[delgadobb]

Well, this is a new one ...

Yesterday I got a letter from the City of Las Vegas Municipal Parking Program. It is a 'Notice of Delinquency' for a ticket issued on 12/17/2010. (no definition of the offense, I presume it's a parking ticket) The letter claims there was a $75 fine (what incurs that big a ticket here?) & then claims there's a $75 penalty because 37 days have elapsed since the infraction with no response. ($150 total) Considering I knew nothing about this until now, I guess I have to take them at their word.

Here's the fun part - the ticket is written against plates I turned in on 8/28/2009, looking at the receipt from the DMV right now. I sold that car quite some time ago & had a handwritten bill of sale for both myself & the buyer. (It still had an Illinois title, in case that matters.) I'd presume the plate # is more significant than the actual vehicle, since the ticket is written against that & I have a receipt showing I released them to the DMV. Is it possible they've been reissued to someone else? Or, are there ever allegations that people in the DMV pass returned plates on to someone else?

Calling the phone number on the letter is worthless, as I can't get to a human being. The voicemail system indicates I can file a 'declaration of non-ownership' if I have the bill of sale & full address of the buyer - while I'm pretty sure I have his name & DL# on the bill of sale, I'm not sure about the address. I'll have to find the copy I kept. When I try to get to an attendant, the system tells me a person is not available to address my question & to try again later (but doesn't say when). The other options the voicemail system lists is to pay the fine (cold day in H.E.L.L) or schedule a hearing.

Any & all suggestions from the more seasoned Las Vegas veterans are welcome. My guess is I'm going to have to burn some time on the 'guilty until proven innocent' path & schedule a hearing to fix this.

[unf0rgiven6262]

Didn't you hear? It's Sandoval's proposal to balance the budget. That plate receipt you have is obviously a forgery which is another $300 fine!.

Sadly, you will probably have to contest it and deal with the stupid red tape in the process. That's what most of all of it is anyway- just the state gambling to see what % of people are too lazy to actually stand up for themselves.

[MediocreButArrogant]

I had a similar situation when a car I used to own (titled and registered in CA) was involved in an accident in Nevada. The new owner hadn't yet registered the car so I was the last registered owner. I had submitted a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability form to CA DMV immediately after the sale, so all I had to do was order an official copy of the document from CA DMV, send that to Nevada DMV, and that was the end. They didn't accept a printout of the transaction from my web browser as proof the first time around.

[delgadobb]

Gotta love da Guhvenment, where customer service oriented thinking is, well, fantasy.

After all the calling around & researching I did, I followed the city's (voicemail) directions to the letter, given that I couldn't reach a human being on the phone.

I busted my butt to get down to the city offices at 400 Stewart Ave today before 4:30. As I was walking in the door, the policeman at the desk stopped me & another person in our tracks - "We're closed." What? Did everyone leave early today? No, it appears the city offices (at least some) are now only open Mon-Thu, but the phone system that doesn't let you speak to a human hasn't been updated to reflect that yet. It was like an echo listening to the other guy with a similar notice of delinquency - he did everything to cover all his bases & we were almost saying the same thing verbatim to the cop.

To his credit, the policeman was understanding about our frustration. He said he'd been hearing complaints all day & was definitely going to bend someone's ear about the screwup.

So, looks like I'm gonna have to carve out time next week to go in & request a hearing. I don't suppose they're going to give me an extra grace period beyond the 15 day deadline to get it scheduled despite their unannounced closing? Perhaps they well compensate me for my time & expense in making several trips to prove my innocence, given that there's no way I could've incurred this ticket? I can dream, can't I?

Some days ya gotta have a sense of humor, I guess.