If it was criminal, I can see the justification. But, this a contract you enter passively by putting your car in a certain place. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't sign anything or even verbally agree to anything when you park and walk away. They don't have staff around to ask for payment or explain the business relationship. Maybe this sort of business practice is perfectly allowable. But, it's a business model that seems to me to be very unfriendly to the customer. To the point I would call it exploitative. I wonder to what extent their business model succeeds on the regular parking tolls and how much of it relies on 'fines.' After all, your non-payment covers the cost of 30 other customers. And, they enforce this charge with blackmail, essentially: 'if you ever slip up and try to do business with us again, we'll tow your car and you'll pay 100x instead of 30x.' Why don't they just bill you the $2.50 you owe? Why don't they add a 5% late payment penalty, or even 10%? Why don't they report your nonpayment of $2.50 to the credit agencies? That's what honest companies would be doing.
^^ I don't think that means you can abuse your time to park there without paying in a timely and orderly fashion.
I agree that it's a shady industry--it's intimately connected to the towing industry. These companies have nothing to lose by issuing you such a citation. If you pay it--good, the company just made $75. If you don't pay it and park in their lot again--good, they will just tow your car and make you pay to get it out. If you never come back to their lot--well, this should be their concern. I can see why they are so strict in enforcing parking. They need to ensure people are not freeloading. But when I am parking in their lot on a daily basis and have records to show that I pay their $2.50/day, I think it would be reasonable to expect them to forgive the ticket. The appeals/disputes would have to be forgiving for a company so quick to enforce it's quasi-contract, otherwise a lot of people would stop parking in the lot after getting a ticket. What bothers me is that these parking lots have strict "contracts" with anyone who parks in their lot. Parking lots and garages disclaim any responsibility for damages to your vehicle or stolen belongings but of course have their own pseudo-judicial method of coercing people to pay their tickets. My 2 tickets have not been for failing to pay but rather "failing to display the ticket on the dash." I think they expect a lot of people to pay but to forget to display their ticket. Responsible lots have stall numbers to avoid this issue. If the company wants to retain business they ought to ask for a much more reasonable fee ($10 is fine). $75 is more than the city charges for parking violations (2x for some). These companies depend upon posing as a government entity and taking advantage of individuals (most even more ignorant than myself).
I don't think customers not coming back should be their fear, because they have a quasi-monopoly -- the fear should be that an annoyed citizenry will has ordinances passed to regulate their business practices. Anyway, I think the primary thing they should be doing is running it like the tollway. You can put an RFID tag in your car that they automatically read and debit your account from, and then you either settle up each month or maybe refill the account when it's empty. Maybe they're working on it now.
No one would ever pay to park if they knew the risk of getting caught was just having to pay an extra 5%. How is this any different than getting a $30 parking ticket for not paying the $1 you might have to pay to normally park on the street?
