CA Expired Registration & Failure To Appear

[PRizzo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Hello,
On 5/10/07, I was pulled over for expired registration on my car. I went to DMV paid the fees took care of it. I had officer sign off on ticket. Unfortunately I cannot find proof of this. I also forgot that my old address was on ticket so I received a notice to appear at old address that did not get forwarded. My change of address has since been changed with DMV for quite some time.
I recently received my license renewal from DMV (which expires on 5/29/09) and it says I have violations 4000 A VC and 405095 VC that have to be cleared up before my renewal. I received another letter from a collections company who says they been trying to reach me (this is the first I've ever heard from them recently) and says my fines are $836.
Help! I have not received a traffic ticket in over 18 years. Can this be cleared up without all these huge fines since I am in a financial bind right now? Thank You in advance for your help

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by PRizzo

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Hello,
On 5/10/07, I was pulled over for expired registration on my car. I went to DMV paid the fees took care of it. I had officer sign off on ticket. Unfortunately I cannot find proof of this. I also forgot that my old address was on ticket so I received a notice to appear at old address that did not get forwarded. My change of address has since been changed with DMV for quite some time.
I recently received my license renewal from DMV (which expires on 5/29/09) and it says I have violations 4000 A VC and 405095 VC that have to be cleared up before my renewal. I received another letter from a collections company who says they been trying to reach me (this is the first I've ever heard from them recently) and says my fines are $836.
Help! I have not received a traffic ticket in over 18 years. Can this be cleared up without all these huge fines since I am in a financial bind right now? Thank You in advance for your help

You need to pay the large fines because you didn't pay the small fines 2 years ago. Apparently, you never bothered with the final step in your ticket...

[CdwJava]

Apparently you failed to appear in court for your citation.

You can contact the court and see about another court date if possible. There might be a way to suffer the fine only, minus the collections fee. There is one regular poster here, CourtClerk, who might show up to give you a little more detail as to how that might work.

- Carl

[reactive]

Maybe the police sub-station keeps records of signing off on things? Considering your otherwise good record and lack of forwarding, I think the court might go easy on you. If everything seemed settled and you can get the record of the 2007 visit to the DMV, that likely will improve the odds. The collections agency is a different story. While it might reduce the charge if, for example, you agreed to a payment plan, I doubt it will drop everything unless instructed by whomever first sent the account there.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by PRizzo

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Hello,
On 5/10/07, I was pulled over for expired registration on my car. I went to DMV paid the fees took care of it. I had officer sign off on ticket. Unfortunately I cannot find proof of this. I also forgot that my old address was on ticket so I received a notice to appear at old address that did not get forwarded. My change of address has since been changed with DMV for quite some time.
I recently received my license renewal from DMV (which expires on 5/29/09) and it says I have violations 4000 A VC and 405095 VC that have to be cleared up before my renewal. I received another letter from a collections company who says they been trying to reach me (this is the first I've ever heard from them recently) and says my fines are $836.
Help! I have not received a traffic ticket in over 18 years. Can this be cleared up without all these huge fines since I am in a financial bind right now? Thank You in advance for your help

The fines are large now because you failed to take the final step of paying the fine when it was small.

[reactive]

Says you. He didn't say that. Maybe it was supposed to be cancelled by the officer's signature and somehow didn't get entered into the system.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by reactive

Says you. He didn't say that. Maybe it was supposed to be cancelled by the officer's signature and somehow didn't get entered into the system.

You don't know how California "fix-it" tickets work. OP would have needed to present the proof of correction to the courts and paid the appropriate fee.

[reactive]

I had a California fix-it ticket once, for I think forgetting to put my new registration sticker on the car. No court appearance or fine followed. I don't recall whether I had to mail something. As expired registration is a more serious offense, you could be right that it requires more.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by reactive

Says you. He didn't say that. Maybe it was supposed to be cancelled by the officer's signature and somehow didn't get entered into the system.

It is the responsibility of the defendant to see that the citation is brought to the court and turned in. The police sign the back of the citation and that that. They do NOT keep a copy of the citation for the record (there might be some agency somewhere that does, but none that I am ware of).

The 40509.5 seems to indicate that there may be a failure to appear in court for this matter. So, it is likely the OP got it signed off and never appeared on the court date to turn it in. Or, if the OP mailed it, it never got registered at the court. This is why people should ALWAYS show at their court date unless they receive word in writing NOT to show.

- Carl

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by reactive

I had a California fix-it ticket once, for I think forgetting to put my new registration sticker on the car. No court appearance or fine followed. I don't recall whether I had to mail something. As expired registration is a more serious offense, you could be right that it requires more.

If you were cited, then you either had to appear with the proof of correction, or you mailed in the proof of correction. The police did not take care of it, and it does not happen by itself. You should have been assessed an administrative fee for the offense, and had you actually been cited, you would have been ($10 or $20 depending on how long ago this was). So, you either got REAL lucky and some clerk lost your citation, or you received a warning notice, or you took care of it as you should have and forgot about it.

- Carl

[reactive]

Probably #3. It's plausible I mailed a small fee and forgot about it. It was a few years ago.

If the original poster did pay something by check after getting the ticket 'fixed,' he might be able to get a copy from the bank and present that as evidence.

[I_Got_Banned]

Originally Posted by reactive

If the original poster did pay something by check after getting the ticket 'fixed,' he might be able to get a copy from the bank and present that as evidence.

But he didn't... He clearly failed to appear in court to pay the administrative fee to have the citation dismissed. And that resulted in the additional "Failure to Appear/Pay" fine which brought up the total to the $836 he owes.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by reactive

Probably #3. It's plausible I mailed a small fee and forgot about it. It was a few years ago.

If the original poster did pay something by check after getting the ticket 'fixed,' he might be able to get a copy from the bank and present that as evidence.

Apology accepted

[reactive]

Assuming he never mailed the fine, then my idea won't work. He might as well try to bring as much documentation as possible, including a copy of the dated DMV change of address form. I don't consider everything his fault, and maybe neither will the court.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by reactive

Assuming he never mailed the fine, then my idea won't work. He might as well try to bring as much documentation as possible, including a copy of the dated DMV change of address form. I don't consider everything his fault, and maybe neither will the court.

I have no idea why. OP failed to follow through and also failed to follow the law with regard to address change notification. This is ENTIRELY the OP's fault.