Question About a Ticket for an Expired State Inspection Sticker

Pay it and move on. Lesson learned. If it is only a week overdue if you get it inspected right away they will let it go. Over 60 days, no way.

Not in TX- they are a pain. Some people don't realize that things come up and you csn't pay it when it comes up. happened to me... but within 30 days of the lapse they let you bring in proof of doing it and reduce it... atleast they did 8 or so years ago in Tarrant..

1. Pay the fine in the mail. You're way overdue and honestly, as much as it sucks, you earned that fine.

2. Put a reminder into your phone for 30 days prior to the expiration of the inspection you just got. And then another for 15 days. 5 days. Etc. Don't let it happen again. Be proactive and save yourself from a fine next year.

Lesson learned, right?

The point of traffic court is to argue your side of the ticket. In this case, you were clearly in the wrong as you admit the sticker was over 60 days expired. Just pay the ticket, chalk it up to experience and don't waste your day sitting in a court room somewhere. We lived in TX for awhile, and were surprised that there was no state income tax. Then we learned how much tickets, fees, tags, etc were and figured out how they made up that income!

The likelihood of your winning in court is slim to none. Suck it up and pay the fine.

Pay the fine, it's not worth the hassle. You were late with the inspection, end of story.

I am in Plano/Allen which is in Collin County. I know some parts of Frisco are Collin County and some areas are Denton so I'm not sure where your court would be held. Collin County is pretty tight with the rules.

I am sorry but you have no excuse unless you were in a hospital, house bound for over 60 days, never drove your car and no one else drove your car. If you go to court, you could likely incur more expenses because of the time involved in court. They won't cut you any slack for 60 days.

If it were 1-2 days, I might see asking the court for leniency but 60 days overdue is just not acceptable. The sticker is right there on the windshield with the date in plain sight. You can't miss it every time you get in the car.

Chalk it up to a good lesson. Pay the fine. A $40 inspection is a lot cheaper than a ticket.

I'm sorry you got ticketed.

ETA: IF this were a moving violation.... there would be a lot more you could do.. we have plenty of experience with those, lol, and keeping them off the records.

Mom,

You allowed your inspection to lapse. It's not like it's not visible to you EVERY DAY you drive your car.

You have a few options...

Go to court and plead your case - were you in the hospital, away out of the country??? I mean - really - what is the reason your car didn't get inspected??? IF you have a valid reason - go to court...

If not - then you really have no case other than you didn't think it was important enough and now you have to pay the consequences for those actions...if it were me???

I WOULD PAY THE FINE and be more cognizant of my vehicle ownership and responsibility.

Just pay the fee as you have absolutely no viable defense here. I have successfully argued moving violations in court but something as black and white as this? What can you possibly say? Just pay it.

More than 60 days (that's like 2 months) is a long time for a sticker to be expired.
It's not a "Whoopsie! It expired just last week!" thing.
There is no chance it will be reduced unless you can prove you were in a coma for the last 3 months.
Pay it and be done with it.
AND put a reminder into your phone/calendar (what ever reminds you of birthdays/anniversaries) to get your car inspected 1 month in advance of when it will expire the next time around.
Every time you have it inspected, put the reminder in for next time!

I got a parking ticket for $175.00. There weren't any no parking signs, the car was parked mostly off the road on a section where you could easily see on coming traffic to pass safely so I decided to go to court. At court everyone had a chance to speak a state attorney who negotiated deals to keep most people from being put in front of the court. They dropped the ticket from $175.00 to $10 and gave me the option of seeing the judge (which would have taken an additional 2-3 hrs). I paid the fine figuring that it was a good deal.

The only advantage you can get by going to court, is that they can usually extend the date that the fine is due- gives you more time to pay the fine. The easiest thing to do is to just pay it and be done with it, don't let it happen again.

This once happened to me, but the cop told me once I got my car inspected I could bring the ticket back to the station and they would rip it up, which they did. Lucky for me.

In this instance, you have no defense unless you have been incapacitated from the inspection deadline until the day you got the ticket and were on your way to the inspection station when you were pulled over. And even then, you're probably SOL.
I got pulled over for an expired inspection sticker. My truck had broken down and had been in the shop for over a month. It was twenty years old and they couldn't get parts, and finally had to remachine the broken one. The sticker was current when I put the truck in the shop but expired when I got it back. I was on my way to get it inspected when I was pulled over and ticketed. I showed the cop the bill from the mechanic with the dates on it that I dropped off and picked up the truck, and he still ticketed me. I called to see about contesting it, and was told that I should have had it inspected before it left the shop. But my mechanic does not run an inspection station.

I am with the consensus of the majority of the posters, pay the fine. You let it lapse for whatever reason. Hard monetary lesson to learn but one that will stick with you for life.

