More of a rant than anything else, but perhaps it can also serve as a cautionary tale. It really all started back in the early 1990s, but I'm going to jump ahead to 2001. In the summer of 2001, I was driving from Amarillo to Plano when I was pulled over in Quanah by the DPS. The Trooper told me I had a warrant out of Wise County from 1998. He was nice enough to take me to the Allsups and get a money order and take care of the warrant without a trip to the jail. So, that's what we did. I paid the outstanding fines and went on my merry way. In early 2002, I was having problems with my neighbor that necessitated a call to the police. When the officer was at my house, he told me there were two warrants for my arrest. One out of Wise County, one out of Dallas County. He told me to call and take care of them the next day. The next day, I called. The Dallas County one was from the summer of 1998. I made arrangements to take care of it. Then I called Wise County, thinking this was the same ticket I'd already taken care of. As it turns out, this was a different ticket. This one from 1993. I made arrangements to pay it and did. Flash forward to 2005. I go to renew my driver's license and they won't let me. Turns out, a ticket I got for no insurance (this was during a transition time when I switched insurance and there ended up being a gap of about two weeks in my coverage) that I had paid triggered a surcharge with the state. So, I pay the amount they tell me to pay in January, and I wait. It takes well into February to get a call back which tells me to go to Garland to reinstate my license. I go, they tell me I need a form from my insurance company. They tell me that's all I will need. I get the form and go back. They tell me there's a second part of the surcharge I need to pay, but I can't do that there. They've farmed it out to a private company. But they tell me that's all I need to do to reinstate my license. So, I call the private company and pay the second part of the surcharge. They tell me it will take a week to process. I wait the week and call DPS who now tells me there's a warrant from Wise County out for me, so I can't reinstate my license until I take care of that. I call Wise County thinking it has to be one of the ones I've already paid (especially since I had talked to Wise County in 2002 and specifically asked about any outstanding warrants, etc). They tell me I have two separate incidences. One from 1993 and one from 1998. I mention that I've paid both of those, and they say I only paid the 1993 one. I tell them I paid the 1998 one in 2001 when I got pulled over in Quanah. They say I didn't. I tell them I'll find my receipt and call them back. I tear the house apart looking for the receipt and, by some miracle, actually find it. I call Wise County back and tell them I have the receipt from paying for the 1998 incident. They now tell me I have three separate incidences from Wise County. One from 1993 and TWO from 1998, despite the fact that when I had called in 2002, there was only one outstanding and one paid (two total) and when I had called earlier that same day, there were still only two (one from 1993 and one from 1998). Somehow between the two times I called, I gained another ticket and warrant from 1998. So, needless to say, I'm having to pay that. I assume something else will pop up once I get the third of two Wise County tickets paid for.
So, how many times have you been pulled over in your lifetime exactly? And, why did you just ignore taking care of these "incidents" when they occurred? Did you honestly think they wouldn't come back to bite you at some point? I agree, though. That is a hell of price your paying now and some of it appears to be bogus if only because your getting the runaround.
man, i've known so many people to get hammered by the system like that. Some guy paid thousands of dollars in Detroit and didn't have the receipts. Years later Detroit said he never paid and that crap happened all again. I had the same thing happen to me in Dallas. They say I didn't pay for some of my tickets which I did. It wasted a couple days of my time to get it cleared up, but F the system.
Seriously? I actually almost question the government for giving you a driver's liscense at all. Assuming all of these tickets/warrants are legit and not just made up, you've actually screwed the system more than they've screwed you.
is there a way to find out to make sure you have no warrents online? i have to go and renew my lisence and i dont feel like going up there more then once.
Folks, life ain't that complicated. As we all know, when we get a ticket we get a court date. If we don't take care of that ticket on or before that date, then the municipal or JP court issues a warrant for our arrest. The onus is not on anyone but ourselves to handle our business. And if we choose, for whatever reason, not to handle it when it occurs, then it just creates a much bigger mess years down the road when we DO try to untangle the knot we created. We can blame the system. We can allege that these are 'mysterious' tickets and warrants that have been issued from Mars. Whatever. The bottom line is that if we take care of these things up front then it saves us ALOT of grief on the back end of things.
