Yes — if a Los Angeles parking meter genuinely can't take your payment, you're allowed to park there free, up to the posted time limit. The catch is in what "genuinely can't" means, and that detail is exactly where drivers who assume they're covered end up with a ticket anyway.
The rule, in plain terms
Under California Vehicle Code Section 22508.5, a city can't cite a driver for failing to pay at a meter that isn't functioning. LADOT's own parking-meter FAQ confirms this applies in Los Angeles: park at a genuinely broken meter and stay within the time limit posted for that space, and no citation should follow.
That's a fairly recent state of affairs. For years, Los Angeles was the holdout — while other California cities were already honoring the statewide broken-meter rule, LADOT kept ticketing at dead meters here, pointing to the meter revenue at stake. That changed as the city rolled out a newer generation of smart meters citywide. A broken meter in LA is now treated the same as anywhere else in the state.
What actually counts as "broken"
This is where the rule gets narrower than most people assume. Per LADOT, a meter only qualifies as broken if it refuses both coins and credit cards. If either payment method still works, you're expected to use it:
- Coin slot dead but the card reader works? Pay by card.
- Card reader dead but coins still work? Pay coins.
A meter that's slow to read a chip, glitchy, or scuffed but eventually takes your card isn't "broken" in the legal sense — it has to actually decline both forms of payment before the free-parking rule kicks in. A blank or scrambled display is a stronger sign it's genuinely down, but the test LADOT applies is whether it accepts payment, not whether the screen looks right.
Free parking, not a free-for-all
A broken meter only excuses the fee. It does not excuse anything else posted at that curb:
- Street sweeping. If the block is posted for street sweeping during your window, that citation applies regardless of the meter's condition.
- The posted time limit. You still have to move within the maximum stay for that space — a broken meter buys you free parking, not unlimited parking.
- Every other posted restriction — loading zones, permit parking, colored curbs, rush-hour tow-away hours. Those are separate signs enforcing separate rules, and a dead meter has no bearing on any of them.
A broken meter waives one specific fee. Everything else at that curb still applies exactly as posted.
If you get ticketed anyway
If you parked at a meter you believe was genuinely broken and still received a citation, your case rests on documentation, not memory. Photograph the meter's display — or its lack of one — at the time you park, from an angle that actually shows the coin slot and card reader, not just the meter's silhouette. That's the same evidence standard as appealing any LA parking ticket: specific, timestamped, and taken from your actual parking position, not after the fact.
Report it instead of gambling on it
Don't go looking for a broken meter to park free — treat it as something to report, not a strategy. LADOT takes broken and vandalized meter reports through its meter hotline, (877) 215-3958, or online through LADOT Parking. Reporting it also means the meter gets fixed instead of leaving the next driver to guess whether it's actually dead or just slow that day.
The short version
A meter that refuses both coins and cards means free parking up to the posted time limit. A meter that's merely finicky doesn't. And nothing about a broken meter touches street sweeping, tow-away hours, or any other sign posted at that curb — those still get enforced on their own schedule, meter working or not.
Street sweeping is the one that actually catches most people, since it runs on a fixed schedule whether or not anyone's thinking about the meter next to their car. Curbswap moves your car ahead of that window automatically, with photo and GPS confirmation, so a broken meter stays the only parking mystery left to figure out.
