Hello all!

I found a ticket today on my car for no front license plate. I am aware that it is required in IL. I guess the days of having a nice looking front end without plate are over!

I already have the plate and mounting hardware, so I am trying to figure out how I can get out of this ticket. I was thinking of installing the plate, taking a photo and sending it in to the city with the contested ticket. I could just say that I had the plate on my car all along and that I have no idea why I got the ticket. The ticket also says that my car is MAKE: "BMW" MODEL: "Mini". Since this is inaccurate, maybe this ticket can get thrown out?

I have learned my lesson and will just keep the plate on the front from now on... but on that note... What do you guys think about installing some type of front license plate bumper protection? Unfortunately, I don't have a garage spot and I have to park on the North Side... so street parking is pretty brutal. People just don't care if they hit your car. I don't want anyone hitting my baby! I was considering bumpshox, but man they sure aren't the prettiest.



So to recap:
1. Any advice on fighting this missing front plate ticket?
2. How can I best protect my baby while parking on the brutal-to-bumpers North Side?

Thanks!
-Chris

 

I wouldn't try that approach, Chris. The door pillar sticker on mine says it's made by Bayerische Motorwerke. (I don't have the gumption to go check that spelling, but it's somewhere close.)

 

If you think you might be able to get out of it, I would suggest contacting the district attorney's office to see if they would treat it as a "fix it" ticket. Then you could install the plate, have it verified by an officer, and have the ticket removed. Don't know if this would work, but some areas allow for such things. I wouldn't try lying to them or pursuing the 'error' for the model--chances are the ticket software didn't have MINI as a make.

 

The ticket is paper and handwritten... I think there is room in the system for MINI, hehe. I don't think it will hurt to just mention that I do not own a BMW. I own a MINI Cooper.

I was advised by some of my friends that I should show that I corrected the problem in person when I contest. They also told me that usually any incorrect info on a handwritten ticket like mine will automatically get the case thrown out.

Good call on not lying to them. For all I know, they could have taken a photo! Unlikely, but ya never know!

 

The incorrect info resulting in a thrown out ticket, to my knowledge, is more of a legend than a fact. More people have tried and failed--including me--to slide by on that one.

Regardless, good luck!

 

try this license plate holder that connects where the front tow hook goes. This is what the dealers use for their loaners.
http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/G2.../InvDetail.cfm
When it comes to parking, i usually try to take up almost 2 spots by spacing my car when i get the chance.

 

not sure how CHGO will handle... but I received a ticket for no front plate in Niles. It was a "fix it" ticket if you go to court and show a picture with the plate. If you can afford to spend the day in court, then you should be able to fix it with the picture.

As far as parallel parking safely in the city?? good luck. Most city cars I've seen always have abused bumpers. Unless you can find off-street parking or a garage... your bumpers will get abused. scratches mostly or small indentations caused by the license plate holders of the other cars.

 

easiest way to beat a no front plate ticket: go to DMV, re-order a front plate -- just before spring--, it takes 12-18 weeks to process. its $26, I've been doing this for 8 years now. 2 cars, 1 truck, no front plates, no tickets.

 

Ohhhhh boy. Join the club.

The Administrative Law Judges that hear your case really don't give a damn if you're right or wrong. Even as a law school student in the field of litigation/trial advocacy, I couldn't get a ticket thrown out to save my life, unless there is very blatant evidence of error or misconduct (evidence is construed in the light most favorable to the Dept. of Revenue).

I've gotten two of those tickets before, and maybe eight other parking tickets this year (I usually ride my Honda CB650 into school/work. They hate motorcyclists). Parking is arbitrarily enforced in the Loop. What may be a clean and clear "legal" parking spot may be ticketable the next ... Week, day, month, hour, it doesn't matter.

This city is hard up for money and they will do anything they can to get it. When it doubt, always look for a metered spot and pay for a parking permit..

You can do what everyone else does and just not pay it (I had an elderly woman working in my office building proudly proclaim that she owes $2,500 in parking ticket fees dating as far back as 1962, and that she would take that to the grave with her).

The late fees do accrue though, and I strongly suggest you pay the amount ASAP, it's a $50 pain in the ***, but for things like this, just buy a tow hook mount (or make one from a 3" C-clamp like I did), pay the fine, and learn from it. The moral of the story:

Next time just take the damn bus or the L.

