Fair’s fair: Rental-car companies should face the same obligation as the rest of us when it comes to paying their traffic tickets.
State Rep. Gerry Pollet plans to 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 that these companies are enjoying right now,” Pollet said. “The rental firm should have the financial obligation for this liability if the rental-driver doesn’t pay the tickets and tolls.”
The Seattle legislator is working on this new provision in state law that would spell out the fact that “car tabs may not be renewed or title transfer accepted if there are outstanding tickets or tolls for the vehicle.”
Headlined “Rental car companies get pass on traffic-camera fines,” a KING 5 TV investigative report on this issue ran on Wednesday, Nov.13, 2013. The report “determined that rental-car companies have more unpaid parking tickets than 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. “Including penalties,” the news-report continued, “the loss of revenue to Seattle taxpayers from all of these unpaid tickets could be as high as $150,000.”
Also, notes the KING 5 item, current state laws “specifically shield rental-car companies 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.”
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 — a burden that existing state law allows them to snub.
He hopes to have the bill ready for legislative discussion when the 2014 session convenes on Monday, Jan. 13.