Having your car impounded for not having a Driver's License

[Roon]

or a registration on you when you get pulled over. By the time you pay fines,towing, and storage,it will cost over 1,000 to get your car back.

This will be on the ballot next election and there are some people pretty upset about it. Some say it's an obvious attempt to harrass the illegal aliens.

I have a link but the flyer is still downstairs,I'll grab it later and post the link.

[Recursion]

1. That doesn't happen already?

That's how they do it everywhere I've lived.

[depakid]

13. Even when it's a matter of record?

Pretty simple to call it in and confirm DL and Reg status.

[Recursion]

16. Well as always the cop can give you a break

And this doesn't mean everyone the cops can do this to, they will do it to. But at least where I've lived you could be dragged off to jail and your car impounded if you can't provide proof of licensure and insurance on the spot.

[depakid]

22. So what you're saying is that if you don't have hard copies on your person or vehicle

then despite the fact that stops are called in and records are easily accessible (think warrants, stolen cars and stuff) - one still has their vehicle impounded?

Thankfully, that's not how it works where I've lived in the states. Sure, you might get a citation with a modest fine- but impound?

:shrug:

[TorchTheWitch]

33. no- they impound if your license is invalid

They can easily check the database on license and registration at the stop.

A couple of weeks ago I ran out to the store for smokes and forgot my purse with my license. I got pulled over because one of my brake lights was out. No problem, officer checks database using my registration info, discovers my license is valid, tells me that the brake light is probably just a burnt bulb that's cheap to fix, please get it done soon, my that's a really big dog you have - bet he eats a whole lot - har har, allrighty you have a nice night ma'am.

[bobburgster]

30. No way!

Most officers are pretty understanding. They just run your name to make sure you have a valid license.

[Recursion]

34. Yes, but I look middle eastern

I'm Italian, but look like I just got off the boat from Beiruit. So I get a lot of Suspicion of Being a Minority stops.

[bobburgster]

2. Holy crap! Where is this?

[Roon]

25. OOOPS!! sorry

Colorado.

[JuniperLea]

3. Hmmm... that is how it is now...

You don't get "fix-it" tickets for driving without a license... they impound the car if you don't have a licensed driver with you. No registration is a huge no-no too.

Driving isn't a right.

I'm still pissed that it's illegal to drive without insurance, yet my insurance company sells me "uninsured motorist" insurance every year.

[Heddi]

5. Uninsured motorist saved my ass earlier this year

Yes, it's illegal to drive without insurance, but not everyone follows the law.

In June our car was totaled from a hit and run who cut me off from behind as I was changing lanes, tapped my car and sent me into a spin that resulted in a couple of black eyes and some hurt necks.

Because the car that hit us just kept going (assholes), and our car was totaled of course we had to file an insurance claim. I was SO PISSED because I didn't think it was fair that MY RATES would go up because of a hit and run.

Well, unbeknownst to us, uninsured/underinsured is used in events like hit and run, etc. So our entire accident was covered via un/under and it didn't raise our rates AT ALL. I'm not sure of the exact legal wording, but the insurance adjuster told us that un/under is separate from our "regular" auto insurance and wouldn't affect our rates...and it hasn't. Thankfully also it's listed as a no-fault accident which helps as well.

Now I live in FL which has one of the highest rates of uninsured and unlicensed drivers in teh country. I'm more than happy to pay a couple hundred bucks a year to ensure that my losses and injuries are covered should some dumb fuck redneck plow into my Jetta, fuck up my car and my life, and not have the insurance period, or the insurance coverage to pay for it.

I encourage everyone to get un/under. I think in FL it only covers uninsured, not underinsured, but still, it's a great way to minimize losses should you get hit by an uninsured, or are in an accident because of a hit and run (which is considered uninsured because you don't know who did it).

Oh, and in case anyone is interested (probably not), the total payout we got for the car once it was determined to be totaled was about $12,000 and we got another $2000 for our black eyes. Rates only went up because we had moved from WA to FL, but rates did not go up because of accident.

[JuniperLea]

8. I buy it every year...

And have used it twice, quite satisfactorily. It's wrong that I have to pay insurance premiums for those who ignore the law, is my point.

I had a tree-trimmer hit me with his truck full of branches... and empty beer cans... and no insurance. Totaled my recently tricked out International Harvester Travelall, 1977 with 60k original miles... I loved that truck.

