Any way to fight this ticket?

[Stewy]

Last night, I was caught doing 80 in a 60, but I was given 2 tickets -- one for speeding and another for not being able to produce my insurance.

But the catch is since this car is so new and I've never been pulled over, I had no idea that I didn't have that pink slip in my car. Turns out my insurance never mailed it out to me so I was unable to provide the officer with it.

Anyway of fighting this and getting this $173.00 which I don't have reduced?

Oh and this was going South East on Sun Valley Blvd. heading towards the entrance of Lake Chaparal around 11:45 so watch out from now on -- they were way off the field in pitch black just waiting to pick people off .

[FlyBoy]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

I have had the no insurance thing before, along with a speeding ticket. All you do is get a letter from your insurance company stating that is was in effect at the time of the ticket. The letter must be mailed to you (an original on company letterhead), they will not accept faxes. You take the letter, your insurance card, ID and the ticket into a police station, they will make copies and submit it to the crown prosecutor to have it dismissed. They do not have to dismiss it!! Anyways, you call the court a week before the court date on the ticket and they tell you if it has been dismissed.

BIG HASSLE!!!

[Khyron]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

Lucky you didn't get the 2800 failure to have insurance ticket (which you then fight by showing the letter/card). Your offence is failure to produce, which you failed to do. He technically could have impounded your car on the spot.

The chances of you getting off are slim to none, just to set expectations...sorry.

[Kordain]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

cant the cops tell from their computers if your car is covered by insurance or not? You cant tell me all the laptop n encrypted radio stuff is worth crap

[Stonewall]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

The cop being able to check it is besides the point, if you get in an accident and are not able to prove that you have insurance you are screwed. Call it a life lesson, pay it and be careful next time.

[RONDAL]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

you were unable to produce your insurance, whether or not you have it or not is a dead issue, you couldn't produce it. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse to break it...it sounds bad but its what the judge is going to tell you almost word for word if you choose to fight this, right before he tells you he isn't letting you off the hook.
Go admit your guilt, ask for some reduced points and maybe a reduced fine, take what the crown gives you and learn the life lesson.

sorry mate that sucks

[FlyBoy]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

You don't have to fight it. If you had insurance and just didn't have the proof with you they will probably throw it out and you don't have to pay the ticket. Worked for me.

Edit: The cop explained the process to me when I said I had the slip on my desk at home. Didn't make a big deal of it.

[Khyron]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

cant the cops tell from their computers if your car is covered by insurance or not? You cant tell me all the laptop n encrypted radio stuff is worth crap

Registration yes, but there is no central insurance authority. Perhaps in BC where it's all ICBC - definately something we should have (but maybe they'd get less ticket revenue :P )

I almost got impounded in BC when I switched my plate over to my other car (and got the insurance transferred via phone) but I brought the wrong pink card. Lucky they agreed to phone my insurance company to verify it was indeed on the vehicle I was driving or it would have been towed. If it had been at night outside of business hours, or if they didn't agree to call, how do they know I'm insured without the pink? They don't, and they can't let you keep driving.

[RONDAL]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

You don't have to fight it. If you had insurance and just didn't have the proof with you they will probably throw it out and you don't have to pay the ticket. Worked for me.

Edit: The cop explained the process to me when I said I had the slip on my desk at home. Didn't make a big deal of it.

what kind of advice is this?
this is no different than getting caught for not having your license and failure to produce. the fact you HAVE one doesn't matter, you can't produce it so there is a ticket. Like was already mentioned he didn't get the $2800 fine for not having any insurance....he got the ticket because he was unable to prove he had insurance. They are two seperate tickets. Legally speaking you don't have a case. The JP might be sympathetic but i stood in line and listened to a lady try and argue her way out of this exact same kind of ticket last year and the guy laid it out plain and simple....you could not produce insurance therefore here is your failure to produce charge.
Instead of pissing the JP off I would suggest asking for a reduced fine and no points....you are going to have better luck with that and admitting your guilt than arguing with the judge over this.

