What is skip tracing?
Metropolis uses a 3rd party skip tracing company for automatic enforcement. When a vehicle enters and exits a parking facility enabled with camera technology, a picture of each license plate is taken. Our technology authenticates the license plate as authorized or unauthorized depending on if the license plate is registered within our system.
If a vehicle exits the parking facility without signing up and/or validating their license plate, after 24 hours passes, our 3rd party partner will aggregate all unauthorized vehicles’ visits and retrieve the vehicle owner’s information that is registered with the State’s DMV.
Additionally, Metropolis has parking locations without camera-enabled technology. At these sites, parkers scan one of the QR codes located throughout the site and registers their vehicle for parking. Enforcement will then monitor the lot and check that each vehicle there has been registered within the Metropolis system. If the vehicle has not been registered, a violation will then be issued and placed on the parker's vehicle. At this point, if the violation goes unpaid, our 3rd party partner will aggregate the unauthorized vehicles' visits and retrieve the vehicle owner's information that is registered with the State's DMV.
On a weekly basis, Metropolis Parking sends violation letters to each vehicle owner who had an unauthorized visit at the parking facility within that week. The violation letter includes vehicle owner information, parking visit information including location of violation, reason for the violation, timestamps of entry and exit at camera-enabled sites or time of enforcement at non camera-enabled sites, and pictures of the license plate. The violation letter fees include the unpaid parking fare that was due upon exit of the parking facility and a violation fee.
Subsequent violation letters are sent if payment is not received or if a violation has not been successfully disputed. A 2nd and 3rd notice will be sent in 30-day intervals. If a violation has not been paid or disputed by the 3rd notice, the violation fees will be released to a 3rd party debt collection agency.
I received a skip tracing letter in the mail, now what?
You can seek assistance or dispute the parking violation by following the instructions on the letter.
Towing
Metropolis Parking is invested in providing best in class customer service. Towing is only used as a last resort and our team will make every attempt at contacting the vehicle’s owner before proceeding with this enforcement practice. Our team will only tow a vehicle if it presents a safety hazard, impedes the safe flow of traffic, or is a repeat offender of using the garage without registering their vehicle.
How can I avoid my vehicle from being enforced?
The best way to avoid your vehicle from being enforced is to simply sign up for Metropolis! If you’re a monthly parker, ensure you have the accurate license plate number listed on your profile and have an active monthly subscription.
Parkers who plan to have their parking validated should also sign up for Metropolis and register their license plate. Remember, you only need to sign up once!
You can verify your vehicle list and active monthly subscriptions on your profile by visiting https://app.metropolis.io/sign-in and clicking on the menu icon at the top left side of the webpage.