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I went to States recently rented a car from enterprise and in Washington got a parking ticket (100$).

enter image description here

Since it gives 30 days to pay I wasn't in to much of the hurry. When I tried to pay for the ticket online it would not allow me to enter credit card postcode even if I would select region as United Kingdom, validation was expecting 5 digit postcode and UK postcodes are alphanumeric. I then tried to contact 'Enterprise' and ask them to pay the ticket on my behalf. To which they responded:

Dear Matas,

There is nothing that I am able to do with the ticket on my end. You will need to contact the number listed on the back of the ticket to remit your payment.

In the meantime, if you have any other customer service related questions or concerns, please feel free to email me back.

Kind Regards, XXXX Enterprise Customer Service

I then indeed called number at the back and after waiting for 30 minutes on hold was told that I cannot pay it over the phone with British card due to 'security reasons' and my only other option is to pay via mail. Paying via mail does not allow to send cash

By Mail Make your check or money order payable to the DC Treasurer (do not send cash) and write the ticket number on your payment. Include the ticket, or if you do not have your ticket, write the vehicle's state and tag number on your check or money order (e.g. DC license tag 123456). Send your parking, photo enforcement or moving violation and check or money order to: DMV Adjudication Services PO Box 2014 Washington, DC 20013

They only accept check or money order. I am somewhat skeptical about them accepting UK check would they accept Western Union money order?

Or am I better off at this point simply to wait till I get fined double and then Enterprise will charge me for that.

How to pay US parking ticket from abroad?

Update: this is far more complicated (and frustrating) than expected.

Things that didn't work: Getting credit card with US address, entering different postcodes (even Beverly hills didn't work), I also have tried Shipto that offers to buy stuff online for you and ship it to you

response from shipto

Dear Matas Vaitkevicius,

we have added new comment to your assisted purchase from: Department of Motor Vehicles.

COMMENT: We canceled your Assisted Purchase AH574-1

DETAILED INFORMATION:

We canceled your Assisted Purchase AH574-1. I am sorry I am only able to purchase products this does not appear to be a product but the payment for a traffic violation.

==========================================================

Yours sincerely,

xxxx Corporation - Shipito.com

UPDATE2:

In western union there is no way to do money transfer to institution, only to person or agent.

enter image description here

USPS does not offer money order online only when you walk-in.

UPDATE3 (Epilogue):

Enterprise paid for me and charged me 13$ which considering the effort and amount of time I have spend trying to pay it myself sounds like a great deal

enter image description here

Still this does not solve the problem for someone who's not using a rental company.

