I’ve been occasionally driving a family member’s “junker” car (20+ years old, needs a ton of work done to it and before I used it it was sitting in his yard for years on end) which I drive about 3x a month. Typically I just get dropped off at work by my spouse.
Here’s what happened: I agreed to pay the vehicle’s owner $120 a month for the vehicles insurance since I’d be the primary driver. The owner said they’d get the insurance card to me, never did, and I essentially forgot about it.
6 months ago I got a speeding ticket for 10 over and officer advised that vehicle was uninsured. I paid the ticket off without the need to go to court. I confronted the family member that owns the vehicle about lack of insurance and they sent me a photo of the “proof” of insurance on the vehicle.
I attempted to get my own policy the day of the ticket but every independent agent I’ve reached out to said that I could not insure a vehicle that I do not own or is not registered to me.
I did not call the insurance company to verify that the insurance was active, just assumed that there was a snag in some system somewhere and continued on with my day. They said they’d get the actual insurance card to me at some point but until they could, the photo should suffice.
About two weeks ago I was pulled over and the officer asked why the vehicle doesn’t have insurance. I told him that I didn’t know since the vehicle is a family member’s, but that I pay said family the cost of insurance every month and was assured that the vehicle has insurance. I’d written down the policy information myself from the picture they gave, and the officer was unable to pull up matching insurance. He said that he wouldn’t give me a ticket for no insurance, but had to give me a ticket for no proof of insurance and gave me a court date for it.
I confronted said family member about all this, again, and they admitted to not having paid the insurance in several months, and their recourse was to hand me the title to the car and say “I’m sorry but I just dont want to deal with this, the car is yours now”. I have not signed the title and preferably do not want to deal with accepting a massive fine in court that shouldn’t even be my responsibility.
Will explaining all this to the judge be worth it at all or should I just plead guilty and take the fine (in my state, massive, I’ve been told by multiple people to expect a $600+ fine minimum)? What’s the best thing to do here? I still haven’t registered the vehicle in my name and have not been driving it because of the impending court date next month.
Owner wasn’t paying their insurance and I can’t insure property that isn’t mine, traffic ticket
byu/ConAcide inInsurance
Posted by ConAcide
5 Comments
The fine is yours regardless because you were driving. You could have gotten a non owners policy that would have covered you. Check your states laws but your liscense may become suspended for multiple no insurance tickets. Don’t count on the state to issue you a notice because they almost always “get lost in the mail”
You got a car for $600. Pay up and move on.
I would register and insure the car before your court date. Then bring proof that the car is registered and insured to court with you. Tell the judge that you were told the car was insured and legal to drive. You might get a sympathetic judge and maybe he will reduce the fine or possibly dismiss it all together.
Dude, no one cares about all that nonsense. Don’t drive a car that isn’t yours and isn’t insured. You are intentionally being obtuse.
>do not want to deal with accepting a massive fine in court that shouldn’t even be my responsibility.
But it is you’re responsibility to make sure the car you’re driving is insured. You didn’t bother following up on that. Essentially, you got a car, albeit a beater, pretty cheaply. I’d take it and move on.