in new fines — and written 0 new tickets. That's $36.49 every second, around the clock.
It never stops. The meter on the whole city is always running.
A New York City civic-data project
Last year the city billed drivers $1,150,827,735 in parking and camera fines. The cops, placards, diplomats, and ghost plates writing the tickets? Nothing sticks to them.
You get a ticket, you pay it — or your registration dies. These guys get tickets too. Watch what happens to them.
When they skip one, nothing happens. The middle bar is a measured rate; the other two show what enforcement does — and doesn't — collect.
Ghost / “no hit” plates paid just 16% of their fines (NYC Council, 2025). Your near-total rate — enforced by boot, tow, and registration hold — and diplomats’ immunity are illustrative of the enforcement gap, not surveyed percentages. Every honest dollar quietly covers it.
In one year, New York City issued
in parking & camera fines — up 2.07% from FY25's $1.13 billion.
Another ~$1 billion in parking & camera tickets sits unpaid (NYC IBO, cumulative 2017–2022) — a big chunk owed by the Untouchables above. Add congestion pricing, insurance, registration, and repairs, and owning a car here is just a subscription to getting milked.
Unpaid parking tickets per diplomat — the definitive study of who treats the rules as optional.
UN missions in NYC, 1997–2002 — the landmark NBER study of diplomatic impunity (cited below). Foreign plates collect tickets like souvenirs, and the meter maid loses every time. It still happens today.
Public data. Type your plate, see your record. We don't store anything.
You've seen what the city takes.
Tickets are just the part you can see. Add insurance, the congestion toll, parking, and repairs — then weigh it against what the car is even worth. There's one number that ends the whole game.
See the real cost of your NYC car →When the tickets + insurance + tolls + repairs cost more than the car is worth, the smart move is simple: get out.
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