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# Pro Tip: Here's How To Handle Parking At A Broken Meter In Detroit
- URL: https://www.dailydetroit.com/pro-tip-heres-handle-broken-meter-parking-detroit/
- Published: 2015-01-11T16:11:50.000Z
- Updated: 2015-01-11T17:54:40.000Z
- Author: Nick Hagen
- Tags: Detroit broken meter, Detroit Parking Tips, What to do with a broken meter in Detroit, will I get a ticket with a broken meter in Detroit, #wordpress, #Import 2024-02-25 18:12

Back when parking tickets in Detroit were a mere $20, or $10 if paid within ten days, parking in legal ambiguity was not such a risky move. On busy days, getting a ticket was a deal compared to parking in many of the downtown lots. Since the dawn of the $45 ticket rate set by the parking department in June of 2014, risky parking is now a lot riskier.

The raise in price has [angered a lot of Detroiters and frequent visitors](http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/06/16/vickie-thomas/?ref=dailydetroit.com) and has even [been deemed a “War on the Poor.](http://michigancitizen.com/parking-tix-war-on-the-poor-in-detroit/?ref=dailydetroit.com)” Regardless, it makes the sting of spotting a little white ticket tucked under your windshield wiper a more financially painful experience.

I received my most recent ticket at a broken electronic meter. Realizing my meter was out of service, I decided not to move my car as all other cars in my row were without tickets. An hour and a half later I discovered my ticket. Incredulous, I inspected the electronic meter a second time to find a mildew ridden, barely legible hand written note with the words, “Out of order \[…\] 1 hour allowed” scrawled out and taped to it.

[![Broken meter with a very professional Out of Order sign.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/f5/47f528d4-7214-4519-b2b2-26249e48460d/content/images/wordpress/2015/01/unnamed-1024x683.jpg)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/47/f5/47f528d4-7214-4519-b2b2-26249e48460d/content/images/wordpress/2015/01/unnamed.jpg?ref=dailydetroit.com)

Broken meter with a very professional Out of Order sign.

Thinking that I could dismiss my ticket using a Broken Meter Form, I went to the parking department’s hub on West Lafayette St. the next day and was enlightened. The nice and charismatic woman working the window told me that a “Broken Meter Form” wouldn’t be applicable to me because my ticket was not an expired meter violation but was instead an overtime parking violation. She then explained that a broken meter space can be legally parked in for the duration of the maximum time that the meter would, if functioning, allow. This means that if you park at a broken meter that lists itself as “One Hour Parking” then you have one hour in that space and only after that hour are you eligible for a parking ticket. As far as we could research, this rule isn’t listed by the City of Detroit in any readily accessible way for the public to find.

This pseudo-secretive rule demystified what I had thought about parking at broken meters, which was that chance determined whether or not a ticket would be issued. Knowing that you can legally park at a broken meter without the anxiety of *maybe* getting a ticket is exciting to me because [approximately 50% of Detroit’s parking meters are broken](http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/in-detroit-parking-meters-are-the-new-streetlights.php?ref=dailydetroit.com). There is a lot of free parking to be had.

**Bonus Tip:** If you do get a ticket and decide to fight it at the Detroit Municipal Parking Department on West Lafayette Street, don’t worry about paying the well kept, functioning meters when parking. According to a security guard manning the metal detector inside, the city doesn’t bother ticketing people there. He told me this as I was heading out to top up my meter while waiting in line. I took his word for it and drove off ticketless. A kind gesture from Detroit’s parking enforcement.