Dear Editor:
It has become increasingly common for persons who lease vehicles to be caught in the web of EZPass violations and parking tickets.
Please let me explain.
When you lease a vehicle, the license plate is not available until the dealer has obtained it for you from the Motor Vehicle Agency. In turn, the loan provider must be contacted so that a lien may be placed on the vehicle for the period of the lease.
During this process, the dealer provides a temporary paper license, which is displayed in the rear window until the actual license plate has been obtained.
Until you have the metal license plate mounted on your vehicle, it is in the hands of the dealer whose staff may mount it on their vehicle, bypass the EZPass lanes, and park illegally. All this is done while the dealer is in possession of your plate.
When the metal license plate is finally provided to you- some weeks later- the damage has already been done. Tickets and EZPass violations have been wracked up and recorded against the leased vehicle in YOUR name- the innocent party.
Because it takes about a month for EZPass and municipal violations clerks to wade through the sender-to-dealer-to-lessor process, you may not be aware of your liability until you are provided with a notice.
Now you are confused. You didn’t violate EZPass nor park illegally, but YOUR license plate was correctly piced up by the authorities.
This scam is practiced with regularity and, unless you are an astute investigator who can follow the complex trail of documentation, you are likely to pay the fines because you don’t want to have your license suspended.
What can you do about it?
The authorities know about this scam. They don’t want to be troubled with your protests, so they keep it a secret [sort of an Enron fraud abetted by the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson and Company].
This process also works for those who have bought a new {or used} car and are waiting for the lender and dealer paperwork to be concluded.
Contact your U.S. Senators [Corzine and Torricelli] and the NJ senators and assemplypersons for your district. Obtain a photo of your vehicle.
Send them a copy of this opinion as your explanation of what you think has happened. Good luck!
Frank Landrigan