay, which existing state law allows them to ignore.