 

Taking up two spots is a real jerk move. FYI.

 

so is bumping cars that have no dinks on the bumper. That's most chicago drivers

 

Agreed. Worse if it's stall parking.

Almost as bad as this guy:

 

http://www.iparklikeanidiot.com/

 

I got a similar ticket in Schaumburg. Put the plate on, took a picture and went to court. The judge asked if I had a front plate on the car and tossed the ticket. He didn't even look at the picture.

 

I hate when people take up multiple spaces and/or hit my bumpers. They say: "that's what bumpers are for!" Really??? Bumpers are actually in place so the rest of your car doesn't get damaged when someone hits you, not so you can tap or hit other cause because you don't know how to drive and park!

 

Were you parked in the Loop today, on Wabash and Van Buren? I saw an R56 Camden in a parking lot right by my office.

 

That was my car! Good eye!! I work for Roosevelt University! How about you?

 

If someone hit my car and said, "that's what bumpers are for!" I would lose my fu**ing mind.

 

Hahahaha, awesome, man. I work at Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation on Washington/Michigan, but I intern at The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic, it's on the tenth floor at 55 East Jackson where the Starbucks and Potbelly is.

Don't see too many Camdens around ... Your new campus building looks awesome! JMLS bought out the north half of Plymouth Court/Jackson for renovations (I still miss Chicken Planet ), but I'll be graduating right after they finish them.

 

ok I agree taking two spots in a parking lot is a jerk move. I only give my car extra space parallel parking on city streets if i get the chance. So i'm not a full jerk, just half

 

They should rename bumpers "never ever touchers". Calling them bumpers makes one think that they get bumped regularly and are designed for it.

 

Yep. Your average Chicagoan doesn't really give a damn about their vehicle. The ones that do will pay extra to park in a garage.

Hell, my permit-only parking spot at home gets taken up once in awhile. It's usually a cab driver, too ...

Don't get me started on cab drivers. :rolleyes:

 

Yes, sir! I had a lady try to fit her Accord into a MINI-sized spot in front of me. She parked on my bumper with her car diagonally fitting into the space and into the middle of the street. When she came back, I asked her why she parked like this and what was she thinking. She just shrugged. UGH!
That's so cool! I'm always around there. Although parking costs are so freakin' expensive. There is a deal with some hotel that allows Roosevelt faculty/staff to park for 6 bucks in a garage, but I would like to park pretty close to work to make a quick escape when necessary.

I'm super excited for our new verticle campus. It has a lot of groundbreaking features for our university and it really means job security for me! I never knew there was a Chicken Planet over there... Congrats on graduating soon!

Ayayay... I hate cabbies, especially as a cyclist, they do not care one bit about ANYone else on the road. I had one cut me off and force me into a construction zone so when I banged on his car to let him know that I exist he then proceeded to try to run me over for about 10 minutes straight. Ugh.

Guess I should just keep my eye out for another garage spot or something, until my apartment's garage actually frees up. In the meantime, I'll be looking out my window every hour to make sure that Sterling is okay.

 

My parking spot is visible from my bedroom window. My g/f always rolls her eyes when I open the blinds every night, before bed, to make sure Lynne's safe.

I ride my motorcycle into work/school when the weather permits (as long as ambient temps are above 32*, I'm on my Honda!) from Bridgeport. I've been doing that since I started law school in 2009 ... Since then I've come very close to being killed and/or seriously injured by cabbies at least a dozen times.

Confronting them will do no good. They'll just yell back, curse you out in broken English (for the record, I work in Civil Rights law, this is in no way targeted towards foreigners [Chinese/Filipino immigrant here]), and threaten to call the police about an accident they almost caused themselves. All you can really do is keep your head on a swivel and keep the rubber side down.

 

I once lived in an apartment complex on a busy street next to a university. Came out to find someone had parked their car blocking half the driveway making it impossible to exit the parking lot. Luckily the car was a sub-compact and did not weigh much. Thanks to some nice citizens who were nearby when the owner came back to get into their car they found the previously parallel parked car diagonally pointing out half way into the traveling lane. My only regret is not calling the police after the car was manually moved in order to have them get a ticket or towed.