Learn From Others Mistakes

A close friend of mine has a son in his early 20's who has had a few tickets. Nothing major, no DUI's or excessive speeding. He did, though get stopped for a minor traffic violation and was found to have no insurance. That is not a good thing. On top of that, he didn't pay the ticket until he actually lost his licenses.


Upon receiving the letter, the first thing he did was pay the tickets; one for the minor violation, the other for no insurance. He then had to pay a reinstatement fee which was well over $100. He then received a letter showing he could go get a new license. In this particular state, one does not need proof of insurance to get a drivers license. You do here in Louisiana, though, should be like that everywhere.


So, anyway, he got his licence reinstated, only to receive a letter about 4 weeks afterward that he had yet another fee to pay. If he did not pay it within three weeks, he would loose his license. He paid it, on time. Now, he finds out that they revoked his licence anyway.


I really don't know the whole story, but I do know of several that find themselves in these type situations. It infuriates me that the legal system seems like the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. I asked my friend why they didn't tell them up front about all the charges at once. She told me she asked them the same question. Their answer was they don't know about all the charges til the tickets get paid. Paying the tickets sets up a red flag in the system, and paperwork gets sent to the judge and the judge decides what fees need to be charged. Sounds like a scam to me!


My reason for blogging about this, is that we all need to learn from this. At one time or another, most of us will received some sort of ticket. Maybe speeding, parking, or whatever. But when you do, pay it...SOON! Also, don't drive around uninsured. I believe that is one big reason our insurance policies are so high!