So I just received notice in the mail today that I got TWO tickets for no front license plates in Chicago. One all the way back in september and the other in mid-november. I think it's pretty ridiculous that they can just accumulate tickets and send them to me at the end of the year w/o notifying me at the time of the violation that I received one. I want to contest so that I would only have to pay one of the fines, however, I"m unsure as to what I need to say.

I am choosing the contest by mail option and I know I will at least need a picture of my car with the front plate on. However, any ideas what I should say in the statement? Flat out that it was never installed by my dealer and was going to put it on once I actually got a ticket, but was never notified of the first ticket? any help is appreciated.

 

State that the bracket was not installed when you bought the car and that you have now installed the plate.

Don't tell them that you intended to ignore the law until caught.

So glad I don't live in a front plate state. . . .

 

LOL, there you go... Ignore the law and then complain that you got caught.

 

thanks unhelpful. I have no problem getting caught, it's the matter that they gave me no notice at all that a violation has occured and now expect me to pay within for 2 tickets within 1 week. Doesn't sound ridiculous to you? they had a whole 3 months to send me something, but never did.

 

How long did you have to install the front plate? Was it more than 3 months?

 

out of curiosity, how did they discover you had no plate? Did a cop write down your (rear) plates and then send the ticket?

 

it seems so..

 

In general, the effort one spends fighting such things is not worth it. I would not do anything more than the mail-in method of contesting it. You might get to pay only once.

You didn't mention how expensive the tickets are, but maybe they are a worthwhile nuisance cost to keeping your MINI's front end looking nice.

 

pretty irrelevent information, but I've had the car for about 15 months now. In all honesty, at this rate, paying about 6 bucks a month to not have a plate isn't so bad, just ticked that they can accumulate tickets and not notify you until they feel like it. The same principle can be applied to anything else, noise complaint for what officer feels is a loud exhuast, burnt out light, speeding, parking at the corner.

Yah, doing nothing more than mail-in since it isn't too much work. Each ticket is 50$, so total of 100$

 

Actually you are very welcome!

The fact that you have a drivers license and are supposed to KNOW the law (which you admit you did) tells me that you totally deserve BOTH violations.

Pay the fines, put the required plates on and quit complaining.

Sheesh....

 

well, that's your opinion and i guess that's fine. Just try to see it from my point, do you ever speed? even say, 5 miles over the limit? What if they caught you twice and sent you a notice 3 months later? Who's to say they stop at 2 or at 3 months, maybe they wait until you get 5 tickets? Another instance, I walk my fiance to her door when I drop her off. She lives on the corner, so for approximately 3 minutes I park where it say, no parking from here to corner. Technically, at each instance, a cop could have wrote down my numbers and left w/o me knowing, then send me a notice later saying I owe 10 tickets or whatever amount they feel like it. However, if he would have notified me the first time, would I park there again, probably not. I'd park a block away and walk her, but it's the fact that notice was not given until they felt like it.

Anyways, if from this you are able to see any wrong on their part, then that's fine. I admit my wrong, but do you fail to recognize the wrong on their part? You are entitled to your opinion. I'm not really angry or anything, just a bit annoyed.

I'd further like to note that I never intended to complain about it, just some help on what to write in the letter to them. Also, feel free to ignore my thread if you think it's complaining and if it's in anyway bothering you.

 

Dude, I live in Germany and can have a ticket sent to me up to two YEARS later, photo and all!

Also, if I loop around and get caught by the camera twice, I pay BOTH fines.

Lastly, I suggest you acquaint yourself with your local laws. I am not going to search and find answers for you. It sounds like the police officer did what he was supposed to do and you did not. Most likely these are not considered moving violations which means that they are simple fines but laws vary...

Are you annoyed that you got two tickets, or that you got caught?

 

Sorry didn't mention it before, but thanks for the help. I will probably go this route, especially since no other suggestions are really being given. Short and sweet.

 

Yep, lying is the route to go....

 

as I have said, just annoyed that they didn't notify me at first violation. It ruined my evil plan of putting on a plate once I got one ticket.

 

Unfortunately you will have a very difficult time fighting the City of Chicago on a missing or improperly displayed front plate. I know from experience, same cop used to come through my neighborhood every two months and write me up for either version of the offense. $250 later I put the plate on the car. Stubborn aren't I?

This was on my previous car, a BMW with M bumpers and no factory front mount. Needless to say when I got my MCS the front plate went on at the dealer.

The only way you might be able to fight it is somehow proving that the original tickets must have fallen off your car or were removed by vandals.

Good luck.

 

I have total sympathy mataku -- I fortunately never got a ticket for no front plate in CT (I forthrightly refused to put it on for the 2 years I lived there). Crappy that you didn't get a chance to "fix" the problem as you might have had they notified you in a timely manner. I'd sort of plead ignorance -- just tell them that it didn't seem like an issue to you, as the front plate bracket hadn't been installed at purchase. Ergo out of sight, out of mind -- and that you would have fixed it had you been notified of the first ticket.

Just because it's a law, daflake, doesn't mean that it makes sense or isn't worth contesting. Stupid laws need to be challenged, as that's the only way they'll ever get changed.

Good luck!

 

thanks. I'm looking up now to see if they have to give you a ticket at the time of violation or not. i know the red light cameras are different, but for these instances. From the fact that this list shows a ticket number for each of the violations, it would seem that they did give me tickets, somehow, I didn't get any of them.

 

https://parkingtickets.cityofchicago...terTickets.jsp

 

found THAT. I actually found a pretty good legal advice website: http://www.freeadvice.com/

there are many talks about parking tickets and such, so i'm browsing through that. pretty interesting cases, also shows how even completely bogus tickets are hard to fight.

 

This is the best option, esp. if you have time and are on top of things as soon as you got the citation notice. Unfortunately the city system is desgined to use parking tickets to generate revenue. You may just end up having to pay both.
Yet another reason not to park in the city and avoid driving in around and through Chicago.

 

Fwiw, in my experience a parking ticket for no front plate is not the same as a fix-it ticket issued for it. The parking ticket, like any other for say being parked at expired meters or in street cleaning zones, can be issued time and time again whenever law enforcement comes across it and it is pretty cut and dry (either it is on the car or not); the fee is set and they don't ask for proof that you correct it. A fix-it ticket issued by a PO, on the other hand, is designed to let you correct it and have another officer sign off on the fix so you can reduce the fee. The fix-it can be issued multiple times as well, which is why the PO that gave me one told me to keep it in the car to show in the event another officer went to cite me on it prior to the fix.

If Chicago is like SF you should have had a ticket on your car - however, when and if a person does not see the tkt they simply consider the notification by mail as sufficient. Anywho, I have had both kinds of tickets and found that there was slim to no chance to have the parking ticket status changed or fee reduced since it is so cut and dry.

 

How is having a plate on the front of the car stupid?

He knowingly broke the law and now wants advice on how to get away with it. I think the stupidity here is very clear.

 

yup just called. Supposedly I either should have had one on the car or have one sent to my house. It doesn't matter if I fix or not, and it does not matter that I did not get the original tickets. At least she said the fines are the original costs ( I was worried I was already penalized a late fee); however, she said there is no chance of it being reduced.

now the only question is if I should pay the extra 50 and get a front plate bracket for my car...

 

lol.. Fact that not even every state in the US has this law questions its necessity. Just because it's a law doens't make it a good one, people especially in the US know this.