Is this cop justified in writing me this tickets on my first car I owned for less than an hour?! (Lewisville, Texas Police Department)?

Question

So I am 20, and I have bought my first car ever. I bought my car from an owner and not a dealership. So the guy I bought it from owns a tow truck company and tows my car from his home to a public place (Sears Parking Lot) and we make the deal, clear Texas Blue Title, and the Bill of sale and hads me the keys. So I drive the car home and I get pulled over for speeding 45 in the 35 and I explain to Officer Chi (Lewisville PD) that I noticed my car is in Kilometers, not MPH and I have to reset it, he runs my info, sees that there is no registration on it and he notices the plate (just one plate) doesn't belong on that car and thinks I lied to him and gets upset, I prove to him I legally own the car and I haven't even owned it for an hour yet and he calls me a lawbreaker and I get 4 tickets, 1 for soeeding (I understand that I can not tell what speed I am going when my car was in kilometers at the time, I am willing to pay that) but the other 3 tickets is for 1) displaying false Plates, 2) No Registration & 3) no insurance. But I literally just bought my first car and was taking it home and didn't plan on driving it until I get my plates and insurance because I know it's an necessity. My question is can he do this even though everything is justified and I got everything on camera (just in case things got nasty cause he was getting really upset and I didn't want to be another young man shot by a cop). Please let me know if he can charge me for all these offenses.

Answer 1

If you ask me there's not much you can do about the speeding ticket even if the gauge was set to read in kilometers instead of miles.The main reason why is they expect any driver to know how fast you're going regardless even if the gauge isn't working.Now here's the one thing that might help you to beat the speeding ticket they expect experienced drivers to know the speed and technically you're probably not really experienced or have you've driven different vehicles or held a license for yrs either.Sometimes the judge will be understanding especially if you're not rude or trying to deny the fact you were speeding and the main thing is your attitude besides that how to dress and speak is very important.Note you don't need to dress flashy just be sure to have a respectful appearance. In other words if you currently have long hair etc I'd strongly recommend that you get it cut.Believe it or many different factors affect the end results.



Now regarding the other tickets they would expect that a experienced driver or someone that has bought and owned a few vehicles should know the laws.They also would think that the seller of the vehicle should of known the laws and should of told you whats what but that's really not the sellers job unless the person buying the vehicle asks.If you ask me the seller knew you knew not much about the whole car buying process and may have taken advantage of those factors but really he should of towed the vehicle to your house not some mall parking lot.



Hope that helps and best of luck.By the way I'd for sure recommend that you fight the tickets bec you do have a chance to get them kicked out of at least reduced.Remember what I said about having a respectful appearance and attitude and especially a polite, respectful mannerisms with the court and the judge.If you're working or a student etc that also may help your case bec sometimes a lot relays on what the judge thinks of you and if they believe your being upfront etc.



One last word of advice don't worry about making those mistakes anybody could of made them and many ppl daily make such mistakes.The main thing is some ppl do it being fully aware but I believe you didn't know and made a honest mistake.Remember honesty is the best policy and you at least have that in your favor.You might want to get one of those companies that fight tickets for drivers bec they can usually get tickets dropped or reduced or throw out just bec they know ppl within the court and police services etc.It can be expensive and some of them will reduce their fees if it's a few tickets or you can't truly afford their regular rates.



I also wanted to state clearly that you mustn't try to use the bad cop attitude bec they can consider that negative a very disrespectful towards the system or the law.You can explain how you felt about how the cop dealt with you but don't try to nag on it or try to use it as your first line of a possible defense.

Answer 2

I would no more drive a car which wasn't 100% legal than I would leave the house without wearing trousers. You HAVE to comply with all road regulations, and whining when you haven't done so will not make them go away. Insurance is something you set up before the deal, and if/when you test-drive the car and say yes to the deal, you call them and pull the trigger on it, and b00m! you have cover. The rules about plates are different in the UK, but just as we are obliged to TAX a car before driving it anywhere, you have to make sure you have a valid pair of plates. There are no excuses or exemptions. Why should YOU be special? Be thankful you didn't have an accident on the way home, and be obligated to pay out hundreds of thousand$ of dollars to injured parties as compensation!

