[skip2mylou123]

I got caught yesturday with an expired license. My license has been expired for almost 3 months and I did not get any notification letters reminding me for a renewal. Needless to say, the police officer graciously handed me a $325ticket.
I have never been in trouble with the law before and have never gotten a speeding ticket. I'm still a student and my parents are not paying for my education nor are they paying for my living expenses. So I'm literally relying on my student loans to get by. Therefore, money is very tight for me.

So right now, I have asked several of my friends for advice. The majority of them told me to fight the ticket, because the conviciton will go on my record for 3 years - possibly affecting my insurance premiums. So I have several questions,

Should I fight it in court? or should I simply pay the fine?

Also, If i do pay the fine will it affect my insurance premiums?

And If i do chose to go to court, there are 2 options listed on the ticket. Either I plea guilty (submissions as to penalty) or I plea "not" guilty. Which one should I chose? Thank you guys so much!

[MOAB]

Originally Posted by skip2mylou123

I got caught yesturday with an expired license. My license has been expired for almost 3 months and I did not get any notification letters reminding me for a renewal. Needless to say, the police officer graciously handed me a $325ticket.
I have never been in trouble with the law before and have never gotten a speeding ticket. I'm still a student and my parents are not paying for my education nor are they paying for my living expenses. So I'm literally relying on my student loans to get by. Therefore, money is very tight for me.

So right now, I have asked several of my friends for advice. The majority of them told me to fight the ticket, because the conviciton will go on my record for 3 years - possibly affecting my insurance premiums. So I have several questions,

Should I fight it in court? or should I simply pay the fine?

Also, If i do pay the fine will it affect my insurance premiums?

And If i do chose to go to court, there are 2 options listed on the ticket. Either I plea guilty (submissions as to penalty) or I plea "not" guilty. Which one should I chose? Thank you guys so much!

always try and fight tickets, but you will be at the mercy of the Crown attorney on this one...

and sorry, but I have to ask. If $325 is a lot of money for you and money is tight, why are you driving a 335? take the TTC

[skip2mylou123]

Originally Posted by MOAB

always try and fight tickets, but you will be at the mercy of the Crown attorney on this one...

and sorry, but I have to ask. If $325 is a lot of money for you and money is tight, why are you driving a 335? take the TTC

I usually do take the TTC to school, but when I need a car to drive I take my parents car (335i) and I pay for the gas as well. I see, anyways thanks for your advice!

[TheRox]

Originally Posted by skip2mylou123

I usually do take the TTC to school, but when I need a car to drive I take my parents car (335i) and I pay for the gas as well. I see, anyways thanks for your advice!

YOu need to inform your parents and they should help you out.

Either way its a lesson for you. But do inform them.

[kol]

just don't get caught a second time....2nd time around it's not $325 anymore

[samchoi604]

Plea guilty with reduced fine.

[Andy M]

Or you could just go to court, say you've been really busy with school and you just plain forgot (which is the truth as it seems like it).

Tell the judge you're paying for your own schooling, you've never had a speeding ticket, no trouble with the law, and it was just a mistake. You'll probably get a reduced fine based on the fact that you're being honest, you're not a bad person, and it was all just a mistake.

[skip2mylou123]

Originally Posted by Andy M

Or you could just go to court, say you've been really busy with school and you just plain forgot (which is the truth as it seems like it).

Tell the judge you're paying for your own schooling, you've never had a speeding ticket, no trouble with the law, and it was just a mistake. You'll probably get a reduced fine based on the fact that you're being honest, you're not a bad person, and it was all just a mistake.

So should I chose the second option? "plea of guilty-submissions as to penalty"

[Andy M]

Originally Posted by skip2mylou123

So should I chose the second option? "plea of guilty-submissions as to penalty"

I think if you plead guilty, it implies that you are accepting it as 100% your fault (i.e. you're admitting that you knew you were driving without a license which isn't the case here).

However if you plead non-guilty and provide your defense, you'll probably get a reduced sentence.

[ELITE_TRAYUNZE]

Originally Posted by Andy M

I think if you plead guilty, it implies that you are accepting it as 100% your fault (i.e. you're admitting that you knew you were driving without a license which isn't the case here).

However if you plead non-guilty and provide your defense, you'll probably get a reduced sentence.

