Auto Club Offers Tips On How To Deal With Broken Parking Meters

Broken Meters

To Park, or Not to Park

Few things are more frustrating than returning to a car that you’ve parked at a broken meter and finding a traffic citation on the windshield. Whether it’s lawful to park at a broken meter varies from city to city, and, unfortunately, it’s up to you to know the difference.

California’s 58 counties and 480 cities each have their own policies regarding parking meters. Long Beach, Ventura, Pasadena, and Newport Beach, for example, prohibit parking at broken meters. Santa Barbara County allows it, but for a maximum of 45 minutes. Los Angeles and San Diego allow it - except at the new meters that accept both coins and credit cards.

The only consistent thing about broken meters in California is the look of frustration on drivers’ faces when they realize that the only available parking spot is one with a meter that’s out of commission.
This happens more often than you might think. For instance, the City of Los Angeles estimates that 10-12 percent of its parking meters are broken at any given time. And in most cases, there’s no way for the city to know that a meter is broken unless someone reports it.

Some large cities have begun installing “smart meters,” which are supposed to self-report maintenance issues in real time to a central office. But it will be a long time before a significant number of such models are installed statewide. The Auto Club believes that local parking enforcement agencies could help reduce public uncertainty simply by posting rules regarding broken meters on the meters themselves.

Until that happens, we encourage you to call the city to report a broken meter and ask what the local policy is regarding parking at one before you leave your vehicle. If you have a camera with a date stamp, you can also take a picture of the broken meter - it might not keep you from getting a ticket, but it could help with the appeals process. The bottom line, for now: Park at your own risk.

If you have ideas about what cities should do regarding broken parking meters, we want to hear from you. Write to us at roadahead@aaa-calif.com and share your thoughts. We’ll forward your ideas to local parking enforcement offices and put them online here at AAA.com/roadahead.