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I have a small (i hope) problem and need your help. 3 years ago I got a speeding ticket and because I had not paid for it on time (I had never received the ticket in the mail) I had to pay a lot more in fines, I believe the total was $1800 or so. I went to court and arranged payments and everything was fine. A few months later I stopped making payments due to financial problems and since then I had totally forgotten about them, even though I had money for the payments.
Today I went to get my car insured and the agent told me that my license has been suspended since end of last year. I was still able to get my car insured but I did not know about my license being suspended (I have changed address without notifying the dmv, i know it's my fault but all I did was change the address at the post office). I am planning on going either to the dmv or court tomorrow to see what I can do to get my license back.
What I'm worried about is if I will have to pay the remaining balance in full (It should be around 1k, which I don't have) or do you think I will be allowed to continue payments. If so, should I expect any penalties? And is there a chance there is a warrant for my arrest? I am just a little bit worried and can't wait until tomorrow to find out so that's why I am asking here... I don't know how big of a "crime" this is and have no idea what to expect. So please help if you can by answering some of my concerns. Thanks a lot! I live in Ca btw
I have a small (i hope) problem and need your help. 3 years ago I got a speeding ticket and because I had not paid for it on time (I had never received the ticket in the mail) I had to pay a lot more in fines, I believe the total was $1800 or so. I went to court and arranged payments and everything was fine. A few months later I stopped making payments due to financial problems and since then I had totally forgotten about them, even though I had money for the payments.
Today I went to get my car insured and the agent told me that my license has been suspended since end of last year. I was still able to get my car insured but I did not know about my license being suspended (I have changed address without notifying the dmv, i know it's my fault but all I did was change the address at the post office). I am planning on going either to the dmv or court tomorrow to see what I can do to get my license back.
What I'm worried about is if I will have to pay the remaining balance in full (It should be around 1k, which I don't have) or do you think I will be allowed to continue payments. If so, should I expect any penalties? And is there a chance there is a warrant for my arrest? I am just a little bit worried and can't wait until tomorrow to find out so that's why I am asking here... I don't know how big of a "crime" this is and have no idea what to expect. So please help if you can by answering some of my concerns. Thanks a lot! I live in Ca btw
I know you didn't ask about this, but it seems like you need to get your head on straight. I read a lot of excuses for why things a responsible adult should easily be able to handle didn't get done. If one of these things were true, then I might cut you some slack. But you...
Didn't get the ticket.
Stopped making payments, then "forgot" to start again.
Didn't know you had a suspended license.
Didn't notify DMV you'd moved, meaning you didn't get your license updated with your new address. Maybe that happened several times, which would explain why you don't seem to know what's going on with your DMV record until it's a problem.
I don't know this for a fact, but:
I doubt you'll be allowed to make payments to the court. You've trashed your "credit" with them by blowing them off, then falling off their radar by not giving them your new address.
Yes, I would expect penalties, as with anything else in life for which you're responsible, but choose to blow off.
A warrant is a possibility.
I was like this 25 years ago. There's no excuse for it. It's just stupid to be like this. Don't be me (25 years ago). Don't be stupid.
vmax, you are right in what you said but things aren't exactly like that. First of all, I have a clean record with no accidents or tickets (except that one ticket) in 9 years of driving, so I consider myself a good driver. Now, the ticket that I did get was for going 3 miles over the speed limit and passing a police car going exactly the limit on the fast lane. During that time I was living at the address the DMV knew about, and the ticket was for some reason returned to court. I told the clerk at the window what happened (I told her that I had not received a mail in the first place) and I showed her my I.D for her to see that the address was right and she could not tell me exactly why it was returned, but it was and she could see it in the system and that's when I found out it was returned. Of course I should have contacted to find out about the ticket after so long not receiving anything in the mail, but I figured the officer didn't end up actually filing it because it was such a "dumb" ticket.
I did stop making the payments because I was unemployed, of course I knew in my back of my mind that I had to keep making payments but I admit I neglected it and I should had straightened this out earlier, and that is my fault.
