Out of State Ticket - what to do?

[Bigcarlover]

On a recent trip, missed the speed limit drop and managed to get popped by a Deputy. After a little research I found out that out of state tickets follow you back to your home state. Which means if I plead guilty and send it in it's more than a fine, it's points - which means it will probably hit my insurance.

There are lawyers in the state that advertise they will try to help reduce it to a lesser offense, and you may not have to appear in person. I have no idea what they charge for this service, but I'm guessing several hundred dollars. Since I have a clean record, I'm wondering if it's worth spending the $$$ to hire such a lawyer and hope that they can reduce it, or just pay the ticket and take my lumps from the insurance company. Has anyone been in this position before?

 

[Blacksheep]

What state did you get the ticket in and what state do you live in? I got a ticket in CA while living in NC and paid the ticket. It was never reported to NC.

 

[~OtisM~]

Rarely does one ticket increase your insurance. Out of state, they will probably not even know. Youve already spent to much energy worrying about it. Just pay it.

 

[SCTom]

If you were speeding and the cop legitimately nailed you, pay the fine, learn from the experience and move on. It's called taking responsibility for your actions. If your driving record is as clean as you say it is it probably won't affect your insurance. Got my first ever speeding ticket 3 years ago (in 40 years of driving) in a rinky dink little town in SC that only exists because of it's speeding ticket income. I live in SC....it had no effect on my insurance premium.

 

[Isaiah Humphrey]

On a recent trip, missed the speed limit drop and managed to get popped by a Deputy. After a little research I found out that out of state tickets follow you back to your home state. Which means if I plead guilty and send it in it's more than a fine, it's points - which means it will probably hit my insurance.

There are lawyers in the state that advertise they will try to help reduce it to a lesser offense, and you may not have to appear in person. I have no idea what they charge for this service, but I'm guessing several hundred dollars. Since I have a clean record, I'm wondering if it's worth spending the $$$ to hire such a lawyer and hope that they can reduce it, or just pay the ticket and take my lumps from the insurance company. Has anyone been in this position before?

I used to work at a defense attorneys office...a prestigious one. it's pretty simple for them, and they charge about $300. which is a little less than an hours worth of work for them. many lawyers charge a lot less (and some more)

also, this will not effect your insurance at all. AT ALL. i'm 100% positive

unfortunatley for you, they're pretty unwilling to reduce fines for out of state drivers, because they know if you plead not guilty, you'd have to dive all the way to their local courthouse to meet with the D.A., with the price of gas, its not worth the drive/time for a $200 fine.

i'd send in a not guilty letter. tell them you have no desire to show up to a pre-trial conference with the D.A., and just ask that the fine be reduced due to "i missed the speed limit reduction sign"...

they'll maybe give you a 1-10 over fine.


however, if you were driving like 65, flying by cars in a 45, then there's no way you 'couldn't' have known something was up....at least, thats how they'll view it.

 

[Brent Jackson]

On a recent trip, missed the speed limit drop and managed to get popped by a Deputy. After a little research I found out that out of state tickets follow you back to your home state. Which means if I plead guilty and send it in it's more than a fine, it's points - which means it will probably hit my insurance.

There are lawyers in the state that advertise they will try to help reduce it to a lesser offense, and you may not have to appear in person. I have no idea what they charge for this service, but I'm guessing several hundred dollars. Since I have a clean record, I'm wondering if it's worth spending the $$$ to hire such a lawyer and hope that they can reduce it, or just pay the ticket and take my lumps from the insurance company. Has anyone been in this position before?

As long as you do not change insurance companies they will probably never know. I have gotten a few speeding tickets in my life & none were ever reported to my insurance company. I have been with my insurance company for 25 years & never had a rate increase.

 

[araczynski]

to 'get over it', i just look at it like this: divide the fine by however many days (ballpark) you DIDN'T get a ticket before this one and that's your 'per day speeding tax'. it will probably be a very tiny amount, a small price to pay per diem.

 

[hogcowboy]

I got my second speeding ticket in my life riding a motorcycle from California to Texas in Arizona. I just paid the fine once I got to Texas. Did not affect my insurance.

 

[FN1910]

As others have said pay the fine and quit worrying about it. The first ticket for SC drivers does not affect insurance and it is on your record for insurance for 4 years. Also was it more than 10 mph over the limit? Less than 10 has to have several to come into play. So pay the fine, pay attention, don't get any more tickets and quit worrying about it.