This is topic Los Angeles Courthouse, fix it ticket... in forum General Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on :
 
Ok, I am absolutely dumbfounded by what happened.

Sept '07 I am driving in LA when a cop pulls me over. He claims I made an illegal right hand turn. After taking my lisc and registration, he comes back and says that he will just give me a warning for the right hand turn since I am from out of town, but he is issuing me a fix-it-ticket for my driver's lisc having an outdated address on it.

A week later I head to the DMV, get my lisc address updated, the dmv signed off on the ticket, and told me to send it to the Los Angeles County Courthouse, which I did.

Fast forward 5 months... Today I get a letter from the collection agency saying I owe $800 for "failure to appear" and that a warrant will be issued for my arrest if the bill is not paid.

How a simple fix it ticket turned into $800 and a warrant on the way is beyond me! The whole time I was under the impression that I could simply mail the signed ticket in, as the DMV indicated to me.

Worst part, I can't even get in contact with anyone until Monday morning... ehhhhh

Unbelievable.

Anyone dealt with something similar or think they can steer me in the right direction?

Thanks guys!

Sometimes I am terrified of getting pulled over at all because only god knows where that information is sent, stored, mistakenly processed, etc...
 
Posted by Black 02 SS (Member # 5939) on :
 
Sorry I can't help but I had a similar situation with a tint ticket from Colusa County. Fix it, signed of, sent, then got a collections notice for $400 5-6 months down the line with the same warnings. Bullshit man. I had no time to deal with it any further.
 
Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Black 02 SS:
Sorry I can't help but I had a similar situation with a tint ticket from Colusa County. Fix it, signed of, sent, then got a collections notice for $400 5-6 months down the line with the same warnings. Bullshit man. I had no time to deal with it any further.
so you paid it and that was it?
 
Posted by slidewayz94 (Member # 3101) on :
 
It could have been lost in the mail. It's best to send stuff of registered mail so you have a receipt of delivery.
 
Posted by jmcclesk (Member # 1355) on :
 
I recived the same kind of ticket by skyline college back a long time ago. Yes it is a fix it ticket, but fix it tickets have a fee now. I had to pay 100.00 or 125.00 and that was 6 plus years ago.
 
Posted by jmcclesk (Member # 1355) on :
 
At this point it is best to pay it.

[ February 23, 2008, 11:04 PM: Message edited by: jmcclesk ]
 
Posted by Black 02 SS (Member # 5939) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Luke87GT:
quote:
Originally posted by Black 02 SS:
Sorry I can't help but I had a similar situation with a tint ticket from Colusa County. Fix it, signed of, sent, then got a collections notice for $400 5-6 months down the line with the same warnings. Bullshit man. I had no time to deal with it any further.
so you paid it and that was it?
Yeah, that's all I did. I had gotten rid of the car by that point as well. Being that Colusa was 100+ miles out I didn't want to go through the hassle.
 
Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on :
 
Thanks for all the help guys.

I need to remember in the future to follow up on any tickets I receive. I guess you have to be pro-active and protect yourself.

I will be talking to them on Monday and see if we can come to any common ground.

The only thing I have going for myself is that I have the change of address slip that the DMV gave me (which has a stamped date of 1 week after I got pulled over).

Hey Los Angeles County Courthouse -
 
Posted by JohnB (Member # 969) on :
 
Contact them (court, NOT collection agency) and get the name/address of the presiding judge for the division. Write a nice letter explaining the situation, show proof of correction, and send it certified mail. I've done this on more than one occasion...it works.
 
Posted by asskickn88 (Member # 4957) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by JohnB:
Contact them (court, NOT collection agency) and get the name/address of the presiding judge for the division. Write a nice letter explaining the situation, show proof of correction, and send it certified mail. I've done this on more than one occasion...it works.
Thats great advise. If you have the paper from DMV showing you did the change of address 1 week after the ticket then I'm sure they'll work with you. They can be dicks in certain situations but when you approach them the right way it will usually work out in your favor. Its the same way as dealing with cops when your pulled over, if your an asshole they'll return it 10 times worse. I've talked my way out of so many tickets by just being cool to the cop.
 
Posted by 532Fastback (Member # 1482) on :
 
That sucks Luke.
Something similar happened with my mom, it all got worked out in the end.
 
Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on :
 
UPDATE:

Hi guys, so I finally flew down to LA on Thursday for my court date to get this resolved.

The judge had me for the license address update fix-it ticket along with a failure to appear.

I pled guilty and showed documentation that the fix-it ticket was addressed back in October of 2007. The judge dropped the fix-it ticket and fined me $135 for the failure to appear. A lot better than the original fine of $800 from the collections agency.

All in all it worked out ok.

In summary, if you ever get a fix-it ticket, make sure you go to court and prove that it was taken care of. Do not trust that just sending it in will be enough. In my case, they never received the signed ticket, and I had no documentation that it was sent in.

Still cost me 2 days off work, $200 plane ticket, and countless hours at the DMV along with phone time...

Happy motoring

[ April 05, 2008, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: Luke87GT ]
 
Posted by cdog301 (Member # 5136) on :
 
anything is better than going to jai for failure to appear! [Mad]

[ April 13, 2008, 04:42 AM: Message edited by: cdog301 ]
 
Posted by 88DroptopGT (Member # 2535) on :
 
Wow yeah my friend had the same situation with a speeding ticket in a neighboring state.

Since he was in another State visiting family traffic court wasn't an option so he just paid. Turns out the court "never got the payment" and he almost got taken to jail for a seat belt ticket in Cali.

Gotta send it certified/tracking nowadays. You never know when you might fall thru the legal cracks .
 




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