driving surcharges (Austin: insurance, move, drivers license)

[dpow]

I heard that anyone in Texas who has not been paying their driving surcharges are going to be given an opportunity to pay off their debts for only 10% of what they owe, but the people who have been keeping up with their payments are being told that they have to continue paying the full amount. Has anybody else heard about this? Why are the responsible people being punished by having to pay the full amount, but the people who don't bother to keep up with their payments are getting rewarded with a 90% discount? If you owe a surcharge then I guess you should intentionally not pay what you owe so that you get rewarded with a 90% discount. Does that seem odd to anybody else?

[ogun]

huh?
whatta hecks a driving surcharge?

i seriously have never heard of this and im a life long Texan!

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by dpow

I heard that anyone in Texas who has not been paying their driving surcharges are going to be given an opportunity to pay off their debts for only 10% of what they owe, but the people who have been keeping up with their payments are being told that they have to continue paying the full amount. Has anybody else heard about this? Why are the responsible people being punished by having to pay the full amount, but the people who don't bother to keep up with their payments are getting rewarded with a 90% discount? If you owe a surcharge then I guess you should intentionally not pay what you owe so that you get rewarded with a 90% discount. Does that seem odd to anybody else?

If we hold out longer we can 98% off of the 10%....

You just need a good CPA to show you how to work the system....

[TexasHorseLady]

Excuse me? What on earth is a driving surcharge? This sounds like an urban legend, to me. (And I've been driving in Texas for 46 years now and have never heard of it.)

Just who have you "heard" this from?

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Excuse me? What on earth is a driving surcharge? This sounds like an urban legend, to me. (And I've been driving in Texas for 46 years now and have never heard of it.)

Just who have you "heard" this from?

Now come on.....Play the game....(;>)

[GayleTX]

Somebody trying to scare away the Californians and Yankees????

[Redlionjr]

It actually is a such thing as a driving surcharge. I know because I have 450 dollars of surcharges from old tickets that I already paid off. Yes, I had a rude wake up when I was going to renew my drivers license. And was told I had SURCHARGES. Which was my first time ever hearing about this. So When I called the DPS office in Austin they told me the state of Texas just put this "surcharges" into play in 2007 and not alot of people know about it. I would have never known about it if my license wasn't invalid and I was trying to get it renewed. Just another way of the state getting over on the people.

OP when will this offer last?

[TexasHorseLady]

That's interesting. I tried to google, and the only thing I could find involving driving surcharges and Texas was intoxicated driving surcharges on your license for renewal because you'd been finally convicted of driving while intoxicated. And precious little on that, just something about a bill introduced in 2009 to remove them once you'd completed a drug rehab program.

Nothing about surcharges on unpaid tickets - back to googling!

Of course, neither of those things would apply to the vast majority of the driving population in Texas, I wouldn't think.

Also sounds like with the kind that Redlionjr is talking about, you wouldn't get away with not paying them for very long - just up until you tried to renew your license.

Ah! Okay, with that clue, I managed to find something on it that spells it out pretty clearly. It applies only to people who have been convicted of specific kinds of violations, and there's a point system so you have to have several convictions.

This, too, would explain why most of us have never heard of it.

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

...... Ah! Okay, with that clue, I managed to find something on it that spells it out pretty clearly. It applies only to people who have been convicted of specific kinds of violations, and there's a point system so you have to have several convictions.

This, too, would explain why most of us have never heard of it.

TexasHorseLady, I was going to make an attempt to comment on how the surcharge program works, but your link explains it perfectly.

I used to work for DPS and I would like to make one comment: DPS didn't implement this Driver Responsibility Program. The Legislature did that. DPS was chosen to administer the program.

And as you mentioned, most of the folks who don't know about the surcharges or the points on the driving records are ones who haven't been charged with anything in the first place. (DUI, Driving without insurance, etc.)

[dpow]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

It actually is a such thing as a driving surcharge. I know because I have 450 dollars of surcharges from old tickets that I already paid off. Yes, I had a rude wake up when I was going to renew my drivers license. And was told I had SURCHARGES. Which was my first time ever hearing about this. So When I called the DPS office in Austin they told me the state of Texas just put this "surcharges" into play in 2007 and not alot of people know about it. I would have never known about it if my license wasn't invalid and I was trying to get it renewed. Just another way of the state getting over on the people.

OP when will this offer last?

They are planning on making the changes in january.