A Series of Unfortunate Money Costing Event…
Posted by Cap in Even More Ramblings |Ever have those stupid moments where you consciously make a decision to do a certain thing so you can avoid a certain outcome — only to have that outcome happen anyway, and usually in an increased amount?
I decided to fight that speeding ticket back in October, and so far it’s costing more money and time compare to if I had just paid the ticket and went with traffic school. Oy vey.
8 Comments to “A Series of Unfortunate Money Costing Event…”
Leave a Comment
Next Post:
Yeehaw! The 96th Carnival of Personal Finance »
Yeehaw! The 96th Carnival of Personal Finance »
Previous Post:
« HOWTO: Protect What’s Left of Your Consumer Privacy
« HOWTO: Protect What’s Left of Your Consumer Privacy
April 15th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Just how are you fighting it that it is costing more? I thought it was a ” show up in court once and it’s over” type of thing?
April 15th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I fought it via mail, so I went the Trial by Declaration route (available in CA), where you basically have the court trial by mail. I mailed in my statement, the cop mails in his forms etc. and the judge makes a decision.
I lost the Trial by Declaration and traffic school was not granted to me (or rather, not even mentioned). Thus, to avoid points to my spot clean record, I requested a Trial de Novo (which is a new trial) where I have to appear at the court. Essentially, you get two shots at fighting the ticket.
Both times I had to run to the postal to mail letters/statements via Certified Mail.
Anyhow, the court date was set but unfortunately falls on the day of my exam, so I decided to drive up in person and see if they can just assign me traffic school. unfortunately they couldn’t, so I went with changing court date to a time when I’m free.
It’s an hour and 15 min. drive to this court house.
On the hour and 40 minute drive back (traffic and all), I decided to take this other highway to reach home since it’ll be faster + less traffic. As I merge onto the ramp that splits the highway, a rock hit my windshield and made a nice crack. So there’s another $45 to repair the crack.
Anyway, it still might be dismissed… but right now, I’d take an online traffic school just to avoid driving up there again. Not a lot of choice though :)
April 15th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Whoa! Sure hope it all works out for you. The rock on the windshield would’ve probably sent me to the padded room for sure!
April 15th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
That’s funny. As I was sitting in traffic school for 6 hours I was wishing I fought the damn ticket.
April 16th, 2007 at 2:26 am
heh yeah the irony.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Actually, this is probably a case of present value vs. future value. Presently, it’s costing you a lot to fight the ticket (and by the way, i’d reccomend spending more and paying an attorney to ‘make it disappear’ for you if at all possible)… but present value of spending a couple hundred bucks to fight the ticket is MUCH cheaper than paying an additional $25-$50/month for the next three years in additional car insurance.
If you win, that is.
April 16th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Fighting a ticket sounds good in theory until you realize that both the police officer who gave you the ticket and the judge you are going before both get paid by the city! I don’t see how anyone can get a fair shake when it is in the city’s best interest to make sure you pay!
April 19th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Whenever I get a ticket (usually parking tickets) – I try not to get mad and just see it as an additional tax that only hits you once in a while. They give out tickets to make money in your jurisdiction. Usually when you go to pay it, unless it’s a really bad situation, they’ll drop down most tickets to equipment violations. They don’t want your insurance to go up either — they don’t get anything out of it. They just want their $100-$150 every so often from everyone. If you only get a ticket once a year, you can consider yourself lucky.