Quote Originally Posted by Mr. 300
hmm, another thing, did you happen to have a bill of sale for the car? im not reading that anywhere. If you didnt, that could be your problem. But its weird that they would stick you with that and suspend your license with that being your first traffic violation. especially since nowadays minimum coverage includes uninsured motorist protection. what i would do is call the guy you bought it from and have him testify that he had it insured at the time that you took it home.
You don't seem to understand what I'm saying.

A.) The Bill of Sale is irrelevant, all it would do is prove the time of purchase of the vehicle. That has been repeated by everyone I've spoken to about this. The TIME of purchase of the vehicle isn't relevant at all, because we have the DATE of purchase. The facts of the case are that I was driving a vehicle that had insurance approximately an hour and a half AFTER the ticket was issued and that had been purchased less than 30 days beforehand and would fall under the coverage of my insurance policy.

B.) The current wording and enforcement of the law is that the coverage offered on new vehicles does NOT have anything to do with the LEGAL requirement of having an INSURANCE POLICY for the vehicle. I could write up a form saying I was insuring your vehicle for X dollars for Y amount of time, and that could be considered insurance coverage under some circumstances, but does not fit the current law's requirement of having the vehicle NAMED on an insurance policy that is valid and has updated that information with the electronic database for the state of Georgia.

C.) It doesn't matter what the cop tells you when he DOESN'T write the citation. Believe it or not, most cops do NOT know the law forward and backward like people want to pretend they do. That's why when they issue a citation you still get a chance in court. Some citations are issued erroneously, but that also means sometimes citations don't get issued when they should. Just because a cop told you that you have some odd amount of time doesn't mean that's the case. A cop can stop you and tell you that it's perfectly legal for you to give him $50 to get out of a speeding ticket on the spot, but if you do it to the next cop down the road you still might be arrested for attempting to bribe a police officer.

D.) Even if you THINK you are right and have no legal research into the matter to support you, I really want you to consider the VERY SERIOUS possibility of being wrong both for yourself and for others who heed your advice. As I've said already, if you're willing to take on the liability of proving that you are correct in a courtroom I will gladly buy you dinner and let you look over all the material I have for you. We'll sign a contract stating that you'll chaffeur me around when I lose my liscense, you can pay the fines involved in it, and I'll represent myself with your notes as to how to defend myself. Sound like a deal? It certainly doesn't have a downside for me.

Edit: And yes, I did have an "Unofficial" Bill of Sale, but because it's not one of the DMV issued Bill of Sale forms it would not be legally binding in court in any situation except for the previous owner attempting to get ownership of his car back, which he would lose at because I already have the title in my name transferred with his signature on the old one. Most people who do private party WITH a title don't HAVE or NEED an official bill of sale. It is SPECIFICALLY intended for registering a vehicle that DOES NOT have a title because of age, or because of a transfer of liens. It has nothing to do with whether or not I had insurance coverage either.