Multiple tickets are a genuine problem. Many Californians have multiple tickets that they cannot afford to pay without sacrificing some things more important, such as food and housing. Someone earning even the CA minimum wage of $10.50 per hour makes $420.00 per week before taxes. A fine for a red-light ticket can be $490.00 and more if the driver decides just to pay the fine and add the cost of traffic court to keep their insurance company from seeing the ticket and raising their rates, which will increase the price of the ticket to around $550. More than one week’s pay for one ticket. The highest fine in the country, nearly two-hundred dollars more than Oregon’s red-light ticket. What’s more, if you don’t pay that $490.00 on time the cost immediately rises to over $800. The wise thing to do would be to consult a traffic ticket attorney, particularly when you have multiple tickets.
Talk to a Traffic Ticket Attorney
Many would think, I can’t afford the tickets, how could I afford to hire an attorney. The choice may not be obvious, but an attorney’s fee is likely about the same as the ticket; however, if you just pay the fine there is just one outcome, and with multiple tickets, the increase in insurance premiums will far outweigh the attorney’s fee. When you hire an attorney, you have the chance of a total dismissal of the ticket.
Failure to Pay the Fines
The other thing to consider is the damage to your credit or a court-ordered suspension of your driver’s license for unpaid tickets. Under the new laws, your license can’t be suspended for failure to pay (FTP) your fine, but those laws do not cover those multiple tickets you had before the law goes into effect. When you are in this type of situation, you should contact a traffic attorney; you might just discover they have ways to get those tickets and fines reduced or dismissed.
Many traffic attorneys will even allow you to pay their fee on a payment plan if you can’t afford a one-time fee. This will allow you to keep your license or get it reinstated if it is suspended and get back a good credit rating by resolving those old tickets.
Now Is the Time to Act on those Multiple Tickets
There may never be a better time than now to act on those tickets because there is a state-wide sympathetic movement known as “Paying more for being Poor” which has grown out of the State’s position of adding fees and surcharges to the fine. A $35.00 speeding ticket cost nearly $250 after state and county assessments, surcharges, and penalties.
Multiple tickets and the additional civil penalties can quickly multiply, taking your payment up over $1000, many owe $4000 or more. In fact, the people of CA owed the state nearly $10 billion last year. Even though they can no longer arrest you for FTP, once a warrant is issued, if you are stopped they can impound your vehicle and add more expenses, which if you don’t pay, they can legally sell your car at auction. A worker without transportation will soon be unemployed.
Contact an attorney and act on those tickets now while the “court of public opinion” is in your corner.
Consult a Central Valley Traffic Ticket Defense Team
The best way to beat the repercussions of multiple tickets is head on, but acting on your own may not be enough. Call Bigger & Harman for a consultation, 661-349-9300, or send an email: attorney@markbigger.com.
Now, it’s even possible to contact them on Facebook, so send them a message stating your circumstances, how much you owe, etc. and let them work out a plan for you.
When you want more reassurance, they are Central Valley’s best traffic ticket attorneys, read the reviews left by their clients on Avvo and YelpAvvo is one of the leading Legal Advocate websites in the USA. 97% of US lawyer are rated by Avvo from 0-10, and one of the founders of Bigger & Harman has a 9.8 rating.
Se habla Español 661.349.9755.