first of all sorry its so long lol
this has turned into such a messed up situation, i'm more annoyed by it then any thing. so let me explain my situation...
one morning me and my hubby had to go to the bank very very early in the morning, i'm talking about even before the back opened to deposit our pay check. well at our bank the main part doesn't open till 9:00 but the drive threw window opens at 8:30 so we got their at 8 after we dropped our kid off at school and just decided to wait out the 30 minutes. apparently i parked where the employees normally park and it must have spooked them to see too people sitting in a van just waiting outside the bank so they called the cops.
first of all i do not blame them at all for this, i know that was completely my fault and it was the natural thing for them to do when they have a suspicious car just sitting outside.
never the less the cops show up, ask for my license and all that crap. told me why he was there and i apologized for causing a problem. but after he runs my license he comes back and he starts asking about the tenting on my windows, did i have i custom done? did i buy it off the lot like that? things like that. then he said he was going to check the darkness of the tenting of the window. he does and says its too dark and gives me a ticket for a $144 fine.
now of course i was upset. especially sense i had just gotten it off the lot like that so its not like its my fault its that dark. plus i had been driving this van for almost 2 years now, even up to the court house when i had jury duty and NEVER has any cop ever complained about the tenting before. but never the less i took it with a grain of salt and figured it be best just to pay the ticket and move on.
but EVERYONE is telling me to contest it, my mother advised me to, my husband wants to, my sister, and my mother in law is even going as far as saying not only does she want me to go contest it but she wants me to file suit against the dealer ship for selling me a car that was not completely street legal.
now i know i won't file suit that just seems ridiculously excessive too me for a $144 ticket. but i don't even really want to contest it. $144 is a lot but i'd much rather pay it and just leave it be.
so which is better to pay or contest? and have you ever gotten a ticket or fine you thought was needlessly excessive for the circumstance?
The choice will probably depend on what the court cost is. But definitely go to the dealership and see if you can get them to pay for it. Plus see if you can get it scraped off before the due date of the find and have it expunged. Everyone wins that way.
It should cost nothing to contest, but you need proof that your windows were tinted to within legal limits. You could get a test tinting strip so you can try to gauge it, but the best way is to have it actually tested. I'm not sure how much that would cost, but it would probably cost less than the fine.
If you walk in with the results confirming that the tinting does not exceed what is allowed by your local laws, your court case will be over in a minute. If it is too dark, but you can provide documentation that the dealer did the tinting and remove it before the court date as beast suggested (bring pictures as proof), the judge might rule in your favor.
If you still get fined or want to keep the tinted windows, then I would complain to the dealer, have them fix the problem at their expense and also reimburse you for the fine. You might get fined again if you do nothing.
Last edited by charon; May 12, 2010 at 08:18 PM.
*update*
in case any one wondered what happened i did go in and contest it. i plead guilty but asked the judge to reduce the fine and explained i bought the car off the lot as is and had no idea about the windows and how upset i was to find out that there is no law or regulation the requires a dealership to inform you of issues like that before you buy the car. i mean no one would purposely buy a car they knew wasn't completely street legal and would inevitably cause them legal problems like this. she was sympathetic, weather it was because i made a good point or the fact that my daughter was being too cute to resist i don't know. but the judge ruled that if i removed the tinting from the driver and passenger windows and bring it up there for her to inspect on Wensday she would just drop the citation. so yay victory for Mandy! lol
but how messed up is that? i just can't get over that there is no law or regulations that require these dealerships to inform you of these important details about your vehicle! pretty screwed up is you ask me.
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