Ticket for no front plate

[Turtlefan]

I have a '97 318ti sport, and I got pulled over today for having no front plate. California laws sucks. I was looking at the front bumper / skirt, and I see a place to put the plate, but no holes are drilled and it would cover a bit of the engine air intake. It their something I have to buy or do I have to drill the front of my poor car?

[1996 328ti]

Pull off the center strip. I believe you will see the places to drill marked facing the bumper. You are only drilling through the filler strip.

[ChItalian1027]

i got my front plate holder thing from the bimmer dealer and i also got a bmw license plate frame. i didn't have to cut into my bumper b/c it already had the front plate holder thing good luck dude also i think if you buy a front plate holder and go to a body shop i think they will drill the holes for you

[HuGo]

Where in cali do u live?

[aceyx]

If you just bought the car, fight the ticket. Bring proof (registration, bill of sale, whatever) to the clerk and see what can be done. Say you didn't know how to put it on the car.

You'll have to fix it, but at least you can get away this time.

[Turtlefan]

Originally Posted by HuGo

Where in cali do u live?

Sacramento

[Turtlefan]

Alright guys, thanks for all the help, I will see what I can do.

[touringintl]

Hah! Check this out... I got a lousy chicken ass ticket for no front license plate last fall... I still had my euro plate that I was using in AZ legally.

So he pulls me over... JUST FOR THAT and gives me the ticket. I don't have the US bracket anymore and so I order one from the dealer... time goes by I forget about it... and eventually just get new plates at registration time a month or so later. I thought it was a fix it ticket... fix it and it goes away. I even asked the dimwit at DMV what the procedure is to make the ticket right. Long story short... I didn't follow the correct procedures. The Aholes at the court sent the notice to the wrong address, I have a friggin TRIAL for no front license plate, I'm found GUILTY and I have a $534.00 fine that I don't even know about until I get a bill many months later. I call the court and they let me know that I can request a hearing but I'll have to pay $300 for the privilege. Better than $534 I figure and what judge is gonna make me pay $534 bucks for this chicken ass ticket... wrong address yada yada yada. Well the court date isn't until June and in the mean time I get a warrant notice in the mail. Apparently the aholes at the court don't talk to the aholes at the collection dept. so they still want their $534 bucks... So I guess if I get pulled over for another chicken ass ticket before then... I'M GOIN TO JAIL! Ridiculous!

Jeff
PSUDOM3

[mohaughn]

Better than $534 I figure and what judge is gonna make me pay $534 bucks for this chicken ass ticket...

It has been my experience that most judges don't want to hear, "but I didn't know what I was supposed to do." Ignorance is not a good enough excuse to a judge. You may end up paying that $300 and still being fined the $534 or more. You are playing a risky game. After all, you could have spent 5 minutes figuring out what you should have done with your fix-it ticket.

[touringintl]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

It has been my experience that most judges don't want to hear, "but I didn't know what I was supposed to do." Ignorance is not a good enough excuse to a judge. You may end up paying that $300 and still being fined the $534 or more. You are playing a risky game. After all, you could have spent 5 minutes figuring out what you should have done with your fix-it ticket.

Hey thanks for letting me know how stupid I am.... that's exactly why I shared my "legal system gone bad" story. If you hadn't replied to remind me that I could still be screwed, I might have simply continued to be ignorant.

[GhostRyder]

the front plate law is here in tx too.....but on top of that if u have a plate cover that covers ANY desgin on ANYpart of the plate u can get a ticket, it can cover a single little star at the top os the texas plate, and bam u can get a ticket

[zboot]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

It has been my experience that most judges don't want to hear, "but I didn't know what I was supposed to do." Ignorance is not a good enough excuse to a judge. You may end up paying that $300 and still being fined the $534 or more. You are playing a risky game. After all, you could have spent 5 minutes figuring out what you should have done with your fix-it ticket.

Tell me how exactly he was supposed to know that they'll send the ticket info to the wrong address?