WASHINGTON – Last year, drivers made more than 175,000 calls to the D.C. Department of Transportation to report broken parking meters, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

That was 82 percent of all service requests DDOT received.

But what many drivers don’t know is that if they report a broken meter, they can still get a ticket. One piece of advice: make sure to get a confirmation number when making the call as it should help get a ticket dismissed.

But DDOT is trying to move away from the old coin-operated meters, installing boxes where parkers pay to get a ticket they place on the dashboard of their car. These are known as multi-space meters.

Another option is Parkmobile, which allows people to pay for a spot over the phone or with a smartphone app.

While broken meters are the most common complaint, DDOT says at any given time 99 percent of D.C.’s 17,000 meters are working.

WTOP’s Ari Ashe contributed to this report.