Some Housewives have six-figure SUVs in the driveway. Carole Radziwill has a 1998 Jeep Cherokee, a stack of New York parking tickets, and apparently no intention of changing course.
The Real Housewives of New York City star’s boxy red Jeep has become an unlikely Bravo supporting character after the New York Post reported on October 15, 2026 that Radziwill had accumulated 83 traffic violations over roughly four years and $7,587.79 in fines since October 2020. Most of the violations involved parking; 17 tickets were for failing to move the vehicle during street cleaning.
The Post also photographed two Con Edison cones in the Jeep and reported an expired FDNY union placard displayed on its dashboard. Radziwill has discussed using cones in a RHONY confessional, while Con Edison has emphasized that its traffic cones are intended for public safety, not reserving parking spaces. The paper’s reporting raised questions about those tactics, although Radziwill pushed back on the idea that she simply ignores alternate-side parking.
A $4,900 Jeep. A nearly $8,000 parking tab.
Here is the truly excellent twist: in an October 20 interview discussing the story, Radziwill said she bought her 1998 Jeep Cherokee for $4,900 on eBay. By comparison, the reported penalties have cost considerably more than the car. Manhattan street parking is apparently a luxury subscription with extremely unpredictable billing.
Radziwill says she has paid every ticket and argues that paying roughly $8,000 in fines over six years remains cheaper than a SoHo garage, which she puts at around $800 a month. Six years of that could approach $58,000. In an October 19 follow-up interview, she defended the convenience of having the Jeep right outside her home. It is certainly a choice. So is a driveway, but New York City has never been generous with those.
There's a surprisingly sentimental reason for the Jeep
This is not just a bit or a cheap car purchased for reality-TV eccentricity. In her own 2024 Town & Country essay, Radziwill recalled the navy-blue 1992 Cherokee owned by her late husband, Anthony Radziwill. She kept that vehicle after his death in 1999 until it was stolen. During the 2020 lockdowns, she went looking for the same old-school, no-nonsense feel and found the bright-red 1998 Cherokee online.
So beneath the cones and parking-ticket comedy is something a little sweeter: a car with roll-down windows, a sagging headliner, a cassette-era personality and an emotional connection. In the Housewives universe, that may be a rarer specification than bespoke paint to match your Birkin.
Elsewhere in the Bravo garage, the prices have a few more zeroes
Shamea Morton: the Rolls-Royce birthday reveal. In the 2025 season premiere of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Shamea’s husband Gerald Mwangi surprised her with a Rolls-Royce Cullinan reportedly valued at $430,000, unveiled at a birthday party. Bravo has the footage. One birthday gift costs about 88 Jeep Cherokees (before sales tax or parking violations).
Kenya Moore: the self-funded Rolls. When another Housewife’s car prompted social-media debate about who owned a Rolls-Royce, Kenya chimed in that she had bought her own years earlier.
Kyle Richards: OG with a full garage. Bravo filmed Kyle showing off a Lamborghini that was given to her by then-husband Mauricio Umansky. She has also been photographed with a Maserati convertible, a Porsche 911, and a Range Rover. A much more traditional Housewives garage.
Lisa Vanderpump: a Porsche with pink accents. For a particularly on-brand vehicle, Bravo offers a tour of Lisa Vanderpump’s pink-accented Porsche. The car is not new reporting, but it is almost comically well-matched to her aesthetic. She's also frequently been seen in some British rides - Bentleys and Rolls Royces - a nod to her homeland.
One franchise. Wildly different parking strategies.
Put the cars side by side and you get the entire Real Housewives spectrum: a six-figure Rolls-Royce surprise, a gifted Lamborghini, a pink-trimmed Porsche, and one 28-year-old Jeep that somehow generated the most dramatic New York tabloid cover of the bunch.
At The A-List Lane, we respect a good daily driver. We also recommend leaving Con Edison’s cones to Con Edison.
Header image: editorial collage assembled from user-provided photographs of Carole Radziwill and her red Jeep Cherokee. Ticket counts, parking allegations and responses are attributed to the reporting linked above; older Housewives vehicle appearances are not presented as current ownership inventories.
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