[Heddi]

17. I agree with you...I think it should be just "part" of insurance

and and not have to be an extra cost add on for insurance...

Our car was a 01 Jetta Wagon...oh it was so sweet, leather black interior, sunroof, silver...PERFECT condition. 8 years old and we tripped 50k on the drive from Seattle to Fl. Almost here, in Atlanta, when some dickface decided that me putting my blinker on and actually being halfway in the lane was just not fast enough for his ass, cut me off from behind, clipped the drivers side bumper. I tried to correct as I saw him in the rear view mirror, and go back into the lane I was still half in just as he clipped me. The clip, plus the motion of me trying to get back in the lane was just too much for the loaded down wagon. It started rocking, then swaying, and then went into a full on spin and hit butt-end straight into the concrete barrier. Thank GOD we didn't hit a single other car. No one was a witness, the car never stopped. All I remember was red/orange color.

Thankfully, the police officer was kind to us and appreciated the fact that Mr. Heddi and I are nurses. He got a copy of the highway cam that showed the accident. That is what saved our ass, insurance wise.

I mourned the loss of that car. I loved it. It was the ultimate nerd mobile and drove SO FUCKING GOOD omg. I'm getting sad just thinking about it :( I wished a pox upon the house of that asshole motherfucker...still do some days

[JuniperLea]

19. I lost two wicked cool rides to the stupidity of others...

I drove my grandfather's 1972 Coupe de Ville for years... he was the original owner and I inherited the car... it was so sweet... gold... leather interior, power everything... I was the livin' lovin' maid tooling 'round town in my aged Cadillac:)

Till some idiot ran a red light and t-boned me.

Ugh.

I drive a really boring Mazda now... but I get excellent gas mileage and it's an ultra low emissions vehicle... so I try to convince myself it's not so bad:)

[Heddi]

20. That wagon was *me*

Mr. Heddi and I decided that just to fit the Seattle Yuppie Downtown Living Jetta Wagon Driving stereotype, we should get some tennis rackets to throw in the back (we don't play tennis), put a baby seat in the back (childfree here) and get a designer dog named Morrissey, or Franklin or something just to bounce around in the back seat.

We never did any of those things, though. We just pretty much used it for righteous Ikea sale hauls and Craiglist Free-Section finds. "OMG! A Free Pinball Machine that is in total disrepair. DUDE WE COULD TOTALLY FIT THAT IN THE CAR let's get it!!" ah ha ha ha

Now we're back to Jetta sedans. They're so much...smaller. The seats in the wagon were like LaZBoys. You could just stretch out and drive ha ha

[JuniperLea]

21. I was on my way to pick up an antique dresser...

When the joker with beer cans ran the red light... ugh...

I do miss the hauling abilities!

Your story cracked me up... reminded me of an episode of Keeping Up Appearances, in which Hyacinth buys Richard a pair of snow skis... neither skis, but she wanted them as an accessory to the car;)

[bobburgster]

31. I think I leve in one of only a few states....

that still does not require insurance.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. I lost my Mustang that very way!

I paid for the registration, the DMV cashed my check and refused to send my tags because my car insurance expired during the process. So I garaged my car for a few months until I could get the cash for the insurance. On the way to the insurance company (comprehensive insurance is required for a car with a lien holder, so they have to take pics of your car), I was stopped. The police impounded my car (no tags for several months).

I could not afford to buy insurance ($300) AND pay the pound fees ($600). I had to call the bank lien holder and ask them to repo the car out of the pound. That was done and the car is sitting on someone's used car lot gathering rust now.

The fine was $1700 for driving without tags and insurance. I went to court 3 times (on my bicycle) and the cop didn't show up in the end, so the case was dropped.

I still have no Mustang and I lost about $7,000 in equity. Oh, by the way, I'm a LEGAL alien.

[Hoopla Phil]

6. If you do not have a license or insurance you have no business driving a car

on public roads. I have no problem with this. I'm rather sure that anyone that has been hit by an uninsured/excluded driver will approve of this. (happened to my dad and to me)

[peace13]

10. I have been the caregiver for several elderly people.

If they want to purchase and insure a car for me to drive them around in, I think that is within their rights. If I want to collect airplanes as investments do I have to have a pilots license?

