I strongly dislike the Mass. RMV

[Gurm]

Ok, so it's another rant about my insane life right now.

So the MA RMV has adopted a new tactic - if you go a SINGLE DAY late on a SINGLE ticket, they put you in a queue for automatic license/registration suspension and send out a dunning notice with a late fee attached.

This is great, if you ever GOT the ticket.

So last ... September? I think? We got a notice in the mail that we had gotten a ticket for expired inspection sticker, at some rest stop on the Mass. Turnpike. I felt it was bogus, and had intended to appeal, because we had NEVER GOTTEN THE TICKET. It's bad enough that they feel they can just mail you a ticket, but it's even worse when you don't ever GET the ticket, just the notice saying that you're overdue and therefore have no right to a hearing.

So on MOVING DAY, mid-October, Julie gets pulled over because the registration has been suspended. Ugh. Ok, fine. Car towed to our house. Bleh. I pay the fine, at this point necessary to reinstate the registration!

So our inspection had failed twice for emissions - it's a 1995 Volvo, it was JUST outside the margins, and frankly I was a little irked because 12 year old cars aren't supposed to be emissions tested with the picky machine but the local place wasn't listening. We had moved, and I just didn't have TIME to deal with it. Yes, it's an excuse. Fine, my fault ok? I didn't get the car inspected.

So I got pulled over a couple times, $50 tickets. All the cops, as well as the insurance company, swore that an inspection ticket was no big deal. Doesn't count as points. Just negates any "good driver" credit for the year. Ok fine. I pay the tickets.

So then I get a couple in the mail. Ugh. Not again! I challenge them. Go to court. "Mr. Magistrate, I wasn't even IN Cambridge, I have no idea." "Is your car inspected now?" "Of course sir." "Ok, dismissed!"

Then I get a notice. Apparently I missed one. Or NEVER GOT IT as the case may be. Well apparently if you get 5 "surchargeable events" in 3 years, you get your license suspended. I had a speeding ticket, and apparently each inspection issue is a "surchargeable event". Whaaaaat? I check my insurance. Yep, there it is - really high premium. UGH!

So apparently EVERYONE misinformed me. Sure, it's my responsibility to learn the truth - ignorance of the law is no excuse. But c'mon!

So this Thursday, I have a "hearing". The notice says not to bother arguing your case, the hearing is ONLY if I have PROOF that they have made an error in documentation, like one of the tickets wasn't mine or something. If I want to keep my license, I have to go to a mandatory 8-hour "driver re-education" class, which is like a 12-step program. They go around the room and make you admit that you're a dangerous driver, a danger to society, and that your dangerous aggressive driving is putting people in danger. You can't just go and snooze through the class, you actually have to "fess up".

What am I going to do there? "Hi, my name is Gurm. I'm a dangerous driver. My car didn't pass emissions." ???

So today I have to call and see if there is an appeals process or something. The astonishing ripoff with the MA RMV is that once you pass the local "initial hearing" phase there is simply NO reasonable appeals process. I'm sure they have done this to keep lowlife idiots from appealing every speeding or parking ticket from here to kingdom come, but it does also prevent reasonable individuals from making a reasonable appeal for clemency.

There IS a surcharge appeals process - each surchargeable event can be appealed with the RMV and Insurance company, for a $50 fee. I have to get rid of TWO events to get this "5 and you're f**&ed" thing to go away. And I'm not even 100% sure that it goes away even then, or if I have to take the class regardless once I go past the hearing date.

So I have to get busy on the phone after 8:30 when the RMV opens. I got TWO MORE "you haven't paid" in the mail, one for a ticket I knew about and was contesting (but never got a court date on), and one for a ticket I ... wait for it ... NEVER RECEIVED IN THE MAIL.

So to wrap up - sure, mea culpa for not getting the car reinspected. But this system is broken. Horribly, horribly broken. And I might lose my license (or spend hundreds of dollars fighting a suspension) over ... really NOTHING.

[Umfriend]

So I may have misunderstood but isn't it simpler to simply take the re-education class? 8 hrs may be a lot less than fighting an overwhelmingly powerfull red-tape bureaucracy.

[rylan]

Nope... the re-education class doesn't get rid of all the extra points on the license that results in a massive insurance rate. All it does is give your license back with a crazy high insurance premium.

Yeah sure, and we were told it would be better with de-regulation!