Going to court is good sometimes for reducing a cost on moving violation for points to the license. But then you do have the court costs and such that are tacked onto the initial ticket.

Sorry, we can't help you. Pay the ticket.

the other S.

I was in line behind a lady at the post office who was one day late paying a fee for something. She owed $20, but because she was late, she owed $70! Ouch! But she had no choice, no matter how long she argued, she signed paperwork that she would pay on time and without paying on time, fees hit. You have to pay things on time or risk the downfall of not paying on time.

We were late on stuff a lot many years ago and it sucks...but it happens. I understand times get difficult. However, as bad as it is, it is your fault that you let it lapse and now you owe it. Go ahead and pay it, and next time make sure you take care of it BEFORE getting a ticket. I wouldn't go to court for it though.

If you go to court the fee doesn't change but they can add on court costs.

If you can "prove" that your auto was parked for the time that the inspection sticker was expired, the judge will drop the fine. That could be sticky since you were driving the car at the time of receiving the ticket, but if you were "on your way to get it inspected when you were ticketed" then the judge could possibly still be willing to drop the ticket. Of course, you have to have a perfectly clean driving record and be able to back up your story with some proof. Good luck!

I have a different answer than others! Do you have the time to go to court? Is your time more important or is the money more important? If you have the time, then I would go to court. My experience has been a reduction in fee if you go to court. Don't make up a lie, just be polite and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. I have sat in the courtroom and heard numerous people ask for an extension and/or a reduction in fine for overdue inspections, expired driver's license and no insurance. If they showed up with proof that they had taken care of it, they often reduced the fine or created a time payment option. Maybe this is only true in Garland, where I live. Once again, it is up to you as to how valuable your time is. To my knowledge, going to court would not cost you any more (except your time), but could cost you less. I would call the court or check their website and find out what, if any, additional fees might be involved for showing up in court.

it's sometimes worth it to go to court, as they often (surprisingly) lower the fine and/or points. it helps to have a defense (such as being ill or out of state, if it's true) but believe it or not, sometimes just throwing yourself onto the mercy of the court yields benefits.
but you never know. you could get a judge who feels the opposite, that you're wasting her time by appearing with no good reason NOT to get fined.
so yeah, there's a chance your fine could be reduced, but not sure if it's worth the trouble.
i tend to make the time to go to court if points are involved. if it's just a fine, i pay it to keep my life simpler.
:) khairete
S. (who yes, has too much experience with tickets)

Pay the fine...it's less headache. They MAY reduce the fine but then tack on court/administrative/law library fees so it's all a wash in the end (; good luck

It's hard for most of us to say because every jurisdiction is going to be different.

If I had the time I might go to court on another day that they're hearing this type of issue and see if I could talk to the bailiff or the judicial assistant. You might get some clues just by observing.

If it were me I'd worry that not only would I have to pay the fine, but I'd also get court costs (with no readily apparent defense). So I'd probably just pay the ticket (especially if no points are involved).

Again, unless someone lives in your state AND your jurisdiction it's a guess. If you're confused at all about how to proceed you should contact a competent attorney in your state who handles traffic matters. Under no circumstances would I ignore the problem or fail to address the ticket (not saying you would).

Good luck.

This happened to me when we moved, and the DMV updated my registration address, but not my mailing address. I completely forgot that my registration was due (my husband's arrived and I paid that, and somehow spaced out that my own registration hadn't arrived). Anyway, I went in to the DMV and paid the registration plus the exorbitant late fees. And then they mailed the new stickers to my old address! (Don't even get me started...) Of course, during the time when I had already paid the fees and was waiting for my stickers, I was pulled over 3 more times. (Luckily I was able to show I had paid, just hadn't received the tags, so I didn't get more tickets.)

Anyway, when I was at the DMV in the first place asking why they hadn't updated my mailing address when I updated my registration address (official answer: they screwed up), I asked if they could please reduce some of the penalties because I had made every attempt to update them with my new address. (In other words, since it was their screw-up, could they reduce the late fees.) The short answer: no. They said that mailing me the registration every year is a "courtesy" and I should have just known to mail it in. (Again, don't even get me started...)

Moral of the story: just pay the fine and move on. This is not the hill you want to die on.

I'm a former traffic ticket attorney. Go to court on the court date. Be polite. Ask who you can talk to about this. Admit that you messed up. The bad part is that your sticker was WAY expired. The good part is that you went the next day after you got the ticket and got the inspection done. I'd be astonished if the court didn't reduce the fine because you (finally) got right on top of things. And if not, all you're out is some time and whatever it cost you to pay for parking at the courthouse. Worth the time and small expense, it seems to me.