Ticket - duh, and ouch

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I got a ticket today in Somerville for expired registration.  The danged license plate says "SEP" and today is "OCT".  I'm going to the RMV with a friend tomorrow (she's driving her car) to get the registration up to date. 2 questions for Davis Square:

1. Ticket is for $100.  If I get my registration fixed tomorrow, is there any way I can possibly get the ticket taken off/forgiven/lessened if I show them I fixed the issue ASAP?  Who do I talk to about that possibility?

2. Do I get points on my license for this and the associated raised insurance fees? 

I haven't gotten a ticket of any kind in over 15 years.  I feel so dirty!  and Bad!

Note to all: CHECK THE DANGED MONTH ON YOUR LICENSE PLATE AND ON YOUR WINDSHIELD STICKER TODAY!!!!
also: check when your driver's license expires.  It's no fun to get a ticket for something like that which is so easily avoided.

Addendum: I got the opportunity to pay the ticket with the same check used to pay the renewal, so the ticket is paid.  It was NOT a 'Somerville' ticket, it was a MA general ticket, complete with my driver's license info.  So according to what others said below, I'm likely to be surcharged.  Which sux.  So now I likely have 2 points against me.  When does the surcharge pop in?  How many years will I be surcharged for?

Comments

[zaarwin-devolve.livejournal.com]

1)I doubt it but you won't know unless you show up to contest the ticket. Depends on how much you consider your time to be worth, I suppose.

2)I think insurance companies care only about moving violations. That being said, don't hold your breath, and wait for an opinion from somebody who has gone through this.

[junesrose.livejournal.com]

Speaking of contesting the ticket...don't forget that even if you get it waived, you'll still have to pay the court costs.

I learned this when I contested a $35 ticket (tl;dr) last year and ended up paying $25 in court fees anyway. But at least I got a clean slate.

Good luck.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

As others have asked, was this a traffic ticket or a parking ticket? It should be easy to tell, since the address to mail the payment will be either the RMV or the Somerville parking clerk. Also, a traffic ticket identifies a driver, while a parking ticket just has the license plate of the car.

If it's a traffic ticket, there will be an insurance surcharge (contrary to what other people have posted). See
http://www.mass.gov/Eeops/docs/mrb/AdministrativeProcedures.pdf page 114: "OPERATE EXPIRED REG" has 2 insurance surcharge points. But I've heard they'll often grant an appeal if you renewed the registration right away. Instructions for how to appeal are on the ticket.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Well, I was offered an opportunity to pay the ticket when I renewed my registration. So it's paid, on the same check as the payment for the renewal. They did take my license info, so I'm guessing I'm screwed cuz I don't have the ticket anymore. Gah.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a traffic ticket. And unfortunately, once you've paid it, you can't appeal it any more.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Though the first minor ticket doesn't actually raise your insurance that much.

[ron_newman]

If this is a Somerville parking ticket, it's not going to affect your points or insurance.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Looks like an expired registration ticket, not a parking ticket. I don't *think* that's a moving violation, but I wouldn't swear to it. OP should look it up on the RMV FAQ, probably.

[ron_newman]

but is it on Somerville parking ticket stock, with instructions to pay it to the city of Somerville?

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

You can have points on your license for non moving violations, I have 2 points for emission sticker/inspection sticker being out of date.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

You may have to resolve the ticket before you get the registration fixed. No idea if formally contesting a ticket counts, but if there's an unpaid ticket in the system, no sticker for you!

Also excise fees and various other things. If you can't renew online, and it's worth trying, you might try calling to find out if anything is blocking your registration.

[meflaher.livejournal.com]

The press release that let the city know these tickets would now be issued says it would be a $50 ticket so not sure why you were given a $100 ticket. I'm not sure that's a valid argument for fighting to get the price of the ticket reduced but could be worth a shot.

For reference, here's the link to the release:
http://www.somervillema.gov/news/city-begin-writing-parking-tickets-expired-registrations-and-inspections

Be glad it wasn't a moving violation

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

Be glad it wasn't found while you were moving.

Years ago, a friend was giving me a ride. She noticed a police car following her and pulled into a grocery store parking lot. Cop followed us and asked to speak with her a minute.

It turns out that (at least then, this was 10+ years ago) if he saw an expired plate he was supposed to pull you over and impound the car immediately. Getting home is then your problem.

Fortunately, the cop saw that the sticker had just expired and thought the rule was a bit harsh. He just gave her a warning.