LOL, if that was the case, what would be the point of pleading 'guilty'...you wouldn't...you would just pay the fine and not go to court.

Plead guilty, go to court, explain why you believe the fine should be reduced.

[bunnn]

Originally Posted by ELITE_TRAYUNZE

LOL, if that was the case, what would be the point of pleading 'guilty'...you wouldn't...you would just pay the fine and not go to court.

Plead guilty, go to court, explain why you believe the fine should be reduced.

You mean plea not guilty, go to court and explain.

In general, the prosecutors are much more lenient to first time offenders(as long as your record indicates that)...they may drop it, they may reduce it..but you're better off bringing it to court than plea'ing guilty in almost any situation. Not to mention, you defer the fine until you're convicted in court - which usually is 6-8 months. Of course if you are convicted at that point, it stays on record for 3 years AT THAT POINT. And you're generally given an option(by the judge once convicted) on how long it would take for you to pay, if you're tight on money you can arrange for a longer time to save up. This is way better than having to pay within 15 days, cutting your budget tighter than it already is. Realistically this is giving you an extra year to stretch your money..

I should also add that there are some insurance company who give you a "get out of jail free" first time ticket. What this means is that your first ticket will not be looked at when they determine your insurance premium next year. I know Toronto Dominion and State Farm has such policy, but check with your insurance agent/broker.

[skip2mylou123]

Originally Posted by bunnn

You mean plea not guilty, go to court and explain.

In general, the prosecutors are much more lenient to first time offenders(as long as your record indicates that)...they may drop it, they may reduce it..but you're better off bringing it to court than plea'ing guilty in almost any situation. Not to mention, you defer the fine until you're convicted in court - which usually is 6-8 months. Of course if you are convicted at that point, it stays on record for 3 years AT THAT POINT. And you're generally given an option(by the judge once convicted) on how long it would take for you to pay, if you're tight on money you can arrange for a longer time to save up. This is way better than having to pay within 15 days, cutting your budget tighter than it already is. Realistically this is giving you an extra year to stretch your money..

I should also add that there are some insurance company who give you a "get out of jail free" first time ticket. What this means is that your first ticket will not be looked at when they determine your insurance premium next year. I know Toronto Dominion and State Farm has such policy, but check with your insurance agent/broker.

Thanks for the reply! So If I'm understanding you correctly, I should "Plea not guilty" go to court, and simply tell the prosecutor that I did not know my license was expired and to ask them to give me a one time grace, to either reduce the fine or drop the charge?

[bunnn]

Originally Posted by skip2mylou123

Thanks for the reply! So If I'm understanding you correctly, I should "Plea not guilty" go to court, and simply tell the prosecutor that I did not know my license was expired and to ask them to give me a one time grace, to either reduce the fine or drop the charge?

I'm not familiar with option 2, but if you want to go to court, I believe option 3 is your only choice.
Process: Go in the office, file your ticket under option 3..do the paper work. Then wait for the Notice of Trial to come in the mail(could take as short as 6 weeks, and long as a year or more). At that point, you'll have the court date to go in to that specified court. Then you just sign in at the day of the court and wait for them to call you. They will ask if you would like to speak with the prosecutor outside the court room.. at that point it's up to how well you verse in the game of negotiation, and of course some luck. Since I have no experience with this type of ticket, that's as far as my advice can go. But in my experience, there was not one time where I'm not offered some sort of reduction in the penalty/fine. Good luck with everything!

P.S Keep in mind that at any time after you file for the court notice, you can change your mind and pay the ticket...simply you can treat it as a method to prolong the payment deadline. So do not through out your copy of the ticket for any reason until your thing is completely settled.

[skip2mylou123]

I see, thank you so much!!! that was very informative and exactly what I needed!

Originally Posted by bunnn

I'm not familiar with option 2, but if you want to go to court, I believe option 3 is your only choice.
Process: Go in the office, file your ticket under option 3..do the paper work. Then wait for the Notice of Trial to come in the mail(could take as short as 6 weeks, and long as a year or more). At that point, you'll have the court date to go in to that specified court. Then you just sign in and wait for them to call you. They will ask if you would like to speak with the prosecutor outside the court room.. at that point it's up to how well you verse in the game of negotiation, and of course some luck. Since I have no experience with this type of ticket, that's as far as my advice can go. But in my experience, there was not one time where I'm not offered some sort of reduction in the penalty/fine. Good luck with everything!