Answer 3

I still can't get past the whole 'it was in KPH and not MPH and I got confused'...we own 4 cars at this moment, and because I have way too much free time I checked my car in the parking lot...it lists BOTH MPH and KPH on the same speedometer.



Unless you can claim that you bought a car with only a digital dash (I used to have a Nissan 300ZX that had one of those nightmares), you would still have to figure out how to explain to a Judge that somehow the prior owner could tell the difference between the speeds.



And good luck convincing the judge that you thought you were driving in kph rather than mph: 35 kph translates to just under 22 mph. So if you plan to use 'according to my speedometer which said '35' but it was in KPH and I didn't know, you should figure out how to explain that a cop pulled you over for actually driving UNDER the posted speedlimit.



Seriously, listen to the first poster. You did a whole lot of wrong in a very short time. Pay the fines, get some insurance, registration and inspections done and drive carefully from now on.

Answer 4

Cops in my town run your plates before they even turn on the lights. The biggest give-away when a car is wrong is the plate doesn't match the car's description- the plate belongs on an El Dorado, that is on a Corolla.



You could argue, showing the bill of sale and the pink slip, to a judge. You can insure the car. You still can't drive the car without that. Go to the DVM and straighten out the registration. That's something you will need to show the judge.



The speeding ticket will take more evidence. I know how you feel; The first time I went to Canada, I wondered why everybody was going so slow when the speed limit showed "50", until I realized the "50" on my small dial (KPH) was close to the "30" on my big dial (MPH).



I don't know what kind of car you have or if it shows both imperial and metric speed, or only metric. Take some time looking at it and your owner's manual so you can make sense when you start explaining your story to the court. They won't accept any argument you can't show proof of. If the shight fairy is on vacation when you go to court, the cop won't show up either and you'll get case dismissed. Don't bet the farm on that. Your luck hasn't been too good so far. Want me to put you on the prayer list?

Answer 5

Why do you care?

Police can write all the tickets they want, and often do.

But as long as you prove you just picked up the car that day and have taken care of the registration and insurance, then the judge has to let them go.

They were just to make sure you did not ignore doing these things, and not an actual violation.

With the speeding ticket, I am not sure if it is your fault of not, however, police are not accurate at 10 over, so should not have ticketed you unless it was 15 over. If he did not show you his radar or locked in speedometer reading, then he has no evidence for court. Either way, go to court and contest them all. Bring all you proof of compliance.

Answer 6

But I literally just bought my first car and was taking it home and didn't plan on driving it until I get my plates and insurance because I know it's an necessity.



As you already know you are to have it. You deserve the tickets. You were caught and now pay the price.



You should have left the car PARKED until you had what is required.



Nice try on Kilometres.



35 MPH is 55 KPH going 45 would be 70 KPH



These tickets will also cost you extra insurance Fees.

Answer 7

45 kph is about 28 miles per hour so maybe he's already giving you a break.



The other tickets are all earned. No insurance? You should have paid the tow driver to take it to your house. It would have been cheaper.



I'd tape the registration or title to the back glass if I were daring to try and get home but I wouldn't use an incorrect plate.



There's no negotiating the charges since they are irrefutable. You knew what you were doing and that attitude of flaunting the law would serve to make the cop press every charge that he could.

This will serve as a really good lesson-learned.

Answer 8

You're not too smart.

Speeding?

Wrong plate?



Here's what you do.

Get insurance.

Go to the DMV.

Transfer the title.

Get a plate.

Ask them if Texas law allows you to drive the car home without a plate from a purchase. If yes, get a printout of the law. My state allows a newly purchased car to be driven home without a plate, within 24 hours.



Get a hearing for all the tickets

Bring the paperwork to court.

Ask the judge to dismiss the plate related offenses for good cause.

Ask the judge to take your speeding ticket under advisement for 6 months, and dismiss it if you don't get another ticket.



If you wouldn't have been speeding, none of thos woukd have happened. So work on not getting another ticket before all of this.is settled.



The next thing that gets police interrsted in you is burned out lights. So make sure ALL your lights work.

Answer 9

Yup, you were breaking all those laws. You know about the speeding part, so let's move on to the other three.



You need valid plates & registration on a vehicle before you can drive it, and your plates weren't valid. You also need valid insurance, and your vehicle didn't have that. And you were driving.