(You're supposed to get a reminder sticker in the mail; she had just gone through a divorce and moved, and her ex didn't forward it.)

Re: Be glad it wasn't a moving violation

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

For the record, I got stopped while driving and given a ticket for expired registration. It was 5 months overdue (I never noticed it, honestly, and must have missed the replacement sticker) and I got the same "I should impound your car" story, but also didn't get anything other than a $100 ticket.

This isn't to say that this is a general rule, just that cops regularly say that they're supposed to impound your car, but I haven't heard of them actually doing it for just an expired registration :)

Re: Be glad it wasn't a moving violation

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Happened to me once. Although they don't have to impound it, if you have a driveway to tow it to.

I was on the way to the airport for a funeral.... not a good day.

Re: Be glad it wasn't a moving violation

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

It happened to someone I know—TWICE. Two years apart. His car was registered at his dad's house, and he was living elsewhere, so he wasn't getting the reminder notices, and for some reason his dad didn't forward them. You'd think he'd have learned his lesson the first time, but no. I know that one of these incidents involved the police in Groton, and the other time might have been Westford or Chelmsford, or possibly Lowell. Either way, yes, they will impound your car for this.

Re: Be glad it wasn't a moving violation

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yep, I had my car impounded once for an expired plate while I was driving in the middle of Belmont, and they took the plates too, and I had to get everything renewed before they released the car again.

Re: Be glad it wasn't a moving violation

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Geez, that's crazy. A friend was pulled over in Michigan for expired registration, and there is NO fine if you show up at court with proof of registration in 20 days. Seems a lot more reasonable to me!

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

My recollection (which could be misremembered, as this happened to me several years ago) is that getting cited for an expired registration, even while merely parked on a public street, will indeed affect your step level, and thus your insurance premium.

[spacehawk.livejournal.com]

I doubt you'll be able to get the ticket waived, but please tell us if you do! ^_^

A couple years ago, I had the "pleasure" of trying to open a bank account and being told that my driver's license had expired over a month back. Due to budget cuts, the RMV is not notifying people.

So yes -- good advice to all!

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I, too, have gotten a ticket for totally forgetting about my registration. At this point what I've done has been slowly shift my vehicle inspection by one month at a time each year until it is now in the same month as my registration, which is where I intend to leave it. That way the "10" on my windshield reminds me to get the inspection *and* the registration up to date.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I believe the state stopped sending reminder letters for registration this year or a couple years back to save on $$, and hey presto they are making money off of people doing this exact thing. Surprising, right?

Sorry for your troubles. This has happened to me too.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

They stopped sending reminders for licenses. AFAIK, they still send them for regs. (Or did for mine last year, anyway.)

[afty.livejournal.com]

That's right. My registration expired last month, and I did receive a reminder in the mail to renew. I did not receive one when my license expired earlier this year.

[violet-helix.livejournal.com]

Are you sure it was from the Registry? My boyfriend gets all of the necessary renewal paperwork form his insurance company. I do not. I got ticketed not once, but twice*, this year because of an expired registration.

*No I didn't just blow off the first ticket. The State Police, in their infinite wisdom mailed it to me. I didn't actually receive it until I had gotten a ticket from the City of Boston, which was left on my windshield and prompted me to immediately renew.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Not only does the RMV send a registration renewal form, you *need* it to be able to renew. I tried to renew mine early, before I forgot, and the website required a code number from the renewal form which I hadn't received yet.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

1. No.
2. No. Insurance companies only give points for moving violations such as speeding.

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

That isn't true. I have points for expired emissions/inspection. They are on my record and I've had 2 diff insurance companies confirm.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I know you'll get points if it was part of a moving violation (you got pulled over for it), but if she was parked, it shouldn't give her points.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

It depends on who issued the ticket - parking officers do not issue tickets which will result in points.

Police do.

The difference is between a parking violation and a traffic violation, according to what I found here (http://www.dmv.com/ma/massachusetts/traffic-tickets).

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Police can also issue parking tickets.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

However, they usually don't - the ticket books police are issued look very different from the ones parking officials use.

Be glad your car didn't get towed

[mamabunny72.livejournal.com]

that happened to me 7 years ago: Visiting a friend in Winter Hill with my new baby, was getting ready to go home and... no car! In new parenthood mode, Hubby and I totally forgot our car registration expired. Of course, it didn't help that it was April, and we had only just got the car back from major repairs from a car accident in January.