Tinting/Fix-It Ticket Question

[jaybb]

First let me say that I love this forum and I have a great deal of respect for the CHP and what you all do. However I have a question which I can't seem to get answered. I recently moved here from Florida to attend school. I leased my car through BMW in Florida. Part of my lease package was tinting on the driver and passengers front two windows. I was unaware this tinting was illegal in the state of California. After about a week of living here, I had an officer pull me over and cite me for my window tinting. On the ticket, he specificed and instructed me that I needed to have the violation fixed and appear in court by the date specified on the ticket. I told him this would be no problem, as my lease was up by the time the court appearance was to be (roughly 5 weeks). He said okay. I signed the ticket, thanked him and went on with my day.

Not more than a week later, I was pulled over by the same officer again. I informed him that he had already cited me for the tinting, gave me a date to have it fixed by, and I told him the violation would be corrected by the date he told me (as I would not have the car anymore). He said this was not okay, and proceeded to write me another ticket, this time with a NON correctable violation. Frustrated, I signed the ticket and went on with my day. I was still very polite to him, however. Over the next 7 days, he pulled me over twice more, and gave me two more NON-correctable violations.

Shortly after, I called BMW, they said it would be roughly $900 to have removed the tinting. Doing it on my own would result in about a $600 penalty, as they consider it a change in the value of the vehicle. Needless to say, I didn't have it removed as the car was to be turned in two weeks from this point.

My vehicle is now turned in to BMW of North America and I don't have ownership anymore. I still have four tickets from the same officer for these violations, when he told me originally I would simply have to have the violation fixed by the court date.

My question is two fold: a) is it normal for Officers to cite somebody 4 times within 2 weeks for the exact same violation? b) what do you reccomend I do with these four outstanding tickets with four different appear-by/court dates?

Once again, thank you all very much for your assistance! I appreciate it tremendously.

[bcjack]

That's a tough question to answer...The citation you received was for violating of the Vehicle Code. The date on the citation was the date you need to appear in court, it not the deadline to get it fixed. TECHNICALLY, if you drive the car with the tinting, you have violated the law again...It is illegal to operate a motor vehicle in CA with the driver's window tinted. Every time you drive the car with the driver's window tinted, you are violating the law. In my limited experience, If I had stopped someone with a mechanical violation and they had a fix-it ticket, I usually would not write another one, as my goal is to get the probelm fixed so the car is safe and legal, not screw the person over. That being said, if the person I stopped was an a$$, I would consider giving him/her a NON-FIXIT ticket for being an a$$. I can't get inside the head of the officer, so I won't try, but you must have done something to get on his/her bad side.

I would suggest you take all of the citations and contact the court where you were cited to appear, get a court date and tell the judge your story and just see what happens. Take any paperwork with you that shows where you leased the car (Florida), and the paperwork that shows you no longer own the car. Most judges I know are reasonable, and you might get some or all of them dismissed. Then again, maybe not.

You could also contact the officer's supervisor and let him/her know about your concerns. You may be the "Victim" of a bad cop. :sad:

[undertow999]

I had something similar happen to me. I had front window tint on my vehicle a couple years ago, and I received a fix-it ticket for it. Two days later, another officer, from a different department pulled me over for the same thing. I explained to him that I was just cited for this, and I showed him the ticket. He was really cool about it and just told me to take it off. SO if i were you , I would just get all the paper work you ahev about the situation and bring it to court. Like bcjack said, alot of judges are reasonable.

Now this is off topic, but I am more pissed about the BMW lease thing. How can they say removing tint from two windows would cost you $900. When I had my SUV, I had every single window tinted forabout $200. But that is besides the point, by you removing the tint for them, you are helping them out, because when you turn the car back in, the tint will have to be removed in order to sell it in CA. Tint is actually really easy to take off, i do it all the time at work, so you could have done it for free. But I am just suprised at BMW for pulling that crap.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but like bcjack said, just get all your paper work together for your first court date and talk to the judge. goodluck, and oh ya, welcome to CA :badgrin:

[FuelInjection09]

Jay, he didn't happen to be an LAPD motorcylce officer in the San Fernando Valley, was he?