You're supposed to line up the registration, plates and insurance before you drive a car anywhere. There's no grace period for that stuff, not a week or a day or even an hour, and you're expected to know all the laws and obey them. You assumed you could drive home and register / insure the car later, and you assumed wrong. You can dispute those charges in court, because you have that right, but you know what they say about ignorance of the law and valid excuses.



I recommend that you do defend the charges, but I don't recommend doing it on your own. You need someone who knows and understands the laws and all their little technicalities, and (no offence but) that isn't you. Look up a traffic defender in your area, and arrange a meeting with them. Most of them do their first consultation for free, so meet up with them and see how it looks. Traffic defenders can usually (I said usually) meet with the prosecutor and have the charges reduced before the trial date, and they'll let you know what your chances are.



And finally, chalk this up to a learning experience. You just learned, the hard way, that you're expected to know and understand a lot of legal stuff when it comes to owning a vehicle. And if you don't know, ask first. Any cop or DMV official would have gladly told you that you need registration and insurance first before you can drive a newly purchased vehicle, if you had simply asked them.

Answer 10

Absolutely. You should not have moved it an inch without insurance in place, that is common knowledge. You also make sure you have the title, and it there is a plate on the car, the registration. Texas requires 2, not one plate and since you live there you know that and should have resolved that at the point of sale. Your KPH instead of MPH doesn't fly either, 45 KPH is 28 MPH, not 10 over.



Sorry, all the tickets are legitimate and there could have been more written, and they all are a result of your lack of taking action.

Answer 11

Get all the stuff corrected and tell the judge the circumstances.

Request reduction, or dismissing some of it since you just spent all that immediately to correct the issues.

Having the kind of attorney that does these alot can get you the best advice about the court you must attend, or your attorney can try to get the judge to minimize what stays on your record.

Next time, you must be closer to your house to make the exchange.

Or leave it parked with a note while you go get the plate and registration.

It used to be you could have your ride there follow you home.

But enhancing revenue is big business.

And your friend is to busy on his cell phone talking some idiocy about nothing to pay that much attention, right?

You could still have to pay the court, even if you get it dropped.

Be sure you take care of that amount immediately as well.

You can request some time to get things paid, but pay asap.

Enjoy your used car that probably should be getting inspected by your favorite technician before purchase.

Your attorney can decide if the seller was wrong transporting an unlicensed or non plated car on a towtruck without a trip permit for the axle running on the road. Then selling it to a person and not fully explaining he just set you up to get ticketed. He could have met you at the licensing office, but you and he decided upon the place.

If you tangle with the cops, you have to be carrying a blonde in the car or remain silent. blow ups dont count. That's why I'm getting a marilyn chambers wig and some lipstick. hahaha

We all live and learn.

Answer 12

If the display is showing km/h, it would be reading HIGHER than the equivalent in MPH ( 45 MPH is just over 70 km/h ). That excuse is useless, even if you legitimately did not realize it is a metric speedo.



Yes, the cop is fully justified in writing you all those tickets. It is your responsibility to be fully aware of what all the requirements are to drive a vehicle on a public road and have all those requirements met before you proceed.



You took a chance and you were caught. Now behave like a grown-up and accept your punishment for breaking all those laws.

Answer 13

he shouldn't be allowed to give you the first one for speeding because 45 kilometers/hour is almost 28 miles/hour. The other 3 are completely justifiable even though he would have to be a dick to give them. You can appeal it and prove your side correct and you should be off without a sweat. I'd recommend getting a lawyer just because their courtroom talk is better. If you can't afford to have a lawyer represent your case, at least try to consult one and see if he can help you with some slight preparation. Maybe he'll charge but it won't be as much as having him represent your case.

Answer 14

if you were confused by the KmPH numbers and were going 35KmPh in a 35 MPH zone, you would be going under the speed limit, not over the limit. Therefore, this argument is bogus. Don't try to use it on the judge. You will blow your credibility.



As for the rest, plead your case in court. You may get away with the rest.



But really, why did you not have the seller just tow it to where you live?

Answer 15

Yes...he's justified . Obviously, you were trying to "LOOK" as though you were properly plated, you called attention to yourself by speeding, and probably ticked off the cop even more by videotaping the incident.

Even buying any care, you need to have Insurance when its being driven on the road, and the fact that you had pre arranged the drop off and NOT arranged to get insurance coverage in its transport home is no excuse.

