Parking Ticket Grace Period in California: Is There a 10-Minute Rule?

The "10-minute grace period" for parking tickets is one of the most repeated pieces of parking advice online — and one of the least reliable. If you're searching this after finding a citation on your windshield, or wondering whether an officer was allowed to write a ticket right when your meter expired, here's the accurate picture for California.

There Is No Statewide California Grace Period Law

California Vehicle Code does not establish a universal grace period before parking officers can issue a citation. There is no state law requiring officers to wait 5, 10, or 15 minutes after a meter expires before writing a ticket.

Some individual cities have adopted local grace period policies — but these are exceptions, not the rule, and they vary significantly. A grace period that applies in one California city will not apply in another.

Cities With Grace Periods: What Actually Exists

A small number of California municipalities have implemented formal grace period policies for specific violation types, typically through local ordinance or administrative policy. These are not mandated by state law.

San Francisco (SFMTA): SFMTA's written policy includes a grace period for expired meters in some circumstances, but enforcement officers have discretion. The policy is not consistently applied block-by-block and varies by enforcement zone and staffing.

Los Angeles: LADOT does not have a publicized citywide grace period for expired meter violations. Officers can write a citation the moment the meter expires. However, some meter types display a brief "grace" window before flagging as expired — this is a meter setting, not a legal right.

San Jose: Has considered but does not have a formal standardized grace period for metered parking.

The bottom line: if a grace period applies in your city, it would be stated in local ordinance or the city's parking enforcement policy documents — not assumed by default.

What the Meter Expiration Rules Actually Say

California Vehicle Code § 22508 governs metered parking. It prohibits parking beyond the posted time limit. The violation occurs when the meter expires and the vehicle remains in the space.

There is one major exception in the code: CVC § 22508.5 — the broken meter rule. If a meter is inoperable and cannot accept any form of payment (coins or credit card), you may park for up to the posted time limit without penalty. This is not a grace period — it's a specific legal exception for non-functional equipment.

If the meter is functioning but expired, there's no grace period protection in the California Vehicle Code.

The Chalking and Time-Limit Violation Situation

For time-limit zones (not metered, but posted with "2 Hour Parking" signs), enforcement typically involves an officer chalking tires or using ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) technology to note when your vehicle arrived. San Francisco and San Jose both use vehicle-mounted ALPR for residential permit and timed parking enforcement.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Verdun v. City of San Diego (2022) that tire chalking is constitutional in California. An officer who chalks a tire at 10:00 AM and returns at 12:05 PM to find the same mark is legally allowed to issue a citation — there's no additional grace period beyond the posted time limit.

When Grace Period Arguments Sometimes Work in Appeals

Even though California law doesn't mandate a grace period, there are circumstances where timing becomes a legitimate part of a parking appeal:

1. Street sweeping schedule mismatch If your ticket says 10:05 AM but the city's posted sweeping schedule shows the sweeping window ends at 10:00 AM, you have a factual timing discrepancy to contest. This isn't a "grace period" argument — it's a factual argument that the violation time doesn't match the restriction window.

2. Meter payment proof If you paid the meter (by app or receipt) and the ticket was issued while time remained, a payment receipt is direct evidence of error. ParkMobile and PayByPhone generate digital receipts with timestamps. These are among the most straightforward appeals to win.

3. Meter malfunction at the moment of citation If the meter expired but then malfunctioned when you tried to add more time, document the malfunction. Under CVC § 22508.5, a meter that cannot accept payment removes the penalty up to the posted limit. If the malfunction occurred after you parked but before you could add time, this creates a documentation challenge — but it's a viable argument with video evidence of the failed payment attempt.

4. Officer timing errors In rare cases, officers write the violation time incorrectly on the citation. If you have evidence (a parking app receipt, dashcam footage, or a witness statement) that contradicts the time on the ticket, this is an administrative error defense — one of the cleaner grounds for dismissal.

What to Do If You Were Caught After Your Meter Just Expired

If you genuinely returned to find a fresh citation the moment your meter expired, the practical path is:

1. Check whether your city has a grace period policy — call the parking violations bureau or look up the specific city ordinance. Don't assume; verify.
2. Pull your payment receipt — if you paid by app, you have a record of exactly when your paid time started and ended. This helps confirm or contradict the timeline on the citation.
3. Photograph the meter immediately — time stamp photos of the meter display showing whether it just expired or had been expired for an extended period.
4. File the Initial Administrative Review — describe the timing precisely. If the officer issued the citation within seconds of expiration in a city that does have a grace period policy, that's your argument.

The 72-Hour Rule and Overnight Parking

There's a separate "grace period" question some drivers have about the 72-hour rule. CVC § 22651(k) allows towing of vehicles parked in the same location for more than 72 consecutive hours. This is an entirely different rule from metered parking and doesn't involve grace periods — it's about long-term vehicle abandonment enforcement.

Moving the vehicle resets the clock. But as enforcement agencies in San Diego and San Francisco have clarified, "moving" the vehicle means relocating it at least 1/10th of a mile (approximately 500 feet) — not just rolling it forward a few feet on the same block.

Summary: What the Rules Actually Say

If you received a citation and believe the timing was wrong — or that the city's equipment was faulty when you couldn't add meter time — those are legitimate arguments to raise in a written contest. The California Parking Ticket Dispute Guide includes templates for meter malfunction appeals and a breakdown of what evidence each type of appeal needs to succeed.