Can you beat a San Francisco parking ticket if it has no VIN number on it?
California Vehicular Code section 40202 states that the last four digits of the vehicle’s VIN must be listed on a parking ticket if the VIN is visible through the windsheild. Therefor, if you prove the VIN was visible, and contest the citation, you will be found not guilty regardless of whether you commited the infraction.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d17/vc40202.htm
http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/wrongly-issued-tickets-could-cost-sf-millions/nD5hg/
As for all the “just pay the ticket” people, I’m a law-abiding citizen and normally will not even complain about forking it up if I violate a parking regulation (which in any case I do extremely rarely)–sometimes you have to pay your dues. I find this regulation particularly pernicious, because in this city, it is often impossible to find a parking spot, and it seems gratuitous to fine people an extraordinarily large amount of money for pulling into their own driveways if they are not blocking the sidewalk or the street or inconveniencing anyone. To me–and to hundreds of people you’ll encounter on a quick web search on the subject–this seems like a moneymaking scheme. In this case, the chances of a DPT person being nearby enough to either spot the car or respond to a complaint (which is extremely unlikely, as no one uses the garage I parked in front of, though from what i understand complaints are how most driveway tickets are issued; it doesn’t say “complaint” on my ticket, either)
Perhaps I should have mentioned that the California Vehicle Code – Section 40202 – says that the VIN, if readable, has to be on the ticket: 40202.(a) “…The notice of parking violation shall also set forth the vehicle license number and registration expiration date if they are visible, the last four digits of the vehicle identification number, if that number is readable through the windshield, the color of the vehicle, and, if possible, the make of the vehicle. The notice of parking violation, or copy thereof, shall be considered a record kept in the ordinary course of business of the issuing agency and the processing agency and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