Take a "joy ride" in an uninsured, improperly plated and unregistered vehicle , push the speed limit, and claim unfamiliar with the" calibration" of the controls, and your "story" has "no teeth". Yes you should be cited for violating the law, acting dumb about what you were doing, but claiming that you are smart enough to "cover your tracks" with excuses. Clearly, it appears that you were pretending to be legally plated , and used the "calibration" thing to cover your choice to speed. Ironically, had you not been speeding and called attention to yourself, you might have gotten away with it.

Frankly, i suspect you would still be driving like that had the ploy worked.

Answer 16

Of course he was justified. I believe that you are guilty as charged. If you don't believe that you are guilty, go to court, plead not guilty and see what the judge thinks.

How do you feel that the length of time you owned the car somehow does *not* justify the cop from writing the tickets?

Answer 17

That cop is a moron. It's people like that give the police a bad name. Could have given you a warning at least.

I live in Fort Worth, we have common sense here and so do the cops. You go in some of these suburbs in D/FW like Lewisville or Keller they write tickets like it's going out of style.

Answer 18

you would have been better off towing it home, or as a second choice drove it with no plate--then you probably would have fewer tickets. The improper plate is a huge issue, I am surprised he did not tow your can and take the plate. You have no case, your best plan is to plead guilty with an explanation and be very apologetic, maybe they will give you a break.

Answer 19

Absolutely YES. You are responsible from the minute you buy it. And it must be road legal to run it on the road no matter how far you intend to drive it.

Why didn't you arrange for the car to be delivered to your home? A lot cheaper than four tickets.

Answer 20

Yes, the officer is justified in writing those tickets. You have to have insurance, etc, BEFORE driving the car, regardless if it's the first or twentieth car you've owned.

Answer 21

You got nothing dude ! You are guilty of all those things. What makes you think you are not ? Also, if you were not being so stupid as to Speed while you knew you were driving your car illegally , you would have made it home and not been pulled over for speeding in the first place. Silly you :)

Answer 22

Unfortunately there is no exception period for not having insurance / plates etc.



The tow driver knew this, which is why he towed the vehicle. In hindsight the smart move would have been to give him another $20 and ask him to TOW the vehicle to your house.



BTW, you can fight traffic infringements in court, but you have to have a legal basis to defend yourself on. Your story wont float with the judge, and you will have to pay court costs AND the fines.

Answer 23

Dude you DID drive the car illegally, lol. You don't get to break the law just because you purchased the car. You should have had him drive the car to YOUR home before you purchased the car.



Your screwed because your clueless , don't worry the judge will set you straight with some hefty fines .

Answer 24

Yup all those tickets are legit. Your lucky you didn't get arrested and had your car impounded for displaying false plates and no insurance...start saving your money to pay them tickets.

Answer 25

Unfortunately, it's legal. You are not legally allowed to drive any vehicle without registration and insurance. The car has to somehow be brought to where it will stay until it gets insured and registered.

Answer 26

www

Answer 27

You broke the law

Speeding

No registration

No insurance

The cop was more then justified

Answer 28

It doesn't matter if the ink isn't dry on the paperwork yet. You WERE driving without insurance, valid registration and valid plates. You were also speeding. All are your fault. You bet he can do it, because he did.

Answer 29

Completely justified. Sorry bud. Watch your speed.

Answer 30

Just go to court and contest the ticket. Also, be sure to tell the judge exactly what you said in your question so that he/she can tell you to change your piss poor attitude toward law enforcement.

Answer 31

Stuff happens. You should have been more careful with your trade. People sell cars or items for a reason.

Answer 32

The length of time you've owned the car is irrelevant.

Answer 33

if he wants to be a jerk u have no leg to stand on. was it insured fictisious plates and unregistered are big deals in NJ you would loose license immediatly.

Answer 34

I'd say you're lucky the car wasn't impounded.

Answer 35

Yeah, you'd be better off towing it home.

Answer 36

this has been useful

Answer 37

Yes. He supposed to do that. It's his job.

Answer 38

if you had done that in the uk ..you would have been arrested and your new car confiscated ...you sure deserve all you get ...your not daft ..you know how to drive ..you should also know the law

Answer 39

Should have had the seller tow it yo your house and you would not have any problems

Answer 40

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Answer 41

good