So just recently I got into a silly car accident (extremely minor, no damage, just a tap in bumper-to-bumper, rush hour traffic) and I got two tickets: one for
not keeping proper lookout causing an accident and one for failure to show proof of insurance. I do, however, have insurance. So my questions are: will I have
to pay the insurance-related ticket, if I simply provide proof of insurance? and how much do these tickets (if anybody has a guesstimate) normally cost? This
is my first offense; not sure if that makes a difference or not, but what the hell.
Quick legal question involving car accidents, no insurance
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 xlovestoned |
Quick legal question involving car accidents, no insurance |
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Posts: 483 (06/24/2008 3:19 AM) |
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Peachgrrl |
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Posts: 41745 (06/24/2008 3:25 AM) Most Well-Rounded '02 |
The insurance thing should just be a "fix it ticket". You only have to pay if you can't provide them with proof of insurance.
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joey4pacey637 |
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Posts: 24717 (06/24/2008 3:26 AM) Biggest Sports Fan '08 |
If you can show them your proof of insurance, they'll take the ticket off your record and you won't have to pay for it. It happens all the time.
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xlovestoned |
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Posts: 484 (06/24/2008 3:28 AM) |
I thought that's what would happen...but question: who do I show the proof-of-insurance to? They gave me a court date on August 4th, but in my mind, it
would be better to pay (or fix) the tickets before that date. So who do I show proof-of-insurance to and if I do so, would I still have to show up in court? OR
(sorry, this has gotten me shaken up a bit) do I take the proof-of-insurance to court with me and provide it then?
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Aikko |
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Posts: 16 (06/24/2008 3:31 AM) |
From my experience no you can't handle it earlier - you have to show up in court on the day they told you to with the proof and give it to the judge. I was
done in just a few minutes. Ticket fixed. It's not that big a deal unless you really didn't have insurance when the accident occurred.
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KellyDoll |
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Posts: 1839 (06/24/2008 3:40 AM) |
I had a similar thing happen. Got a speeding ticket and I had my expired insurance card in my car by accident.
I just went to the court house, to the "payment window" or whatever it's called and showed them my proof of insurance (plus paid my fine). You don't deal with a judge in a minor case like this - they have more important things to worry about besides a fender bender. You just show it to the payment window people. Or at least that's all I had to do. And if I remember correctly, the date on the ticket isn't the date when you have to go - that's just the last day you have up until I believe. You can go down tomorrow and take care of it. But this was in CA, it seems it may be different state to state, judging by the response above mine. That sucks a cop got involved since it was such a minor fender bender. Did one just happen to drive by and see you and the other vehicle exchanging information, etc? |
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Peachgrrl |
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Posts: 41747 (06/24/2008 3:42 AM) Most Well-Rounded '02 |
The instructions for what to do should be on the ticket.
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Aikko |
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Posts: 17 (06/24/2008 3:48 AM) |
KellyDoll wrote: Oh wow. I live in CA, LA to be exact, and had the exact opposite experience. I had a set court date and had to give my proof to an actual judge sitting on
a bench. But this was almost five years ago so maybe things have changed?
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JenniferG |
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Posts: 1058 (06/24/2008 3:51 AM) |
If it were me, I'd go to pay the one ticket you have to pay and ask details on how to fix the insurance ticket.
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xlovestoned |
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Posts: 485 (06/24/2008 4:25 AM) |
KellyDoll wrote: Well, the lady who I hit told me her "husband would kill me" if she didn't report it (my luck). The cop even said it's a bit unnecessary to write a report (since there was no damage and it would take an additional 45 minutes), but alas, she wanted it. The back of my ticket says "inquiries" could be made about the ticket 3 business days afterwards (the accident was last Tuesday), so I'm going
to call tomorrow and see what they say. I hope, like you said, I could just go somewhere, show somebody the POI and be done with it.
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