[Flying Pig]

That Officer was a jack ass

[Dipmo]

I had something similar happen to me. I had front window tint on my vehicle a couple years ago, and I received a fix-it ticket for it. Two days later, another officer, from a different department pulled me over for the same thing. I explained to him that I was just cited for this, and I showed him the ticket. He was really cool about it and just told me to take it off. SO if i were you , I would just get all the paper work you ahev about the situation and bring it to court. Like bcjack said, alot of judges are reasonable.

Now this is off topic, but I am more pissed about the BMW lease thing. How can they say removing tint from two windows would cost you $900. When I had my SUV, I had every single window tinted forabout $200. But that is besides the point, by you removing the tint for them, you are helping them out, because when you turn the car back in, the tint will have to be removed in order to sell it in CA. Tint is actually really easy to take off, i do it all the time at work, so you could have done it for free. But I am just suprised at BMW for pulling that crap.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but like bcjack said, just get all your paper work together for your first court date and talk to the judge. goodluck, and oh ya, welcome to CA :badgrin:

It's BMW, of course it costs $900 to remove tint. I also guarantee that BMW will not remove the tint prior to resale and will in fact mark up the price of the car for the next "Certified pre-owned" buyer. I've been there with BMW, it once cost me $150 to get a parking light repaired.

[SB 405]

I think the way BMW works is if you are returning a car after a lease is up and you have no plans to lease another vehicle they stick it to ya. However return a vehicle with the intention of leasing another vehicle they can't do enough for you.

[undertow999]

It's BMW, of course it costs $900 to remove tint. I also guarantee that BMW will not remove the tint prior to resale and will in fact mark up the price of the car for the next "Certified pre-owned" buyer. I've been there with BMW, it once cost me $150 to get a parking light repaired.

That is rediculous, parking lights are easy to change, even on BMW's. I changed my brothers and my moms in 10 minutes. Dot to mention th ebulb cost $1 from any auto parts store. So $1 for parts $149 for labor, hmm interesting. Its rediculous what dealerships get away with that. O well That must be the reason I have never taken my car to a dealership.

[jaybb]

Jay, he didn't happen to be an LAPD motorcylce officer in the San Fernando Valley, was he?

Nope, he was a CHP officer in LA.

[SB 405]

I so want to believe there is more to this story that's not being told. I can't imagine why one Officer would want to pick on someone (for lack of a better term) for something as simple as window tint. However if jay's story is on the up and up I'm thinking it's Officers such as this one that give the rest of you a bad name because IMO when it comes to LE many people throw all of you in the same category and Officers such as this ain't helping your cause.

[SR-25]

Usually I would say correct it and pay it. But honeslty, I would go to court on that day to contest 3 of the tickets. The officer should have to show up. Give all the evidence to the judge and I would be 1000:1 that he will throw 3 of the 4 tickets out.

[jaybb]

I completely agree, I don't know why the officer would "pick" on me for something as minor as window tinting. He didn't cite me for any other violations and was very quiet throughout the whole process. In any event, it has been just a frustrating situation. Still, while I may have lost respect in that one officer, I still respect the CHP as a whole and have a lot of respect for what you all endure.

[SB 405]

jay,you have to appear court for this? I thought you just took care of the problem and went into a CHP office and had them sign off that it was corrected.

[jaybb]

Apparently, the citing officer has the ability to make the violations either correctable or non-correctable, imposing a mandatory fine. While one of mine was made correctable, the rest were non-correctable.

[Your Mentor]

First of all, let me say that AS DESCRIBED, I don't condone the actions of this officer. But I do know there are always two sides to every story.

Now, the only thing I'd like to point out is that making a violation dismissable is NOT discretionary as some officers have been led to believe. There are three conditions for making a mechanical violation NOT dismissable. If one of those three conditions is not met, the officer is bound by the vehicle code to make it dismissable. We are NOT judges and do not carry that kind of authority. In order to make a violation non-dismissable; the violator must be unwilling or unable to correct the violation, or; the violation must present an immediate safety hazard, or; there must be evidence of fraud or persistant neglect. If none of those conditions exist, officers are bound by law to make it dismissable. I've heard every kind of justification from officers for making a violation non-dismissable but ultimately, the opinion is up to a judge. My suggestion is to appear in court and explain it to the magistrate. That's your right and actually, it's the purpose of issuing citations; so people can explain their actions to a judge. It's not a battle between you and the officer.

