DaGrub

I bought an Anthracite 2004 TL with the A-Spec body kit last summer in July. Purchased my baby with 75000 miles for 13 Gs no accidents fully loaded A/T. I put some nice dark tints on, still legal mind you but real nice. Anyways I'm 22, full time student also working as much as possible, living between Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Collingwood and have been fuc*ed by dickhead pigs with nothing better to do than give me bullshit tickets. In the past year, I've been pulled over 5 times and given ridiculous tickets. Included, 7km over the speed limit, 12km over the speed limit, a rolling stop ticket up at my cottage where there is no traffic, one hefty speeding ticket I deserved, and 15km over the limit ticket. What does this mean? Well for starters, on one of those occasions I was also given an expired insurance card ticket because I handed the officer the temporary one I still had in the glove box by accident, upon realizing this I pulled the correct one out, showed the officer who basically said "Too bad".

I had always assumed that as far as insurance rates go, they would go up in accordance to the amount of demerit points lost....NOT the case. In Ontario any speeding ticket under 15km doesn't take a demerit point off your record, so I thought it was just a matter of paying the ticket which is neither here nor there. What I have learned is that insurance companies dont give a fu*k about severity of the ticket, simply how many have been accumulated. Considering the tickets I've accumulated over the past year, including the expired insurance card ticket, I have been deemed a HIGH RISK driver...ARE YOU FUC*KING KIDDING ME. My annual insurance was 4 Gs...which to renew would have skyrocketed to over 10....tell me how this makes any god damn sense. I have since put my car in the garage as of July 30th when my insurance ran out because I can't afford that kind of insurance as well as being a matter of principle. I have never been in an accident, the rolling stop ticket (officially Failure to Stop 3 pts) was committed up at my cottage where there was no traffic, the expired insurance card ticket could have been removed had the pig just explained I can bring the valid one to the station within 24 hours... each cop treated me like I was a criminal and was completely unreasonable, one even followed me for 5 minutes 2 cars behind me and pulled me over to give me the 7km ticket. The TL is american and is in MPH, the KMH don't show up clearly during the day which I have also tried explaining. I don't know does this seem right? Have they taken a HIGH RISK driver off the road for the safety of other commuters? I feel extremely unlucky and unjustly made an example of especially since I can give countless examples of friends who have been pulled over for worse offences and given warnings, something I have never come across. My baby will stay in the garage at my apartment building in Toronto until next april when a couple tickets come off my record. If my rates are still going to be ridiculous I'll have no choice but to sell it. I only drove it for a year... still extremely pissed over this situation a month later....had to vent... your thoughts?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

try the lotto.

combat mediC

iTrader: (1)

Makes me LOL when people say Tints.

OP, seems like the car is your demise. Sell it and get an 88 cavalier. w/ liability only.

BigPZ

It has more to do with the fact that you aren't 25 yet. Once you hit 25 your insurance will come down almost certainly. I live in Toronto, my car is tinted dark (so was my last one), I've driven over the limit a few times, and I have yet to be pulled over in this car (knock on wood). You have to know when its ok to play and when not to. Also, insurance companies are there to make a buck, and if they could label everyone a high risk driver, they would. Did you fight any of your tickets in court?... The expired insurance one would have likely been thrown out...

Gryphen

Damn that sucks. Have you shopped around to different insurance companies? If so are they all about the same rate?
Do you have any defensive driving courses in Canada that will help remove points from your license?

Doesn't help your only 22. You are already considered a high risk driver. I remember when I got my 83 RX-7 back in 1998 I had basic liability and it cost me like $250 a month for that car.

flyromeo3

1. There is no such thing as Dark + Legal tint in NY. 70 percent is legal. Trust me i've been there, argued with cops, judges etc.. Your wrong, law is right.

2. Your obviously doing something aside from others which gets them your attention. Driving around blasting the radio?,

3. if you came to a COMPLETE STOP, then im sure you wouldn't of gotten a ticket. When i come to a stop, I count to 3 and then proceed. I do what I can to not give any cop a reason to stop me. Trust me, I hate dealing with them and i come from a family of law enforcement.

4. You must have your console light dimmed low which prevents you from seeing the speedo in khm. I drive to Montreal a lot ( Marieville ) and what I've done is write down the mph equivilant in khm on a post it note that I can clearly see. Tape it on a visible spot.

im not trying to bash you or anything but, you have to think outside the box and ask yourself. What am I doing to attract them.

