# Question about impounded car



## sm301 (May 29, 2009)

Hello I have a few questions to ask. About 2 hours ago my mother had her car impounded for having a suspended registration. On February 12 of 2009 I had gone down to the registry and renewed her suspension after she was pulled over in january for driving on a suspended registration (we didnt know it was up because we had outstanding excise tax so we never received renewal forms but everything is paid and current now). The officer told her that the registration was suspended on april 25th and that usually there is some code following where it told him it was unregistered but it was not there. We have never been notified of any registration suspension and dont understand any reason why it would be. Could this be an error made by the registry? If so will the 210 dollars it will cost to have the car recovered from the impound lot be refunded? Also on the ticket the officer issued her it states she has 4 days to bring the ticket to the clerk magistrate. Is this only to have a hearing or when she goes down will it be something that is decided on the spot? I only ask because with her work schedule it would be hard for her to make time in the next 4 days considering the offices are closed for the weekend. Any help would be appreciated


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

Failure to pay excise tax will not revoke your registration; it just makes it non-renewable and you're vehicle will become unregistered when the registration expires.

To be clear, "unregistered" and a "revoked registration" are two very different offenses. The first is a $100 fine and happens when you just let the rgistration expire. The second occurs when the registry takes away your registration and is a criminal offense that will result in a criminal record for the operator. 


sm301 said:


> Also on the ticket the officer issued her it states she has 4 days to bring the ticket to the clerk magistrate.


This would indicate that the registration was probably revoked, which is a criminal offense; criminal automobile law violations where there is no arrest have a four day window in which to apply for a magistrates hearing.

You best bet it to get your sh*t squared away pronto, then go in and beg for mercy. 98% of revoked regs I come across are the result of insurance cancellation; if the cop was unable to confirm why, it's unlikely that would have been the reason, but you never know. If it was cancelled insurance, that's another criminal offense, so keep your eyes peeled in the mail for another citation.



sm301 said:


> Could this be an error made by the registry? If so will the 210 dollars it will cost to have the car recovered from the impound lot be refunded?


It's rare the the registry makes errors; it does happen, but usually in situations like this, you or your insurance company forgot a detail of getting the car back on the road which triggered the registration revocation. Some people have been having problems with revoked registrations when the insurance companies who have been recently begun insuring in MA (specifically, Progressive) that don't follow the proper proceedure.

Kiss your $210 goodbye. The cops are not repsonsible as they relied on the given RMV information. And if it was the RMV's fault, good luck getting them to shell it out to you.


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## sm301 (May 29, 2009)

Hi thank you for your reply. The officer who pulled her over was able to verify her insurance. Is a registration able to be revoked for a bad inspection sticker? That is the only thing we could think it could be. If she does have a hearing and doesn't get lucky what is the worst she could look at besides a record? Is it a heavy fine or something worse like probation? The ticket issued did not have any sort of dollar amounts on it.


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## midwatch (Jan 5, 2007)

I've seen this on occasion, recently in fact. Its different than a revoked for insurance purposes. Instead of the usual REVO/INSC codes we usually see, the registration shows up as "SUSP." No reason given, just suspended. Regardless, its still cited under 90/23 and a criminal offense, so just get her shit squared away and bring the updated paperwork with you to the magistrates hearing and you should be fine.


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

sm301 said:


> Is a registration able to be revoked for a bad inspection sticker?





midwatch said:


> I've seen this on occasion, recently in fact. Its different than a revoked for insurance purposes. Instead of the usual REVO/INSC codes we usually see, the registration shows up as "SUSP."


 For years they've talked about doing just that, suspending/revoking registrations for bad inspection stickers. If the RMV just started doing it, no one told me.

Do us a favor and check back with what the issue was when you find out. You've peeked my curiosity.


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## midwatch (Jan 5, 2007)

OfficerObie59 said:


> For years they've talked about doing just that, suspending/revoking registrations for bad inspection stickers. If the RMV just started doing it, no one told me.


I had also heard that they intended to do this, but that was several years ago and its been very rarely that I've come across it so I have to assume it was never implemented.



OfficerObie59 said:


> Do us a favor and check back with what the issue was when you find out. You've peeked my curiosity.


I went back and grabbed my copy of the citation and I charged the operator with a Suspended Registration under 90/23 _and _an Inspection Sticker violation, so who knows maybe there are some rare instances where this has happened. Also, IIRC there was an inspection violation the other time that I ran across a suspended reg, but that was a couple of years ago and I could be wrong.


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## midwatch (Jan 5, 2007)

LOL Obie, I just saw another one of these today. SUSP registration status with several inspection sticker violations about 2 months prior.

To the registered owner: You may have evaded my wrath today, but I know where you live. I'll see you again...oh yes, I will.


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