It's time to cough up for those unpaid parking tickets.

The Ministry of Justice is warning car owners with unpaid fines to settle their balance or risk losing their vehicles.

Dunedin District Court Collections Manager Neville Griffiths says they'll be focusing on people in Dunedin, Balclutha and North Otago over the next few weeks.

He says their message is simple, if you haven't paid your fines, get onto it fast.

Griffiths says there's a number of ways to pay, ranging from on-line to visiting the collections office.