[fizzgig]

15. what on earth does that have to do with the proposed ordinance?

[peace13]

18. Sorry!

Having a bad day! Read that OWNING not driving a car. Thanks. You can all look away now! : )

[Hoopla Phil]

28. That doesn't make a lick of sense with regard to this issue.

If someone gives you their car to use; and you do not have a license to drive it and get pulled over resulting in the car being impounded that is the owners tough luck. You pay the ticket, they pay to get their car back, and hopefully you both learn a lesson and don't do something like that again.

Your second statement is so far removed from this discussion I cannot comment on it.

[peace13]

44. See post 18 from two day s ago! n/t

[vadawg]

40. huh, as long as you have a valid licence theres no problem with this.

if you have no licence then you dont drive that simple...

[peace13]

43. See post 18.

[bobburgster]

32. He did not say that. As I recall...

he said if you don't have them on you, your car will be impounded....big difference.

[flvegan]

7. If I'm not mistaken, they do this in the UK.

Got to have your paperwork lest you get nicked by the rozzers.

[peace13]

9. Already happening in Ohio.

Last time I was in to renew my drivers license there was a young man trying to register his car that had been impounded after he was pulled over. Because the police had taken his drivers license he could not register the car that had been impounded. They told him that he would have to wait until he got his license back from the judge. The young man told the clerk that the impound fee alone would be over $1600.00 as his court date wasn't for weeks. His mother was with him and he asked if she could register the car. Nope, the kid had a loan on the car so she would have to buy it from him, pay sales tax on it and then register it all after the bank forwarded the title to her. That kid lost his car that day, I am certain.

[MercutioATC]

23. The lesson: Don't drive without a license and registration.

It's pretty simple, actually.

[peace13]

37. I am reminded of a pretty, white, wife of a doctor.

We live in a village of 4500. When Mrs. Doctor forgot to register her car, I heard the local police officer give her a warning and off she went. So many times these laws are used against the poor and minorities to further drown out those who have no luck if not bad luck. That is why I speak out. The young man who I witnesses in this instance was dark skinned and his mother/sister had her head covered. There was no slack cut on that day.

[Rebubula]

11. OK...

...first...this has been the way it is in every state that I have lived in.

Second...many people see laws as only tools to fuck with the minorities. I am not one of those folks

Third...I LIKE that your car will be towed if you do not have a driver's license or registration. There are already 50,000 deaths a year due to auto accidents. Trying to keep everyone legal with licenses and insurance (cannot register in most states without insurance) is helpful to everyone and keeps the road safer.

Some laws are there to protect the public.

[Codeine]

12. It mystifies me that there are places where they DON'T do this. nt

[asdjrocky]

14. This is important to me.

In Stockton Ca, they make taking your car big business.

In one years time, this is what has happened to me, a legal driver and an American citizen.

In Nov of 08 I was pulled over for not having my seat belt on. Actually I had just pulled out of a parking lot, stopped 35 feet away at the light, and put on my belt, that's when I saw the motorcycle cop watching me. HE WATECHED ME PUT IT ON!

He pulled me over, gave me a ticket for my seat belt then explained to me he was taking the car. Even though I had a licence, and was paying off an old speeding ticket with monthly payments, he said my license was suspended. It wasn't. However, they found eight tickets on me from a years period when I wasn't even in Stockton and that was the reason they gave. I had to pay for the ticket I was making payments on, set a court date for the tickets that I never even got, and pay impounding fees, towing fees and a wonderful thing called a liene fee. Oh yeah, and like a months worth of storage fees while I was waiting to appear in court on old tickets.

I walked into court ready to prove I had a licence, that I had insurance, that I was not in Stockton for the dates of the tickets and that my licence was not suspended at the time I was pulled over, and they could care less. The judge laughed, said there was obviously some kind of a mix up and she dismissed everything.

When I asked if that meant they gave me the money back I was out, she laughed about that too. It was over 2,000 dollars, more if you count the car I had to rent.

Fast forward to August of 2009. I'm pulled over for 45 in a 35 by radar on a perfectly clear day. This time, after the speeding ticket they claim I have a thing called "family support" on my license and of course, they were taking the car. I did not attack the cop. Not even when he laughed at me, there in my pj's, without my phone, 4 miles from home and on my way to pick my brother in law up from dialysis. When I explained I had no phone, and my situation and I asked politely to use his phone he laughed like I was out of my mind. "Like I'm going to let you use my phone."

