Tip 10: Live Out of State? That’s Great!

Cities routinely mail photo-enforcement notices to violators who live out of state. Many such violators dutifully pay up.

You, however, are no dummy.

In theory, Arizona cities could pay process servers in other states to deliver their tickets. In practice, they don’t.

Make no mistake: Left unpaid, a ticket issued by a real-live police officer will go into default and stay in the system for years. Not so photo-enforcement violations, which vanish — (see Tip 1) — 90 days after being filed.

Rental-car companies that receive Arizona photo-enforcement notices may identify the driver for police, causing the notice to be redirected to the person who rented the car. If the renter lives out of state, the notice can be chucked with an almost-certain chance of dismissal owing to lack of service.