Earn Miles and Points for Speeding?
You are driving merrily down the road when the back of your car is lit up with those eery RED and BLUE alternating police lights. TROUBLE!!
I had this unpleasant experience, in which I was issued a fast driver award. And what was the first thought in my mind? Not “Slow down and drive safe.” Rather, “I can’t even earn miles and points on this ticket!”
But traffic tickets done’t have to be the end of the road for earning miles and points…
As it happened, I ended up going to my state’s DMV website while trying to if contesting it would be worth it. While there, I noticed a handy option — pay online!
The State of Washington Allows You to Pay Traffic Tickets Online!
In the end, I was able to submit online payment via credit card, and a day later I was notified that my payment had been accepted. Ultimately, I was another step closer to completing a spending requirement on my Hyatt Card.
This made curious to see if you can you use a credit card to pay traffic tickets in all 50 states, and thus earn points/miles on the payment. Anway, I now (unfortunately) know this is the case in the state of Washington.
After some research, and a lot of help from DMV.org, I have compiled a list of how each state accepts credit card payments.
I quickly discovered that most states offer an online payment option. While that option varies from state to state and even from court to court, they are there for anyone that is not required to attend court. A couple of things to note for online payments:
1) There is often a convenience fee: sometimes it is a flat fee, others it is a percentage of your ticket.
2) Most states only accept Visa and MasterCard, although a few also accept Discover. So if you are wanting to to use an American Express, good luck!
Here is the list, with payment methods:
- Alabama – Online, Most Courts by Phone
- Alaska – Online
- Arizona – Online, Phone
- Arkansas – Most Online; Phone, In Person
- California – Varies by County, Most have Online/Phone option
- Colorado – Varies by County, Most have Online/Ohone option
- Connecticut – Online–May take up to 30 days for ticket to show up
- Delaware – Online, Phone, Fax
- Florida – Varies by County, Most have Online/Phone/In Person Option
- Georgia – Few Counties Online, Credit Accepted by Phone/In Person
- Hawaii – Online, Phone
- Idaho – Varies by County, Some Online; Phone
- Illinois – Varies by County
- Indiana – A Few Counties Online
- Iowa – Online, Phone/In Person Varies by County
- Kansas – Varies (Greatly) by County–SEE TICKET FOR DETAILS
- Kentucky – Online Only
- Louisiana – Online and Payment Method Vary by Parrish
- Maine – Online, Phone
- Maryland – Online
- Massachusetts – Online, Phone
- Michigan – Only 11 Courts Online
- Minnesota – Online, Phone
- Mississippi – Varies by County, Some Online
- Missouri – Online, Phone
- Montana – Online
- Nebraska – Online
- Nevada – Varies by County, most have online/phone option
- New Hampshire – Online, In Person
- New Jersey – Online
- New Mexico – Varies by Court, some have Online/Phone option
- New York – Varies by County-Most have Online/Phone/Mail/In person
- North Carolina – None
- North Dakota – None
- Ohio – Online
- Oklahoma – Online, Phone
- Oregon – Most Courts Online, Phone, In Person
- Pennsylvania – Some Online
- Rhode Island – Online
- South Carolina – Online
- South Dakota – In Person (Some Courts)
- Tennessee – Online
- Texas – Online, Phone
- Utah – Online
- Vermont – Online
- Virginia – Online (4% credit card fee), Mail
- Washington – Varies by court–But most have Online/Phone/In person option
- Washington DC – Online, Phone, In Person
- West Virginia – Online, Phone
- Wisconsin – Online, Phone
- Wyoming – Online
As thorough as my list may be, it is always best to check with the court who issued the ticket’s payment policies–your mileage (literally) may vary!
Point Me to the Miles 