I don't owe child support. This was from a case that had been open for 6 months that I had paper work showing it was closed years ago because I had to go to court and show that I paid it. I've never owed child support in my life, and the daughter that it is for is 30 years old. That's right, the case is more than 15 years old.

Anyway, I'm on the phone that day to the DA, the child support people and my ex. That day, on that very day, they contact DMV and say it's all a mistake. The very next day, DMV clears my license and then I have to wait 5 days to get paid to get my car. They charge you more if you want to pick it up on weekends. When I called the police department to ask them to remove the charges their answer was simply, the cop was doing what the computer told him to do at the time, so he was in the right.

No big deal, I'm out about a thousand this time, it's only money, right?

Go to court, everything's dismissed, just like last time. I'm starting to feel like a pinball here, a very poor pinball.

I'm lucky, but people get homeless everyday behind this stuff.

So it's all over, I'm free and clear and I always drive looking over my shoulder because I'm convinced they will find some reason to take my car if I get pulled over.

THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED TO ME IN ANY OTHER CITY. Just my hometown, where I grew up.

And oh yeah, did I mention? Got a letter from revenue recovery, they want 175.00, who knows what for, but if I don't give it to them by nov 4, my license is suspended again.

And people wonder why I'm pissed off.

[smoochpooch]

24. I would call a lawyer, if the whole thing was a mistake then you shouldn't have to pay.

I know that when private companies do the towing and storage that it becomes big business because of the fees and because you can forfeit your car after a certain period of time. There may be a lawyer in your area who has dealt with this before and put some pressure on them to reimburse you for their mistake.

[asdjrocky]

26. How much is the lawyer going to cost me?

[anigbrowl]

29. do it in small claims, you don't need a lawyer.

If all your documentation is in order, just bring in all your paperwork (make copies ahead of time, because you'll need to give the judge one and show it to the representative from the City of Stockton), and sue them for amount you had to pay in unjustified fines and fees.

[peace13]

38. I didn't know that you could sue the state. Are you sure about that? nt

[onenote]

27. i'm trying to figure out the implicit assumption that only undocumented aliens

drive without a registration or license and that its therefore wrong to crack down on that behavior.

[TorchTheWitch]

35. there is no valid reason for this

Though you are supposed to carry these items (license and registration) in the vehicle with you when you drive there is no reason whatsoever to impound the vehicle if for some reason they aren't. Police can easily check the database from their police cars to verify whether or not the car registration and the driver's license is valid.

The purpose of impounding a car is to take an unregistered vehicle off the road and to keep an unlicensed driver from driving (at least from driving that particular vehicle). Impounding a vehicle when it can be easily varified on the spot that the registration and driver's license is valid is nothing more than harrassment and as far as I'm concerned it's theft.

[SoCalDem]

36. We had our car impounded once.. what a nuisance..and expense too

we thought we had 30 days to register our out-of-state car.. we were wrong:(

[intheflow]

39. Obviously you're in Denver.

Voting on this issue is by mail-in ballot only and must be mailed by 10/30/09. Denver city council is strongly urging voters to vote against this!

[Critters2]

41. I was once pulled over for a burned out taillight, and accidentally gave

an expired insurance card. I hadn't switched cards, but did have current insurance. The cops were amazing! Took me to jail, where my neighbor came and bailed me out, towed my car. I went to traffic court the next morning with the valid insurance card. The judge withdrew the charge and expunged my record...but I still had to pay to get my car back, on top of paying my neighbor back. :grr:

[951-Riverside]

42. There are several reasons why they do that.

1. They have to prove you are the driver/owner of the car
2. They have to make sure you have not been suspended for DUI or other serious violations
3. They have to make sure you're not wanted for serious crimes (ie murder, rape, etc)

If they just let people off the hook for driving without proper ID or insurance, people who are wanted for serious crimes, suspended for DUI or just commuted car theft could drive around freely because the police would have no way of proving who they are also if you live in a state where insurance is required and some uninsured driver slams into you unless he or she is rolling in money you're going to be on your own for repairs, medical, etc.

This is not about racism or scareing those who are here illegally its about public safety. OTOH there should be a limit on how much a towing yard can charge to store a vehicle for 30 days (ie it should not exceed $250).