FIXING A TICKET YOU ALREADY PAID IN KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
It happens all the time. You got a speeding ticket, or a no insurance ticket, or whatever and then you paid it. You thought that paying it would just take care of the problem and that life would be good! But now you have points on your license, you have a bad driving record, and your insurance rates are WAAAAAY too high. What can you do about that?
Well folks, I have some good news for you, it isn’t too late! You can still get those tickets taken care of even though it has been YEARS since you last paid any attention to them.
“How?” you might ask. Well, by using a lawyer (probably a little obvious given where this article is coming from).
This is how it works: I need your driving record. I go through your driving record and then I correct any ticket that you had in the past so that the Court will treat it as though it never happened. This means that the ticket comes off your record, it isn’t considered for your insurance (you may have to change companies), and you don’t have those points on your license anymore. It actually is pretty amazing.
The way I do this is by petitioning the Court to amend your old charge. An amendment is essentially asking the Court to change what they did before. Most Courts in Missouri are totally fine making these changes. The reason is probably clear: they are going to make you pay a little extra money.
“Whoa, whoa whoa!” I hear you saying, “More money!! But I already paid the ticket?! Why do those greedy jerks want more money?!”
Yeah, good question. Normally when you pay a ticket it costs a certain amount of money (let's say $175). If you don’t want those points on your license they will let you do that (typically only if you have a lawyer), but you are going to pay for the privilege. Usually it is the maximum allowable fine ($200) plus Court costs ($20-$75, depending on the city).
This is where it can get a little confusing, not much, but it requires some math. So let's say you paid that $175 before. Now you want to fix it, and let’s say the normal fine is $200+ $25.50 in Court costs. That means you will be paying $50.50 to get the ticket corrected. So you only pay the difference between what you paid and what you WOULD have paid.
Of course, that does not include the fees you would pay a lawyer to actually do the work. The price of an attorney on this can range from $150-$250 per ticket, though the end result will be the same regardless.
I’ve done the math on this, and if you pay to amend one ticket you will likely save hundreds of dollars a year. That is because a single speeding ticket (or really anything that carries points) can increase your insurance by about 25%. That is only for one ticket. If you have multiple tickets in your driving record you may be paying twice as much in insurance as you should be… or more!
I have not always had the best driving record. I, personally, have a tendency to drive a little fast. After I became an Attorney I decided to amend some of my old tickets and my insurance cost literally dropped in half. You may not have the same results I had (I got caught speeding maybe a little more often than most). But, if you have old tickets, even ones that aren’t giving you points on your license (another good reason to get tickets amended) it can be very worthwhile to take care of your old troubles.
If you have any questions about this, please get in touch with me. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have and will make sure to get you the best results for your situation. Depending on the severity of the charges you had, this can be more or less costly than it would be for others.
What I mean by that is this: speeding tickets and insurance tickets are pretty easy to correct, but an accident or a DWI are not as easy and will cost significantly more to take care of than simpler tickets. That will probably require a specific consultation so we can talk about your exact needs, based on your particular circumstances.
Thanks for reading!
Good luck out there.