P.S Keep in mind that at any time after you file for the court notice, you can change your mind and pay the ticket...simply you can treat it as a method to prolong the payment deadline. So do not through out your copy of the ticket for any reason until your thing is completely settled.

[zuluZero]

I haven't heard of anyone getting this type of charge dropped completely, but hopefully you can get it reduced. I'm surprised no one has commented that $325 is a ridiculous amount to fine someone for missing a renewal payment. Any other business would just charge it to your credit card automatically.

Seriously, how many deaths & injuries does an overdue license cause every year? We're not talking about driving with a suspended license...Same goes for proof of ownership and insurance. Maybe a million years ago keeping updated paperwork was important to enable enforcement in the field - but we have paid millions & millions to put wireless computers in every cop's hands, and they don't really need the paper.

This should be a $50 fine. Instead of sitting there for who-knows-how-long to give you this ticket, he should have given you a warning, and gone back on the road to find an actual dangerous driver.

As for the insurance impact -you'll need to verify this, but I didn't think that "non-moving-violations" like this can be used to raise your insurance premium rates.

[skip2mylou123]

Yes, $325 is a ridiculous amount in my opinion. I seriously thought the officer was just going to give me a warning since I've never been in trouble with the law nor have I gotten a speeding ticket. I might have just caught him on a bad day and he wanted to meet his ticket quota.

Oh and the reason he pulled me over? because I was sitting in my car at a parking lot waiting for the go bus (it was cold outside) and apparently, he thought that it was an "odd" behaviour it looked "suspicious" to him.
I guess I just had a bad day, *Sigh*

Originally Posted by zuluZero

I haven't heard of anyone getting this type of charge dropped completely, but hopefully you can get it reduced. I'm surprised no one has commented that $325 is a ridiculous amount to fine someone for missing a renewal payment. Any other business would just charge it to your credit card automatically.

Seriously, how many deaths & injuries does an overdue license cause every year? We're not talking about driving with a suspended license...Same goes for proof of ownership and insurance. Maybe a million years ago keeping updated paperwork was important to enable enforcement in the field - but we have paid millions & millions to put wireless computers in every cop's hands, and they don't really need the paper.

This should be a $50 fine. Instead of sitting there for who-knows-how-long to give you this ticket, he should have given you a warning, and gone back on the road to find an actual dangerous driver.

As for the insurance impact -you'll need to verify this, but I didn't think that "non-moving-violations" like this can be used to raise your insurance premium rates.

[J02 335i]

If its your parents car (meaning the ownership is in their name) should they not have renewed the tag? This of course would be why you yourself didn't receive the renewal info in the mail. I know its your responsibly cause your driving the car, but I would at least ask for some help or give back the car and take tic.

[schnell325]

Originally Posted by J02 335i

If its your parents car (meaning the ownership is in their name) should they not have renewed the tag? This of course would be why you yourself didn't receive the renewal info in the mail. I know its your responsibly cause your driving the car, but I would at least ask for some help or give back the car and take tic.

I agree.

[bdardashti]

Originally Posted by J02 335i

If its your parents car (meaning the ownership is in their name) should they not have renewed the tag? This of course would be why you yourself didn't receive the renewal info in the mail. I know its your responsibly cause your driving the car, but I would at least ask for some help or give back the car and take tic.

Originally Posted by schnell325

I agree.

I think he means driver's licence.

[skip2mylou123]

Originally Posted by bdardashti

I think he means driver's licence.

Yup, my driver's license

[J02 335i]

Oh ok, that ones all you, disregard my last post.

[zuluZero]

Originally Posted by skip2mylou123

Oh and the reason he pulled me over? because I was sitting in my car at a parking lot waiting for the go bus (it was cold outside) and apparently, he thought that it was an "odd" behaviour it looked "suspicious" to him.
I guess I just had a bad day, *Sigh*

Can you clarify a bit? Exactly what happened - where were you parked (road/parking lot), where was the officer and what did he observe? Did he see you drive your car on a public road, or charge you on private property?