My friend got a $30 parking ticket for parking in a space reserved for vehicles over6ft8". His car still had temporary plates made by the previous owner (a car dealership). He now wonders if he can get away with not paying the ticket.
I told him that if the previous owner gets the ticket, he can prove that he had sold the car by then and provide the authorities with the proof. My friend would then be busted.
My fried says that the city of Fort Lauderdale will not go to such lenghts for a $30 parking ticket. He’s willing to bet me $30 on it.
I’d take the bet. They will get their money, eventually. I’m not familiar with Fort Lauderdale, but many places will issue a bench warrant and put a flag on your driving record for unpaid tickets. It’s cheaper and easier to pay the ticket now.
Right. They will definitely access that database but when they do, will they find out the car’s vin number and cross check it with the owner at the time of the violation OR will they simply have a record of the person who received the temp tag (which in this case would not be my friend as he purchased the car with the temp tag already in place). If they do that, will they try to fine the car dealership instead?
On one hand your friend can save thirty bucks by ignoring the citation and maybe get away w/ it, on the other hand they risk the possiblity of getting stopped some time in the future and having their car towed, going to jail, paying a bailbondsman to get released, appearing in court and paying a fine of, perhaps, several hundred dollars, not to mention the towing and impound fees. Then they might have to go though the process of getting their license reinstated and paying higher insurance rates for three to five years.
Which choice would you make.
How does aggressive enforcement equate to insanity? When no action is taken regarding a violation, it won’t take too long for word to spread, thereby reinforcing the belief that ordinances may be ignored without fear of penalty.
I don’t think you read this part carefully. Please do so now and reflect upon it:
“having their car towed, going to jail, paying a bailbondsman to get released, appearing in court and paying a fine of, perhaps, several hundred dollars, not to mention the towing and impound fees. Then they might have to go though the process of getting their license reinstated and paying higher insurance rates for three to five years.”
Many states will now do something more simple, but quite effective.
They will enter the original parking ticket fine, plus the late fee, plus the judgement costs – all the added-on fiees, now much more than $30 – onto the state computer system as an unpaid judgement owed.
Then the next time he has any interaction with the state, like renewing his drivers license or vehicle plates, getting a marriage license or a copy of a birth certificate, renewing any professional license (doctor, dentist, barber, bartender, vet, lawyer, surveyor, etc.), going thru a state toll booth, paying his property taxes, etc., this ‘unpaid judgement’ will pop up and the clerk will say that he has to pay that before he can get whatever license he was trying to get. And if he decides to just walk away instead, there is probably a security guard nearby who will hold him until the cops arrive. (There is a bench warrant out there on him, remember.)
And, of course, if there is any state check intended for him, like an income tax refund or any kind of state payment, this judgement will be deducted from that before the check is sent to him.
With modern computer systems, it’s easy for the state to do this. And much cheaper than serving a warrant, arresting him, taking him to jail and to court again. The state would much rather just collect the fines from him and be done with it. And these computer systems make it easy to do so effectively.
The next time that you get a subpoena to appear in court, just call the judge and tell him that you have more important things to do with your time, and plan to ignore the subpoena. Let us know what happens.
No. “All that” is for ignoring a summons to answer to a traffic citation. If someone is jailed on suspicion of petty theft, then assaults a jailor and escapes he doesn’t do a long prison sentence for mere petty theft but for assault and breaking jail.
It’s time for your friend to grow up, pay the damned ticket and stop wasting the time of the police and the courts with kid stuff.
And just what, exactly, do you propose instead? If there are no significant consequences from not paying a parking ticket or a fine for some other petty offense, then what’s to stop people from just blowing them off?
All of you seem to be ignoring the simple fact that the state simply has no easy way of finding out who he is. In most states, as far as I know, the registered owner of the car is liable for the parking tickets, regardless of whose name is on the title. When the car switched hands at the dealership they must’ve submitted some paperwork to the state DMV regarding the “change of liability”, at least that’s how it works in CA. However, even though your friend is liable, only the dealership (and possibly DMV) knows who he is. The dealership will get the citation in the mail and probably just pay it because it’s easier for them than a) proving they are not liable for the $30 or b) finding your friend.
Yes, the DMV knows who he is, provided the paperwork has been processed or it was submitted electronically. Where do you think the police get the address when it comes time to issue a warrant?
The point is that the person in question did park illegally and should just pay the fine. Sure they might get away w/ it and the scenario I previously described is probably worst case, but you’d have to be an idiot to take the risk.
If there is a dispute over the citation then go to court and argue it, but to ignore it is just stupid.
My son manages a dealership and I can assure you they won’t just pay it, they will respond to any citation w/ documentation showing the date of sale and the new owners name and address.
The state will find out who he his: from the person who sold the car to him.
Consider for a moment that you are selling me a big ol’ hammer (which, for some odd reason, has a serial number on it). As it turns out, you had just bought the big ol’ hammer from another individual. I then use it to commit some heinous crime. The police track down the registered owner, using the serial number the hammer, for some odd reason, had on it. That individual then presents the police with (a) evidence that he was elsewhere at the time of the heinous crime and (b) a receipt for the big ol’ hammer indicating it was sold to you. The police hie over to you.
Now, I’d like to believe that your charity would extend so far as to go to jail for me, but I’m not that silly. And I certainly don’t think you are.
Nor do I think the friend’s friend who sold the friend the car in the first place is silly enough to suffer all the dire penalties mentioned above in this thread.
To duck the parking ticket by pretending that the car’s not his probably isn’t all that bright. What’s his plan when he gets pulled over for something else and then has no proof that he’s legally in possession of the vehicle he’s driving? I think that might be a bit more costly than thirty dollars.