What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington State
I happened to drive my father's car to work today which like the title says, had expired tags on it which expired 10/31. The car also happened to not have the proof of insurance stub in it either so basically a very nice officer pulled me over and gave me a ticket for almost $700.
I'm not worried about the insurance because we do have that and I'll be showing it to the judge, but what concerns me is my dad paid for the vehicle tabs for all other cars he owns, but this one he says he never received a reminder (he pays for renewal tabs online) and because the car is not used as frequently as the other vehicles, it was just now that we're aware of it.
My question is what kind of options do I have that would give me the best outcome in this situation?
On my ticket sheet would I select a mitigation hearing agreeing that I committed an infraction - because not having tabs is an infraction and its very hard to argue that, OR
should I contest it saying that yes even though there is an infraction I am not at fault because 1)no reminder was received 2)I'm not the owner of the vehicle...3) your suggestions?
I have a perfect driving record so I want to know what the best deal for me would be here. I live in Spokane so I'll be working with that court.
On a side note, is it better to have the ticket deferred or just go on my record? Because from what I read, your record disappears after 5 years, but deferrals stay on lifetime and because this is a non-moving violation in worse case scenario I'm thinking of simply paying the ticket so that I won't have a deferral on my lifetime record....but then again this is a field I know nothing about because I've never had any earlier personal court experience.
I also just read on a website "Negotiate with the Prosecutor for an amendment of the ticket to a nonmoving violation. The Prosecutor has the ability to amend your ticket to a nonmoving violation. A nonmoving violation shouldn’t affect your insurance rates. " <-- Would this apply to me? How would I go about doing this?
Thanks
I happened to drive my father's car to work today which like the title says, had expired tags on it which expired 10/31. The car also happened to not have the proof of insurance stub in it either so basically a very nice officer pulled me over and gave me a ticket for almost $700.
I'm not worried about the insurance because we do have that and I'll be showing it to the judge, but what concerns me is my dad paid for the vehicle tabs for all other cars he owns, but this one he says he never received a reminder (he pays for renewal tabs online) and because the car is not used as frequently as the other vehicles, it was just now that we're aware of it.
My question is what kind of options do I have that would give me the best outcome in this situation?
On my ticket sheet would I select a mitigation hearing agreeing that I committed an infraction - because not having tabs is an infraction and its very hard to argue that, OR
should I contest it saying that yes even though there is an infraction I am not at fault because 1)no reminder was received 2)I'm not the owner of the vehicle...3) your suggestions?
I have a perfect driving record so I want to know what the best deal for me would be here. I live in Spokane so I'll be working with that court.
On a side note, is it better to have the ticket deferred or just go on my record? Because from what I read, your record disappears after 5 years, but deferrals stay on lifetime and because this is a non-moving violation in worse case scenario I'm thinking of simply paying the ticket so that I won't have a deferral on my lifetime record....but then again this is a field I know nothing about because I've never had any earlier personal court experience.
I also just read on a website "Negotiate with the Prosecutor for an amendment of the ticket to a nonmoving violation. The Prosecutor has the ability to amend your ticket to a nonmoving violation. A nonmoving violation shouldn’t affect your insurance rates. " <-- Would this apply to me? How would I go about doing this?
Thanks
