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Last year my wife got stopped on Alligator Alley in Collier county and was issued a citation for not wearing a seat belt. The officer wrote on the ticket the fine was $90. When she came one (a few days later) she mailed a check for $90.
September comes around she gets a letter from the Collier county clerk of the courts stating that she did not pay the total fine, she only paid $90 and the fine was $113 and she still owed $46 ($23 difference plus $23 late fee). She fought it and even though they admitted the officer wrote the wrong amount on the ticket she still had to pay it but they did waive the late fee. On Sept 21 she mailed a check for $23.
In October she received a letter that since she did not pay it on time her silence was suspended. The post mark on the envelope (which they kindly included a photo copy of) showed Sept 22 yet they processed it on Sept 28 - the payment was due on Sept 27. (She mailed it on a Monday, it was stamped on a Tuesday, why did it take that long to get there and for them to process it? - they also ignored the fact that she was communicating with them over this.
She fought with them some more and they finally admitted their fault and said that her license was reinstated. We even get a form for this.
Come January she goes to renew her handicap decal only to find out her license is still suspended. They could not accept the form so she had to pay $60 to get her license reinstated (again). We also get letters from the DMV and our insurance both stating that they cannot renew because her license was suspended - we faxed them the paperwork and thought everything was OK. My wife kept the receipt for 2 months - she was told to keep it on hand for 6 weeks. Sadly the receipt was destroyed when a water bottle leaked. She also paid cash so there's no proof that she paid it.
Fast forward to this past Thursday, she gets stopped (driving 10 MpH over the speed limit (keeping up with the traffic) and the officer tells her (anyone want to take a guess?) her license was suspended. He also had to confiscate her license. Luckily she wasn't far so I could walk to where she was and drive her and the van home.
We spent from 8:15am to 4:30PM Friday at the DMV trying to get this cleared up (well, from 8:15am to 3:30pm standing in lines). We had all the paperwork but we still had to pay another $60 reinstatement fee plus $25 to get a new license. (Yes, she paid with a check this time).
You think this is done? I call my insurance company to find out why we haven't received a bill yet. Turns out they canceled our policy back in March because they didn't receive the paperwork. My wife faxed in several sheets but they're only admitting one sheet (I'm assuming the first sheet) which had one of the letters, not the reinstatement form.
I've spent the past several hours getting quotes since Geico wants over $3600 for 6 months plus a $1500 down payment (before it was only about $180 a month for 6 months). The cheapest I've found with the lowest coverage is $250 a month.
So now we've spent $145 getting her license reinstated TWICE as well as a replacement because of this officer's mistake. We're also now looking to spent at least an additional $840 a year in car insurance because of his mistake and the SNAFU that followed along with the mistakes made at the DMV. We've also unknowingly gone 2 months without car insurance because of this.
I wonder how hard it will be to get the suspension (which she never should have been suspended in the first place for) off of her record?
September comes around she gets a letter from the Collier county clerk of the courts stating that she did not pay the total fine, she only paid $90 and the fine was $113 and she still owed $46 ($23 difference plus $23 late fee). She fought it and even though they admitted the officer wrote the wrong amount on the ticket she still had to pay it but they did waive the late fee. On Sept 21 she mailed a check for $23.
In October she received a letter that since she did not pay it on time her silence was suspended. The post mark on the envelope (which they kindly included a photo copy of) showed Sept 22 yet they processed it on Sept 28 - the payment was due on Sept 27. (She mailed it on a Monday, it was stamped on a Tuesday, why did it take that long to get there and for them to process it? - they also ignored the fact that she was communicating with them over this.
She fought with them some more and they finally admitted their fault and said that her license was reinstated. We even get a form for this.
Come January she goes to renew her handicap decal only to find out her license is still suspended. They could not accept the form so she had to pay $60 to get her license reinstated (again). We also get letters from the DMV and our insurance both stating that they cannot renew because her license was suspended - we faxed them the paperwork and thought everything was OK. My wife kept the receipt for 2 months - she was told to keep it on hand for 6 weeks. Sadly the receipt was destroyed when a water bottle leaked. She also paid cash so there's no proof that she paid it.
Fast forward to this past Thursday, she gets stopped (driving 10 MpH over the speed limit (keeping up with the traffic) and the officer tells her (anyone want to take a guess?) her license was suspended. He also had to confiscate her license. Luckily she wasn't far so I could walk to where she was and drive her and the van home.
We spent from 8:15am to 4:30PM Friday at the DMV trying to get this cleared up (well, from 8:15am to 3:30pm standing in lines). We had all the paperwork but we still had to pay another $60 reinstatement fee plus $25 to get a new license. (Yes, she paid with a check this time).
You think this is done? I call my insurance company to find out why we haven't received a bill yet. Turns out they canceled our policy back in March because they didn't receive the paperwork. My wife faxed in several sheets but they're only admitting one sheet (I'm assuming the first sheet) which had one of the letters, not the reinstatement form.
I've spent the past several hours getting quotes since Geico wants over $3600 for 6 months plus a $1500 down payment (before it was only about $180 a month for 6 months). The cheapest I've found with the lowest coverage is $250 a month.
So now we've spent $145 getting her license reinstated TWICE as well as a replacement because of this officer's mistake. We're also now looking to spent at least an additional $840 a year in car insurance because of his mistake and the SNAFU that followed along with the mistakes made at the DMV. We've also unknowingly gone 2 months without car insurance because of this.
I wonder how hard it will be to get the suspension (which she never should have been suspended in the first place for) off of her record?
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