My friend recently got a ticket for not having proof of insurance with him while dirving his sister’s car. The ticket is for over $200 and I believe it was specifically for not showing the proper papers (I think the ticket category can apply to anything you don’t show like license and registration).
My main question is, is the ticket for not SHOWING proof or for lacking the proper paperwork?
The car WAS insured, in fact the insurance card was in the car, it’s just that my friend forgot to ask his sister where she kept the insurance card.
So can he fight it by showing up at court with proof that the car was insured, or is the fine for not showing proof of insurance regardless of wether the car is actually insured or not?
I can only speak for Illinois. If you do in fact have the proper insurance papers, the court will throw the ticket out. You can’t just run out and buy insurance though, you must show proof that you were insured during the issuance of the ticket. The ticket is generally for not providing proof of insurance (as required in this state). So if you don’t have it at the time, you’ll get a ticket regardless. Just bring it to court.
In Texas, the ticket is specifically issued for Failure To Show Proof Of Insurance. However, most jurisdictions will drop the ticket if you can prove that you did in fact have insurance at the specific time and date listed on the citation.
A cop (CHP) told me a few years ago that they could no longer demand proof of insurance. You were required by law to have insurance, but not to show proof. It may have changed back by now.
Come to think of it, I went through a sobriety check point last year and they checked for license and registration but not proof of insurance. My insurer does issue a certificate though.
Peace,
mangeorge
From personal experience, albeit about 20 years ago. I was in college out of state and my mother had sent me the car registration and insurance and told me to put them in the car. I did not.
The next time I came home the inspection sticker had faded to lovely shade of pink (from the original red). One of NJ’s finest saw the faded sticker and pulled me over (I almost lost him at the next light). He gave me a ticket for 1) not having the vehicle inspected, 2) not having the registration, and 3) not having the insurance.
When I went to court I 1) showed the judge that I had the vehicle inspected, 2) that I had the registration, and 3) I had insurance. I had to plead guilty to all three because - the vehicle was not inspected and the registration and insurance card had to be shown to the officer when requested. Not having the vehicle registered and not having insurance are different offenses. I presume that not showing the officer a driver’s license is also an offense.
Anyway he threw out the all the charges but the vehicle inspection and fined me $25. Almost worth the price of admission.
Chances are (and IANAL) that if he takes the insurance card to the appropriate office in town and demonstrate that the vehicle was insured, but that he just could not find the papers at the time, the ticket will be thrown out. At least that’s the experience of everyone I’ve heard of here in NJ who has been in that situation.
You are in luck (sort of) I am a NJ cop. Disregard most of what is written above. In New Jersey there are two separate statutes we are talking about. By law you must have insurance and an insurance card available in the car at all times. It must be presented at the time of the stop or an accident. Misplacing it is not an excuse. If it is not available it is a violation. If an insurance card is not presented the driver can be cited for having no insurance. Most likely the car will be towed and not released until proof of insurance is produced.
There is a separate statute for not producing documents. You can be cited for not having a drivers license, registration and/or insurance card. It used to be it was a small fine, I think it was $40. Sometime last year the state legislature upped the fine to the high amount you cite. We used to give out the ticket as a break. If we reasonably believed that you had insurance (recently expired card, a bunch of old cards but not the recent one) we would give the failure to provide documents ticket. For the insurance charge we would mark the “court appearance required” block and force the driver to come in and prove they were insured. If no proof was given then the would be cited for not having insurance.
The state took that option away from us. They raised the fine to a ridiculous amount. Now it appears they are rethinking their decision. Unfortunately you are caught in a bad situation. It has not been changed yet. The officer did give you a break. He could have cited you for having no insurance and towed the car. Instead he let you drive off with a ticket. The fine should not be that high (IMHO) but blame the legislature.
So here is the bottom line:
Yes the violation is for not having the insurance card at the time of the stop.
No, the fact that the car was insured is irrelevent, the ticket is for not having the card. If the ticket was for having not insurance (39:6B-2) it could get downgraded to not having the documents. There is nothing to downgrade not having an insurance card to. You either had it at the time or you didn’t.
Now there are two other principles at work here, the law and what the judge will do. I have seen a judge go below the minimum fine. If you go into court with the proper documents and the reason why it happened you might get a lower fine or even have it thrown out. Or you might get the full fine plus court costs. It’s up to the judge and prosecutor. I would never advise someone to not use a lawyer.Don’t use a lawyer, in this case you will get the same deal whether if you have a lawyer or not.
Of move to Michigan where your insurance status comes up automatically with your vehicle registration on the police computer. In most cases, for big companies.
It does in New York also. In fact it comes up on our computers in NJ for those states that have it. It would make things much easier. Considering the high cost of insurance (highest in the country), the huge amount of uninsured drivers and how easy it is to fake, it would make sense to make it easily verifiable.
We’re only about a year ahead of NJ. Michigan went through essentially the same situation Loach described. It took a public outcry and an act of the legislature to change it so if you were insured, you could get the fine reduced by later showing proof. When they fixed the law, people who payed the much higher fines had a while (six months, I think) to apply for a rebate. So Kinthalis, tell your friend to keep an eye on your legislators, and hope for the best.
I don’t know what kind of money it would cost to have the insurance show up on the DMV computer checks. Believe me, the police would love it. Fewer people who just left the card in the other car would get cited and more uninsured drivers would get nailed (a pet peeve of mine, my insurance is sky-high too). The State Police did a study a few years ago. They took down the insurance information of something like 1000 people who were pulled over for other violations. They all had what appeared to be valid insurance cards. Over one third of those did not have insurance. This was checked by calling each insurance company for every driver in the study. Of course a police officer can not do this everytime. There is no reason why this information can not be made available like it is in other states.
