help! first time going to court...ugh! (insurance, buy)

[islandlove808]

So I got pulled over and my court is next week. My ticket? Expired registration, expired safety, didn't have insurance in the car at the time (it was at home), no license and illegal tint. Do I have to pay my tickets off before I go to court? Or if I renew my registration and safety, take the illegal tint off and work on getting my license (passed my written test lol) do all that before I go to court...can I show them proof or whatever at court so I don't have to pay the tickets? it will be my first time going to court so I don't really know what to do lol...help?!

[OpenD]

I don't know if it will save you from having to pay any fines, but correct everything you were cited for before you go to court, if at all possible. For sure it can't hurt, and it might buy you some leniency. Besides, it's all stuff you need to do anyways.

Remove the illegal tint. Until you do you won't pass a safety check. Without passing the safety check you won't be able to renew the registration.

And you need to have a car with up-to-date safety sticker, registration, and insurance to take a driver's license test drive.

So that's pretty much the sequence you'll need to follow. I'd get started on it!

[islandlove808]

Thanks...and yes, I'm working on it. Just looking for a place that will take off tint and do safety check before I renew my registration.

[hotzcatz]

A razor blade and WD40 aught to take off the tint. The WD40 softens the sticky stuff used to put the tint on with. Then you scrape it off with the single edged razor blade. You have to get the WD40 under the edge of the tint. It might be faster to have someone do it for you, though, and if your court case is next week, speed is of the essence.

Expired registration is no big thing if you have it fixed before you go to court, you may still have to pay the fine, they may lower it some if you've fixed it. Expired safety, same thing. But if you don't have it fixed, they will fine you and the rest of your case won't be all that worthwhile since you've shown yourself to be a scofflaw.

No insurance in the car isn't good, but it's much better than no insurance at all. Had you not had it at all, it's an automatic (and very expensive) fine. No getting around it.

Driving with no license is a biggie. Was that with an expired license? A learner's permit? Or just no license at all? No license at all is a major offense and will probably impact your insurance rates for several years.

Fix whatever you can before you go to court. Be sorry and repentant and promise to never do it again and mean it and they may go easy on you.

[SoloPilot]

Looking at your list of violations, I'm curious whether you had anything in the whole package that was actually LEGAL . . ?

FIX EVERYTHING before you go to court. If necessary, ask for a delay. For equipment violations, making repairs will often result in lower fines (or even no fine at all).

Usually the process is arraignment, at which you enter your plea (guilty or not guilty) for each charge, then a date is set for the actual trial. Sometimes the trial will be held right then and there.

DO NOT accept trial before anyone other than an actual JUDGE, if you have any choice in the matter.

Also, DO NOT WAIVE your right to a speedy trial! Any time a court asks you to waive, that's because case load is high and the highest priority cases sometimes shove less important cases down the docket. If you waive your right, they can bring you back when it's convenient, but if you don't waive it, they have to try you in a limited time frame or the charges go away. If a prosecutor has to decide whether to deal with drunk or dangerous drivers or with your offenses, who are they going to go after?

You will have to appear ON TIME on the day of court. You will have to BRING MONEY, because they will add up what all of the fines would be, and that amount will be your bail (if a trial date is set). Some courts will give you a while to pay the fines, others want the money before you leave. Not appearing or not paying are criminal offenses.

BTW, your insurance doesn't cover driving without a license, so you're up the creek on that one anyhow.

Oh, one last thing. Don't try to BS the judge. They've heard all of the excuses in the world.