Do you have some old tickets that have been hanging over your head for far too long now?
- Start by Finding Out How Many Old Tickets You Have
- See If It’s Still Possible to Pay Old Tickets Off
- Go to Court to Answer to a Judge About Old Tickets
- Consider Taking a Defensive Driving Course to Get Old Tickets Dismissed
- Keep an Eye Out for Amnesty Programs for Old Tickets
- Avoid Letting Parking Tickets and Traffic Tickets Go Unpaid From Here on Out
- Old Tickets Don’t Have to Haunt You Forever
It doesn’t matter if you have old parking tickets or old traffic tickets that haven’t been paid yet. You should make it your mission to do something about them before they get you into any more trouble.
Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to get away with not ever getting a parking or traffic ticket if you spend enough time behind the wheel of a car. There are millions of them handed out each year.
But at the same time, you don’t have to let an old ticket or, worse, several old tickets drag you down. There are steps you can take to get them squared away. Find out how to do it below.
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Start by Finding Out How Many Old Tickets You Have
If you don’t pay off an old ticket, you will start to receive notices about it in the mail every so often. But if you’re not as organized as you should be, you might not see these notices. You also might just turn a blind eye to these notices and ignore them completely.
With this in mind, it’s going to be important for you to take stock of your old tickets when you’re on a mission to clean up your driving record. You should find out how many old tickets you have out there and see who you’ll need to contact to deal with them.
This might take a little bit of time and effort on your part. But it’ll bring you one step closer to eliminating old tickets.
See If It’s Still Possible to Pay Old Tickets Off
If your old tickets aren’t that old, you might still be able to pay them off. Some cities and towns will give people an opportunity to pay off tickets tied to old parking violations in some cases.
But more often than not, this isn’t going to be an option for you. Once you’ve let old tickets go unpaid for a long enough time, there will be all kinds of fees attached to them. There might also be warrants out for your arrest stemming from your old tickets.
Go to Court to Answer to a Judge About Old Tickets
When you first receive parking tickets and traffic tickets, you might have the option to pay them off without attending a court hearing. But when you let old tickets go unpaid for a long stretch of time, going to court will no longer be an option for you.
If you show an interest in paying off old tickets, most cities and towns are going to require you to attend a court hearing. You’ll be asked to answer to a judge about your old tickets. They’ll ask you why you haven’t done more to take care of your old tickets.
This might not sound like the most fun thing in the world to do. But the good news is that you’ll get a chance to plead your case and to tell a judge why you haven’t taken care of old tickets. And if your financial situation has prevented you from doing it, you might be able to work out a deal to satisfy the terms of your old tickets without breaking the bank.
Consider Taking a Defensive Driving Course to Get Old Tickets Dismissed
There are some instances in which a judge will let you off with not paying off old tickets as long as you sign up to take a defensive driving course. If this is even a remote possibility, you should run, not walk, to your computer and sign up for one of these courses ASAP.
Taking a defensive driving course in exchange for a judge dismissing a ticket is really a best-case scenario for you. You should take full advantage of this opportunity if it’s presented to you.
Keep an Eye Out for Amnesty Programs for Old Tickets
In an attempt to bring in some extra money during a cash-strapped year, some cities and towns will set up amnesty programs for those who have old tickets. Most of the time, these amnesty programs will give people a chance to pay off old tickets without being subjected to late fees and penalties.
In some cases, these amnesty programs will even allow people to pay just a portion of what they were supposed to pay to get rid of old tickets. So the money woes in a certain city or town could really help you out in a case like this.
Amnesty programs aren’t always available for those trying to pay off old tickets. But it wouldn’t hurt to look into whether or not there is an amnesty program in a place where you’ve received a ticket in the past.
Avoid Letting Parking Tickets and Traffic Tickets Go Unpaid From Here on Out
Once you get your old tickets all squared away, do yourself a favor and don’t let parking tickets and traffic tickets go unpaid again. If you get a parking violation, take the ticket from it and either pay it right away or go to court to fight it.
This way, you won’t have to worry about finding yourself in the position that you’re in now in the future. You’ll be able to keep your driving record clean by not letting old tickets accumulate on it.
Old Tickets Don’t Have to Haunt You Forever
It’s easy to get frustrated when you have a stack of old tickets. You might not have the slightest clue as to where you should start when dealing with them.
Our best advice would be to follow along with the tips that we’ve laid out here. They should help you to make old tickets a thing of the past in no time at all.
Want to get your hands on some driving tips that will help you steer clear of getting tickets while you’re out on the road? Find them in some of our other blog articles.