[jaybb]

Very helpful, thank you for your help.

[Dipmo]

It's BMW, of course it costs $900 to remove tint. I also guarantee that BMW will not remove the tint prior to resale and will in fact mark up the price of the car for the next "Certified pre-owned" buyer. I've been there with BMW, it once cost me $150 to get a parking light repaired.

That is rediculous, parking lights are easy to change, even on BMW's. I changed my brothers and my moms in 10 minutes. Dot to mention th ebulb cost $1 from any auto parts store. So $1 for parts $149 for labor, hmm interesting. Its rediculous what dealerships get away with that. O well That must be the reason I have never taken my car to a dealership.

I wish it were that simple, i would have done it myself. The bulb socket was defective, not just the bulb. Even still, $150 was a bit much.

[undertow999]

It's BMW, of course it costs $900 to remove tint. I also guarantee that BMW will not remove the tint prior to resale and will in fact mark up the price of the car for the next "Certified pre-owned" buyer. I've been there with BMW, it once cost me $150 to get a parking light repaired.

That is rediculous, parking lights are easy to change, even on BMW's. I changed my brothers and my moms in 10 minutes. Dot to mention th ebulb cost $1 from any auto parts store. So $1 for parts $149 for labor, hmm interesting. Its rediculous what dealerships get away with that. O well That must be the reason I have never taken my car to a dealership.

I wish it were that simple, i would have done it myself. The bulb socket was defective, not just the bulb. Even still, $150 was a bit much.

Oh, well that makes a big difference. I thought $150 was high for a bad bulb, even from a dealer. Well I guess the moral of the story is to avoid dealerships :smile:

[pupdog]

I don't know what's involved in removing tint, but WOW! I just replaced my windshield for only $200 (took some pebbles, which turned into huge cracks, plus high wind + lots of sand= pitted glass, all this in the last 2 weeks!). Guess this is why LE hasn't switched to Mini Coopers for patrol cars:biggrin: Those little guys can MOVE!

[undertow999]

its pretty simple, there are two ways to remove it. If you have a steam vac oromething like that you can heat up the tint with the steam and it will peel off easily. When I remove tint, I just peel up a corner of the tint with a razor blade and peel it of the window slowly. BUt this leaves the glue on the window, which you have to scrape off with the razor balde and some goo-gone. Take about 10-15 mintues per window.

[gofly]

who is responsible for a fix it ticket? The driver or the owner of the vehicle? Example: I was driving my brothers truck and his windshield is cracked. If I got pulled over and was given a fix it ticket (is that what would happen?) would my name go on the ticket or his because of the registration? Would it go on my record at all?

Thanks.

good luck...be safe

[dw]

who is responsible for a fix it ticket? The driver or the owner of the vehicle? Example: I was driving my brothers truck and his windshield is cracked. If I got pulled over and was given a fix it ticket (is that what would happen?) would my name go on the ticket or his because of the registration? Would it go on my record at all?

Thanks.

good luck...be safe

Generally the driver is responsible, except if you're driving an employer's vehicle in the course of employment. There's actually a form employers / motor carriers can complete to make sure a ticket is issued to them.

[uoplax13]

So if I'm driving the company truck at work, and the registration is expired, the citation would go to them? I'm not looking to have more than my one ticket to discuss at my QAP :smile:

[WinnieI05]

I write tint a few times a week. It has not even crossed my mind to write the person again when I see them the next few days. I like to give the violater the benefit of the doubt and allow them ample time to fix the violation. Some people don't feel comfortable removing the tint themselves and need a professional to do it. If after a significant amount of time passed and I continued to see the vehicle continuing to violate the vehicle code, I would issue another citation. 4 citations in a couple weeks seems a little excessive, but as stated in prior posts, there are two sides to every story. For the officer to come across you 4 times in two weeks seems a little strange considering the size of the LA area and the amount of traffic there. I'm in a small area and work the same beat almost everyday and don't come across the same vehicle too often. I think there is something missing here...

My two cents...

WinnieI05