Can the Philadelphia Parking Authority Refuse to Release Your Car Until You Pay Tickets You May Not Owe?

The Philadelphia Parking Authority (“PPA”) is not supposed to hold your car to coerce payment of parking tickets you do not owe, but they may end up doing so. Under the Philadelphia Code, a car owner may obtain the immediate release of their car by paying their tickets or posting a bond. Paying the tickets, however, constitutes an admission of liability and precludes a car owner from further challenging the tickets, fees, or costs.

To obtain the release of a vehicle without admitting liability, the Philadelphia Code says car owners have the right to post a bond. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the PPA has never implemented this part of the ordinance and appears to conduct its business as if the bond option is not in the ordinance.

The PPA does offer expedited hearings to people whose cars have been towed, impounded, or booted, but according to the Philadelphia Code, the only issue up for review at an expedited hearing is whether probable cause exists to support the impoundment. Probable cause is the only issue the hearing officer has jurisdiction to decide at an expedited hearing.

The ordinance directs car owners who want to contest the validity of their fines, fees, and costs to request a hearing on the merits that will be held in due course, which means several weeks in the future. But no one who needs their car is going to wait weeks for a hearing on the merits. If the car owner is not allowed to post a bond, they are going to pay the fines, if they can, whether they owe them or not.

Denying a car owner the ability to obtain the release of their car by posting a bond violates the Philadelphia Code and may be unconstitutional to the extent the PPA holds people’s cars hostage to discourage people from going through with hearings on the merits of their parking violations.

If your car was impounded by the PPA, and you were never given the option to obtain its release by posting a bond, I would like to hear from you. You should feel free to email me or call. The PPA has other suspect practices surrounding the impoundment of vehicles that I would also be interested in discussing.