KNOW THE REAL COST OF YOUR TICKET

Here’s a question we get a lot: “If it will cost me only about $150 to pay the fine for this ticket, why should we pay more to hire you?”

Maybe you’re right. If the only cost to you is the $150 fine, it probably doesn’t make financial sense to hire us. If that’s the case, we’ll be the first to tell you. We offer free consultations, so there is no down side to getting this information.

Our experience however, is that far too often people who simply plead guilty to the charge and pay the fine, find out that they made a very expensive mistake. The fact is that there are often very significant, very expensive charges and other consequences beyond the fine.

Here are some of them:

- Increases in Your Auto Insurance Premiums: Your auto insurance could increase from 25% to 400%. Depending on your driving history, most insurance companies will charge from $100 to $200 per point per year motor vehicle point for three years! A four point speeding ticket could easily cost you (beyond the fines and court costs) about $2,400 (4 points x $200 = $800 x 3 years = $2,400).

- “Hidden” Insurance Eligibility Points: While most people are aware of points assessed on your driving license by Motor Vehicle Services (MVS), there are some charges where points will not be assessed by MVS but will be assessed by your insurance carrier. These are called insurance eligibility points, and will have a direct bearing on how much it will cost you to obtain automobile insurance. One example is DWI. If you plead guilty or are found guilty of DWI, you will receive no MVS points, but nine insurance eligibility points! An at-fault fender bender where your insurer pays out $500 or more will often result in five insurance eligibility points.

- Insurance Surcharges: If you accumulate six or more points in three calendar years or less, you will have to pay an insurance surcharge of $100 for the first six points and $25 for each additional point. These surcharges remain for as long as you have six or more points from violations occurring in the prior three calendar years. So, let’s say last year you pled guilty to a two-point speeding ticket and they are your only points. Let’s say you get a four-point speeding ticket today. If you simply plead guilty to it, you’ll incur, in addition to the fines, court costs, increased insurance premiums, etc. an insurance surcharge of $600 for each year you have these points. Obviously, the more points you incur, the more you start with, or the longer you have six points on your record, the more you will pay in surcharges.

- Suspension of your Driving License: If you have 12 or more points on your driving record, MVS will issue a notice of scheduled suspension of your driving privilege. This may mean that you have to take a day or more off work to attend a hearing in Trenton or elsewhere in the State just to see what it will cost you to get your license back – someday.

- Ranges of Fines and Penalties: Very often, there is a range of fines for a given offense. Depending on the nature of the offense or the number of tickets, there can be hundreds or thousands of dollars between the low end of the range and the high end. An experienced municipal court attorney can help increase the odds that, apart from getting the charges dismissed or reduced, that you wind up paying near the bottom of these ranges, not the top.

So, before you simply plead guilty and pay that fine, give us a call at (732)238-8686 for a free, no-obligation telephone consult. At a minimum, it will help you make sure that you are making a decision based on all the relevant information. And who knows? It might save your license and thousands of dollars.

Email: BBL@BowneBarryLaw.com