[FlyBoy]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

I didn't even have to go to court, it was the same ticket, I might even still have it. The Crown Prosecutor has the choice to dismiss it. If not, then you go on the date on the ticket and can ask for a reduction or whatever then.

The cop would have asked if he had insurance, and when the answer was "yes, I just don't seem to have the card", he issued a ticket for failure to produce and not one for no insurance because he believed there was insurance in place so if there is an accident there is coverage to make restitution.

Just to clarify my situation, I had my old card that expired about a month before in the car, so the cop could see that I had insurance for at least the year previous. But it was the same $173 ticket for failure to produce proof of insurance.

If you have insurance when you get in an accident but you don't have the card in the car you are still covered. It is not as big a deal as you seem to be making of it. What if the card was destroyed or becomes unaccessible in the accident? It does no good then anyways.

All it would take is a call or a stop by a Police station to clear this up. I'm just saying what I was told to do and it worked for me. The ticket was dimissed, I didn't pay a dime and I didn't have to go to court.

[FlyBoy]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

From Beyond:

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread/t-137700.html

Some people like on here that say you just have to pay it and others that say it was dropped.

[Khyron]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

Traffic_Cop has police background, as does one of my snow board buddies (CPS). Legally you don't have a leg to stand on, but of course you might get lucky and they'll toss it, just like any ticket. But if he marches down expecting them to drop it because he thinks he has proof, he'll just piss them off. Express you know you're guilty, but it was a mistake, you had insurance, blah blah blah and yah, you might get off just like any other ticket. But good chance you won't.

If the vehicle is destroyed in an accident, it doesn't matter because that car isn't going to be driving away. But if a cop pulls you over and there is no proof you have insurance (ie, card) he legally isn't supposed to let you drive away. But again, they have discretion and know people forget stupid cards, so if they trust you, you'll just get the little one (or none at all).

[Kor]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

I think that from what I have heard they are fairly lenient on this. You should be able to talk to the crown prosecutor if you have proof of insurance and a reasonable story. I'm not exactly sure how you managed to be driving around without insurance in your car, new or not. Generally they will send you a temporary insurance fax, which you can use until you get the pink slip. If you had the temporary fax, even if it had expired or something, that might be something to produce to the prosecutor.

[100%VAGitarian]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

my wife got this ticket while all the vehicle info was tied up in red tape. the cop wouldn't listen to the ins adjuster on the phone but told my wife to take proof to the police station. they would make copies, or whatever they do, and they sent it to the crown. i had to find out on my own if it was dropped or not.

total tickets: speeding, illegal use of licence plate, driving unregistered vehicle, unable to provide proof of ins, towed car. he siezed the plate and sent the car to the yard without one. i had to convince the yard that the car was mine. i never got a seizure notice for the plate and as far as i'm concerned, he stole it. i reported it too. when it was all done, she paid for the speeding ticket and the impound fee. everything else was dropped. turns out, it was the cops first day.

my advice... call the police station and find out what you can. make sure all the correct dates line up and that the info was right BEFORE you were pulled over. and like stated, don't assume you're gonna win.

[Kor]

Re: Any way to fight this ticket?

You know what, I totally understand why a cop has to ticket you when you f**k up and don't take responsibility to obey the law. No insurance, okay, you deserve a big ticket and then on-your-way don't do it again.

But if you are a clean-record citizen with a new car or you're an ignorant young kid or something, just write one ticket and cut some slack, don't make the persons life a living hell for 2 weeks. Don't be rambo and impound the car and make the person walk home and throw the book at them. You're not taking criminals off the mean streets Judge Dredd. Go crack down on some crackheads downtown instead of being a jerk. :(

Sorry to hear the stories about this kind of thing. Again, I think you deserve a ticket if you break the law even in ignorance but the officer might as well be a nice guy and understanding and just say, look, its too bad, here's your ticket, learn your lesson don't do it again, now get outta here.