I just want to know if anyone had a similar experience and what was done to them. And what can I do to get my license back asap (or will I have to wait? if so for how many months?). Should I go to the DMV or the court? The court ordered the suspension but the DMV is the one dealing with such things so I'm not sure.
vmax, you are right in what you said but things aren't exactly like that. First of all, I have a clean record with no accidents or tickets (except that one ticket) in 9 years of driving, so I consider myself a good driver. Now, the ticket that I did get was for going 3 miles over the speed limit and passing a police car going exactly the limit on the fast lane. During that time I was living at the address the DMV knew about, and the ticket was for some reason returned to court. I told the clerk at the window what happened (I told her that I had not received a mail in the first place) and I showed her my I.D for her to see that the address was right and she could not tell me exactly why it was returned, but it was and she could see it in the system and that's when I found out it was returned. Of course I should have contacted to find out about the ticket after so long not receiving anything in the mail, but I figured the officer didn't end up actually filing it because it was such a "dumb" ticket.
I did stop making the payments because I was unemployed, of course I knew in my back of my mind that I had to keep making payments but I admit I neglected it and I should had straightened this out earlier, and that is my fault.
I just want to know if anyone had a similar experience and what was done to them. And what can I do to get my license back asap (or will I have to wait? if so for how many months?). Should I go to the DMV or the court? The court ordered the suspension but the DMV is the one dealing with such things so I'm not sure.
Your driving record is irrelevant as you got a ticket and didnt pay it, i'm curios how a 3mph over the speed limit costs $1800.
By not paying the ticket expect costs to have escalated substantially since your last dealings with the bureaucracy.
I had a similar experience in Florida some years ago (1972)where i didnt pay a ticket and yes the judge ordered a bench warrant and the next time i got stopped it was straight to county jail,unfortunately for me it was a Friday night so i spent the weekend in jail as i couldnt get to see the judge till Monday 10am, where he gave me the option of pay the fine or 30 days in jail. since then i always pay tickets on the same day issued.
also i hope you learned never pass a cop no matter how slow he's going..
It varies a lot from state, and according to what color you are.
In general, there is not a warrant for arrest for simply being behind on your fine payments. In fact, they'd rather have you out in the streets, so they can keep "forgetting" to notify you of court appearances and jack up the fine some more.
You are one of the increasing number of Americans who are learning that we live in a police state. Once they get a dossier on you, they will never leave you alone, they will continuously kick you when you are down, and make it as difficult as possible to get anything straightened out. When you get your license back, a few dickcops will be constantly on the lookout for your car, and stop you and ticket you for every trivial pretext. That's what they do. They want money, and you are now an easy mark, and they will never let up. You owe your soul to traffic court. You can 't even move to another state any more, your dossier will follow you.
At least, if you're white, they won't keep throwing you in jail every time they see you, causing you to lose your job and your family and become a real criminal.
I'm in my 70s and I don't exactly travel in a fast crowd. But I know a half a dozen people who are trying to swim with exactly the same kind of rock tied around their neck. Up to 20 years ago, I had never even known a personal acquaintance who had ever been in trouble with the law. Now, people around me are dropping like flies, starting with a broken tail light, and then right down the crapper from there. Times are a changin', folks, and it ain't pretty. And you don't know it until it happens to you.
It's obvious. You need to borrow money, lots of money, or you need to sell something, or some other way (legal) to raise the cash fast. Then go get it taken care of. I don't see any other answer.
As others said, you have a legal question, not an automotive question. The best advice is to speak with an attorney. Additionally, laws vary by state, so what exactly will happen to you in CA is anyone's guess. Maybe someone on that board could give you better advice.
In general, this is how I would see it playing out. You most likely do have a warrant for the unpaid ticket. The court will also most likely expect payment in full to satisfy the warrant and restore your license. You need to call the court clerk and find out exactly what your status is, how much is owed and what the process is for resolving it. If you just show up at the clerks office, expect to get arrested. If you show up after talking to them and prepared to resolve the matter on the spot, you might not end up in jail.
If it were me, I would contact an attorney and get some real advice.
The usual rule of thumb with traffic tickets is the longer you take to pay em the more they gonna cost. if your debt to the court was $1800 when you abandoned your payments count on that figure being doubled by now..
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