Matas Vaitkevicius
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  • I imagine if you just ignore it, the cost will be no more than about $250 from Enterprise (they'll add an administration fee to the ticket, which will have doubled). Usually US entities will only accept US dollar checks drawn on a US bank, so I think a UK personal or company cheque is out of the question. Your bank might be able to provide a US money order drawn on a US bank- I'd ask there first. Canadian banks do that as a matter of course- there is a US correspondent bank name on the top. If you have to use a courier to get it there in time it may be worth just waiting and taking the hit. – Spehro Pefhany Sep 05 '15 at 12:25
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    Try putting 00000 as a postcode, similarly as to how one does when paying for gas at an unmanned station with a foreign credit card. – JoErNanO Sep 05 '15 at 12:38
  • @JoErNanO Zeroes didn't work got same message The ZIP code you entered is invalid. Please verify the ZIP code and try again. If the problem continues please contact your credit card issuer. – Matas Vaitkevicius Sep 05 '15 at 14:13
  • Are you still in the US, or have you gone back home already? If you are still in the US, you could buy a USD money order at any post office, and send them that. The post office might let you pay for the money order with your bank card, or if not, you could get cash from an ATM and buy the money order with that. Supermarkets, etc, also often sell money orders at their customer service desk. – Nate Eldredge Sep 05 '15 at 14:21
  • I'd send them an email. If no email can be found, I'd just not pay. Hey, if I'm trying to send you money, you'd better make it easy for me to do that. – o0'. Sep 05 '15 at 15:28
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    Did you try 90210 as usually when a US post code is required? – AndreKR Sep 05 '15 at 15:36
  • @AndreKR same error sadly. – Matas Vaitkevicius Sep 05 '15 at 19:25
  • @NateEldredge nope flew back, now I am in UK. – Matas Vaitkevicius Sep 05 '15 at 19:25
  • @Lohoris: That kind of ultimatum doesn't work so well when your creditor is a government agency, with the power to have a warrant issued for your arrest. Problematic if the OP might want to return to the US someday. – Nate Eldredge Sep 05 '15 at 19:32
  • As far as a Western Union money order - the page you link doesn't seem to discuss paper money orders, only electronic funds transfers. I don't think you could use the latter. For a paper money order, it would probably have to have US routing and account numbers so that it can be processed through the US check clearing system. I don't know whether Western Union could provide that from the UK. – Nate Eldredge Sep 05 '15 at 19:35
  • Enter only the numbers from your UK postcode. If there are fewer then five, append zeros until there are five digits. For instance if your postcode is RG22 5BG, enter 22500. – Michael Hampton Sep 06 '15 at 01:00
  • My wife, who is a payroll/finance person here in the DC area, suggests an International Money Order is accepted in place of a US Money Order. She suggests to get one of those, or that Western Union also sells MO's, you'll just need to find an actual Western Union branch office (or someone that does more than just receive.). – CGCampbell Sep 07 '15 at 15:33
  • @CGCampbell: I believe the "International Money Order" is a product sold only by the US Postal Service, that can be cashed in other countries. I couldn't find any evidence that the UK post office sells such a product. And it's true that Western Union in the US sells money orders that can be cashed through the US banking system, but are you sure that WU in the UK does so? – Nate Eldredge Sep 07 '15 at 17:09
  • I found someone with a similar problem here. It's not clear whether they found a good solution, but it does seem to describe several things that don't work. – Nate Eldredge Sep 07 '15 at 17:11
  • @NateEldredge Unfortunately, no, I do not. Which is why I commented. :) – CGCampbell Sep 07 '15 at 17:15
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    @JoErNanO sometime concatenating the numerals ( only) from the postal code and adding zeros at the end to make it 5 digits will work. – Spehro Pefhany Sep 07 '15 at 19:21
  • Related: http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/3330/do-i-have-to-pay-traffic-fines-issued-by-foreign-governments – JonathanReez Sep 07 '15 at 19:27
  • @MatasVaitkevicius There's one more thing you can do - look up from the US zip code directory a town with the same postal code you came up with (increment the end zeros until you find a town) then try to verify with that town and your real street address. Sounds weird but it will work sometimes. – Spehro Pefhany Sep 09 '15 at 12:58
  • I tried a few methods of postal code (With and without space), and a few other things... eventually I checked my credit card and I was charged TWICE regardless of getting a confirmation number from DC.gov such a frustrating website. – Kevin Jun 08 '18 at 05:59
  • When I was in the US googling what to give a train ticket machine as my zip code some websites mentioned to use the numbers from the postcode and add as many 0's to make it 5 digits. For example: AA1 9AA would be 19000, or AA12 9AA = 12900. I unfortunately don't know whether this would work through... Also some websites said to try 00000 or 99999. – kiradotee May 07 '19 at 20:10

1 Answers1

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You have other options:

  1. You can use a credit card that doesn't have a UK billing address. There are plenty you can get online (for example, from this website). Typically these are used by customers that are buying from merchants that do not accept foreign credit cards. Its a pre-paid card that you load online.

  2. Some credit cards do not check the address information. For example, my American Express (issued in Kuwait), works perfectly fine if I give it a US billing address. - unfortunately, the site doesn't take American Express.

  3. You can ask someone in the US to pay on your behalf.

Do not send forms of payment that are not specifically listed as accepted. I had a similar instance (albeit in Texas) and I lost both the funds and to add insult to injury - my ticket when into arrears and I had to pay extra.

Burhan Khalid
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    I have tried to do 1. and got error message after entering details `US Unlocked Your purchase couldn't be completed Error Message This recipient is currently unable to receive money.

    Your purchase couldn't be completed There's a problem with the merchant's PayPal account. Please try again later.`

     – Matas Vaitkevicius Sep 05 '15 at 14:09