Have you seen the signs on the road that says "DWI - You can't afford it"? They're right. I must have went to court 15 times before I got a trial. I beat it, because my attorney kicks ass. I learned a lot from that experience. Good luck
It seems like you should be able to just call them up and ask them "Do I have any warrants?". Just don't stay on the phone long and don't tell them where your calling from. (cue the drums) Lists of people with warrants should be sent out in e-mails by spammers. Then, you have no excuse for not knowing about it. bah...bum...chee. Okay...I won't quit my day job.
Speaking of drivers licenses.... I turned 40 on 3/12. That evening I flew to Orlando on business on a late flight. By about 11:30 I walked up to the rental car counter, give the guy my license and credit card and he tells me my license expires in about 30 minutes. So, it's my birthday and nearly midnight and I find myself stranded in a strange city/airport. Forutnatly cash solves every problem so I took a $75 cab ride to my destination (Sanford). My wife picks me up on Wednesday and tells me that she found my license renewal form that was sent to me in the mail a week earlier but that she forgot to tell me. I was so pissed! Anyways, everyone who reads this needs to check (NOW!) when their license expires.
It's totally my fault for not taking care of the stuff as it happened. I wasn't very organized at the time and just let things go (especially stuff from other towns since they happened as I was travelling and I'd put them out of my mind and quickly forget. I always took care of the local ones. Something about travelling and tickets screws up my head somehow. When prodded, I always remember the incidents, except I can only remember being pulled over twice in Wise County). It just shouldn't be so difficult to take care of it when you try to take care of it. I mean, how many times do I have to call Wise County to get them to tell me the truth so I can get it taken care of? The story changed within the course of a few hours. I call, get one story. I call again, get a different story. And the surcharges, they don't tell you about that when you get and pay the ticket. You're supposed to get a letter later, but I never got the letter. And even after I found out about it and called, they sent me a replacement letter, which I paid in full only to discover that they should've sent me another letter that they also didn't send. It doesn't bother me to have to take care of stuff. I knew I'd eventually have to take care of it, which is why I called around to every place four years ago trying to find if there was anything still outstanding and paying everything that was. But when you call and ask straight out, they ought to be able to tell you. And when they keep you on the phone and look it up on their computer, it shouldn't change over the course of a single day. The only part that bothers me is the inability to take care of it. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it. But when they don't tell you there are things outstanding, it becomes more difficult to take care of it, especially when the story changes during the course of a single day. Other than the insurance ticket that I paid right away (though that still resulted in my license being revoked since the city doesn't tell people about the surcharge and the letters from the state apparently don't get sent), I haven't had a ticket in eight years. Amazingly, despite never having spent more than the time it takes to get across the county at a time in Wise County, I've had at least three tickets (none for speeding. One for running a stop sign that isn't there anymore and, according to them, two - six months apart - for expired inspection stickers. Something I find hard to believe, especially since the car I had at the time wasn't even a year old on the date they told me I got the first ticket) there out of a total of maybe ten in my lifetime. Apparently, I should find a different way to and from Amarillo. There's nobody to blame for it getting to this mess but me, but it's frustrating to try to be responsible and the various municipalities not let you. I mean, I called FOUR YEARS AGO to try and take care of this stuff. I took care of what they said I had only to have them come up with more stuff.
During this ordeal, I found out there's an 800 number you can call for automated information about outstanding tickets, etc. that are enterted into the state system. Call 1-800-686-0570, enter your DL number and DOB and it'll pull up the info that's in the state database. Of course, I renewed my DL with no issues in 2001 despite having several outstanding tickets/warrants.
Unfortunately we're dealing with bureaucracy. And it stinks because many times once you're in the system you feel like you are a slave to it, and there's this neverending labyrinth of red-tape and paper- pushers to wade through. It sounds like you're getting it straightened out. I'd definitely do what you are doing and continue to check with DPS and the various counties periodically. Hope you get that stuff cleared up, man.