Gryphen

Ya, NY's tint laws blow. I'm orginally from central NY and every time I go home to see family I end up with at least 3 tickets. Whats worse is they can give out of state people tickets for this kind of crap. Even know my car is registered and insured in another state. I have even got a 1 plate ticket while in NY and in SC we only get 1 plate...

ez12a

holy crap $4k annual...that's ridiculous.

DaGrub

Ya I realize the age part, still a bitch tho I am not a high risk driver, I'm not out there racing anyone...in fact my first ticket with the TL was the biggest one I got and drove paranoid ever since..basically going with the flow and passing people as little as possible on the highways haha. Also I haven't got any tickets in Toronto... all surrounding area...and all at the beginning or end of the month. I've fought 3, the expired insurance ticket was thrown out like you said.

BigPZ

Canadian car insurance rates are unbelievable....$4,000 per year for a 20 something year old male is not that uncommon. When I was 19 I was about to close the deal on a beautiful 5.0 Mustang...Luckily I got 4 insurance quotes, all of which were in excess of $7,500.00 for the year - And I had a clean record. Long story short, I purchased a 4 cylinder hatchback...

DaGrub

Ya I hear ya, the backlight on the speedometer is maxed as bright as possible but the khm is still barely visible during the day, I know what to stick to in terms of Mph during the day and do my best to stay within that range... and that's my exact frustration, I don't know what I'm doing to attract the attention, I don't blast my stereo all the time especially through city streets for that reason. In terms of the rolling stop ticket, ya I technically deserve it..but I was almost at a complete stop I didn't blow through the intersection and like I said there is no traffic... I guess I deserve that one not sure how I missed the cop even though it was an undie. I'm hoping that my insurance will drop enough next year to re-insure myself with the TL otherwise it will be a while before I drive a nice car again

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Dude, sorry to hear all this. Just keep being careful...

TVL65

When me & the GF drove to niagra falls back in July on the canadian side, I drove like a grandmother on the streets around there. Major fear of being ticketed for some BS violation. Driving home thru NY state I used my valentine 1 detector which was lighting up like a christmas tree from all the NYSP units, Sheriff's units & local PD's. They were nailing everybody. Keep in mind state gov't & towns are literally broke, you getting a MV ticket & the state makes $$, the towns & your insurance company too with surcharges, so everybody is happy!

Hi speed

iTrader: (3)

Is you car modified? Can you tell from the outside. Being stopped is about doing something wrong that is visible, but many times that is not what you get a ticket for.

Jackass

Makes me LOL when people say "pigs". You can usually tell the age of the poster when the bash the cop for doing their job. I remember those days though. I used to get pulled over all the time and get random tickets. I complained as well....but looking back, I earned and deserved just about every ticket I ever got.

Sorry to see anyone have to pay that much in insurance. There is a price to pay for having fun. Your fun got you tickets and now your insurance is sky high. It will eventually come down....hopefully.

combat mediC

iTrader: (1)

Yep same here, I got the tint ticket, noise ordinance etc.
You know what though, I respect them, and I assure you... Those "pigs"... the op would love them when needs them and dials 911 without hesitation.

DaGrub

The car has the A-Spec body package and dark windows...that is all, initially I thought I was being pulled over for the windows but haven't got a ticket because of them.. thought they were runnin the plate and seeing that I'm 22 decided to give me a tough time which clearly has been a success.. Its not as if I'm consistently driving 20k over the limit, on highways I go with the left lane flow, and in the city I don't go more than 10 over the limit if that because of my unlucky track record

gwhizkid

Sorry man. This is what you get for free healthcare.

BigPZ

Our health care is by no means free...Shall we compare our taxes? High car insurance premiums and Ontario Health Insurance Plan have ZERO correlation.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

That sucks. Get one of these....

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

+1

+1

OP, get married

MWalsh9152

F tha police!

Acura_Dude

Hell yea! Sry OP, hopefully next yr it'll be a lot cheaper to insure your TL.