[Umfriend]

Ah, thx for clearing that up. I think over here you actually need to claim under an insurance policy before premiums go up.

[Dr Mordrid]

Then there are Michigan's "Driver Responsibility" fees. Sold to the legislature as a way to further hammer drunk drivers they've been applied to an ever increasing spiral of infractions from major to downright silly. Don't pay a ticket on time? Add a kilobuck plus.

Ex: if your license gets suspended for an unpaid ticket, whether you know you got it or not, and you get caught driving you get a bill for an extra $1,000 (the DR fee) plus a $500 ticket for driving while suspended plus the original ticket + court costs. Once you've paid all that you get hit for another $125 by the Secretary of State as a reinstatement fee.

What's that? Double-jeopardy you say? Unconstitutional you say? Yeah, right.

They try to get around that by having three separate state agencies bill you; the District Court for the tickets etc., the Treasury Dept. for the DI fee and the Secretary of State for the reinstatement.

Matters not that 48 of the 50 states ruled DI fees unconstitutional in the early stages of their legislative history and so dropped the idea, Michigan and Virginia pressed forward anyhow. No political will to raise taxes or cut spending, so they start applying fees to everything. Next you'll have to pay one to f'ing BREATHE

Virginia got some sense knocked into it when the citizenry revolted, but our State government has spent itself into such a hole that public opinion matters not. Sad thing is when seniors and poor folks get caught in that trap.

[Gurm]

Not only does the class not help with the points on the license, but if I get ANOTHER point it's a mandatory 60-day suspension even WITH the class.

I may not be able to avoid taking the class, and that's... fine. So be it, I can go and suffer.

But I need to get these things cleared up. Apparently it's $50 per incident to appeal them, and I can choose either an in-person appeal or a written one. I have to get some advice on which way to proceed, and also some advice on whether getting them appealed/dismissed gets me out of taking the class or not.

And yeah, de-regulation was supposed to HELP, yeah? As it is, for our 12-to-13-year-old cars, Julie pays like $750 a year with comprehensive, and I pay like $2250 a year, same car, same coverage.

[Gurm]

Ok, so I spoke to a traffic lawyer today. He proposes that we petition the court to return the latest two tickets to the docket, thus removing them from RMV purview, and allowing me to go to court. Apparently this is a relatively simple procedure, but I only have 2 weeks to do so. He has offered to petition the court on my behalf, for a fee of course.

To my way of thinking, I'm willing to shell out the $500 which I would have paid to the RMV anyway, if he can get these tickets reversed.

Thoughts? The lawyer seemed really up front, gave me free advice, and said I'm more than welcome to pursue such petitioning myself - it's easy enough to do but I have to run my ass off to do it. It's worth it to me to NOT have to deal with it, I suppose...

[Jon P. Inghram]

Ouch, makes the problem I had look like a minor inconvenience.

[rylan]

PRobably worth it if it helps get rid of the tickets and most importantly removes the points form your license.

[Gurm]

Yeah, after checking him out at the BBB (listed, no complaints) I retained his services. $500 up front, he provided me with an excellent letter to go to the RMV with tomorrow, and he'll handle the courts in Cambridge and Waltham.

The letter - and my argument to the RMV - essentially says that I've retained counsel, that counsel feels that we stand a good chance of returning the tickets to the court and thus leaving me with no cause for suspension, and could we please have 2 months in which to do so?

We'll see how well it works. But regardless, I feel it will likely all work out. If it doesn't, oh well. I'm just a VERY CAREFUL driver from now on...

[rylan]

Let us know how it works out... and I sure hope it goes well!
Pretty scary to think just how broken the whole RMV system is here in MA.

[Gurm]

Well, I went to the RMV. After some hemming and hawing, they agreed to bump my cases back to the court. So now it's a magistrate in a couple months, and the lawyer - who doesn't now need to beg the court to reinstate - will help me out with one of them for gratis since he already has my money.

So one bullet dodged, now to keep it on track!

[Claymonkey]

Can I borrow your car? I'll go drive really safe in slow on the interstate

[Gurm]

Can I borrow your car? I'll go drive really safe in slow on the interstate

You're just jealous beause MY car has valid plates and yours doesn't!

[High_Jumbllama]

Can I borrow your car? I'll go drive really safe in slow on the interstate

Then you or Gurm would have a ticket for obstructing traffic.