Dealing with fine for expired vehicle registration (Hudson: attorney, house)

[Hudson001]

First off, Merry Christmas! Well today as I was 3 miles from home after doing Christmas with my in-laws I was pulled over by a State Trooper for having expired vehicle registration. Now I am full aware that it is my fault for letting something so stupid get by me but I honestly didn't know that they were expired.

My question: In WI is this considered a "fix it ticket" or will showing up for my court time be worthwhile in any way? I went ahead and renewed everything as soon as I got home.

So far this was a horrible way to end Christmas and I'm just hoping I'm not out the 200 bucks (not including the 100 to renew) as Christmas was expensive for our new family and this is just a kick in the pants...

Thanks in advance for any input!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all my fellow cheeseheads!

Hudson

[don1945]

How long were your tags expired ? If it was only a few days that might be different than if they were expired longer. In Florida we have to renew on our birthday, but sometimes we get caught up in things and forget. But I think if you were expired for, let's say, a month or more, the system might not be so lenient.

Don

[Hudson001]

Thanks Don,
Unfortunately it was well longer than a month, maybe closer to 10 months. Like I said, had I remembered or noticed it I would have corrected it. Usually when the renewal form comes in the mail I just cut a check and mail it off. This time it must have gotten by me but I am almost positive I had mailed it in. Although, now I have a almost 2 year old in the house and the months and years seem to fly by. Anyways, I guess what's done is done.

The reasoning for my post is that I had to go through something similar to this when I lived in MN. That time though my car was in fact up to date and the sticker either came off or someone took it off. They told me to show up in court with proof and they waved it. The DA couldn't have known whether I had just renewed it or if it was already registered. They just wanted a picture of my license plate with up to date tabs...

Part of the difficulty is that the registration is just whenever you first registered the plates. My plates are from 3 vehicles ago or so when I bought my first car in high school so its just some random day in February. (time for me to put a recurring alarm in my email and smart phone for this one...

Thanks again for the reply.

[brian571]

Speaking from experience, and as a former WI resident, I'd go to court. They may take your money, or at least a portion of the $200, but at the very least they should dismiss or reduce it to a non moving violation so it stays off your record.

[ccjarider]

I received the same ticket (twice actually - my bad when I lived in WI.

The time in court was not worth it. Any slight fee reduction was not worth the time/hassle. 10 months will look very long to any judge. You are probably wasting your time.

Do not underestimate the frustration factor and stress from thinking about this as you hope for some minor relief.

Pay the fine-learn from this and move on in life.

[Stone1]

If you have the free time it may not hurt to attempt to do a pretrial conference with the District Attorney to see if they offer a lesser fine, since your registration was expired for 10 months it may be hard to get a break. In your case it may be to your advantage to be up front with the DA and say I accidentally missed the renewal but can you do anything for a honest person.

[Hudson001]

Thanks for the responses everyone as they're all very much appreciated. I'll probably just have to chalk it up to a lesson learned. It was just unfortunate that it happened on Christmas and it was an honest mistake. I greatly respect LEOs; however, this guy just seemed mad at the world and I let it rub off on me.

Thanks again!

[dive77mmwet]

plead not guilty they don't want to go to court it will drop to some registration deal $100