According to the Daily News, the city is instituting a new wheel-booting program for cars that have accrued $350-plus in judgments, which will begin as early as Monday in Brooklyn. Eventually the entire city will be subject to bootings during the three-to-six month pilot program. Here’s the misery that offenders can look forward to: Once a city sheriff confirms that a car has the requisite $350 or more in delinquent judgments, the company that won the $70 million bid to rain hell on the car (Paylock) will latch a clamp onto the wheel (the boot), which disables the vehicle.
Then the car owner will mosey back to the car, curse, and find a boot with a number to call (toll free!) to pay the fine over the phone, at which point Paylock will provide a code to remove the boot. But there’s more: The owner will have to also pay a $180 “boot fee.” Plus, the city also gets its $70 “city fee,” and the owner will have to pay a 5 percent surcharge for whatever. There’s an additional fee if you pay with a credit card. And then the owner must return the boot to a Paylock facility.
But what if the owner fails to pay off all these fees within 48 hours of getting booted? The car will get towed and the owner pay a $180 tow fee plus the boot fee. The best solution of course is to avoid getting a ticket (or several) in the first place.
“We look forward to seeing how this pilot [program] progresses because booting could be a better collection tool, both more convenient for motorists and a potential deterrent for future violators,” a spokeswoman for the city Finance Department told the Daily News. Yes, everyone is looking forward to this plan!