04WDPSeDaN

iTrader: (1)

geekybiker

Dark Tint + kid in fancy car with a body kit= lots of police attention. If you're getting tickets for a few km over the limit instead of a warning I have to wonder if you're giving the cops attitude when you are pulled over. It doesn't help having many tickets. The more tickets you have, the less lenient the cops are likely to be when you're pulled over.

Pull the tint, get a cheap car you can insure for liability only, and lose the attitude.

r3devi7

iTrader: (2)

Tints i gotz them yo

:facepalm

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Wellp sounds to me like you need to slow down a bit. All the speeding tickets seem legit to me. Not to be an ass or anything, but if your speeding your speeding, why wouldnt they give you a ticket for that? Slow down a bit and your problem is solved!!

And holy crap your insurance rates are insane!!!!! I know your still young but daaaamn. I think my insurance for my wifes car and my TL is like less than 900 bucks a year.

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Sorry, but everything you did was your fault. I don't care how little or small it was, you were wrong. Learn to drive the speed limit and to have a current insurance card with you. Is it that hard? Ask yourself. You wonder why insurance premiums are high for you, because you're still (with the utmost respect) irresponsible. The insurance company only knows that you've broken the law xx amount in a short amount of time, so they predict (which it may seem that you're heading) that you will end up going 15KMH over speed limit next time, hit a sedan with a family of 4, etc...

Nonetheless, is the insurance only in your name? I say get on your parents insurance and put yourself as not a primary driver-- this will decrease the cost. Also, the reason why insurance prices are high is not because of his/her driving history, but credit history of the primary account holder (#1 reason).

I've had $4000k a year insurance. I didn't cheap out on the Premium (250k/500k) either. And that was during my SENIOR year in HS. I decided to be dumb and drive my cars 100 MPH (over 30 MPH speed limit) on I-10 like a cool badass and received 3 tickets in one year. I sucked it up and paid for each one. Worked hard in College to pay the insurance (still in College), and ended up getting my insurance all the way down to 1.2k a year for two cars.

mau108

dude fight every friggin ticket. In Ontario insurance look for any reason to increase your premiums.

It may be too late now but that insurance ticket would have been dropped if you showed up with a valid insurance document in court. 7KM over could have been dropped as well if you can proove the radar hadn't been calibrated properly etc...

You're 22 you are already paying a lot for insurance, adding tickets on it insurance companies are going to run away from you.

We're paying 4grand for 3 cars and 3 drivers.

meowevil

iTrader: (1)

+1 you cannot blame someone else for your own fault. Even everything is speeding right next to you, and the cop gave you a speeding ticket because you tried to "follow" the traffic. Because you DID drive ABOVE the speed limit and DID NOT do a complete stop.

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

The insurance yes. The tickets no. The radar is 99.9% calibrated correctly. If it catches you, you lose.

That's the whole point? Responsibility is a bitch.

Drive correctly and you will have a low premium. Drive crazy and you will have a high premium. Simple as that.

Petruxa

try geico.

ez12a

holy crap man..i dont think i'd be able to afford driving a TL if that was the case in SoCal...And my insurance isnt even the cheapest.

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

5 tickets in a year? Come on dude. I get that your rates are through the roof and you're upset, but you can't blame the insurance company here. Good choice on parking the car for a bit until they clear off.

leedogg

You're paying the penalty for 'standing out'

quanaman

iTrader: (4)

Try switching insurance companies and see if that helps.

Also, I have my car under my dad's insurance (im 21) and it helps A LOT. But to do that, you'd have to make your parent a co-owner; which is just a paperwork thing more or less...shouldn't cost you anything except time at the DMV.

I have a few tickets too; disregard a traffic sign, driving improperly, no seatbelt, and 20MPH over the limit or someshit like that. AND a few small accidents.

With all that being said, my premium with my father is 520/6 months for full coverage.

Look into that. Also if your parent has another car you get a multiple car discount which helps a lot. My dad's retired and doesnt have a car so I didn't even get that.

DaGrub

First off I'd like to say I'm A) not immature like many people here are assuming, I'm not driving like an idiot and I'm not giving cops attitude when they pull me over. I'm not saying I dont deserve the tickets I agree if you get pulled over when speeding, regardless of by how much, you still earned it. I'm merely pointing out the fact that I don't drive unlike anyone else on the road. If anyone in here tells me they never go over the limit even slightly at any time, or always come to a full and complete stop regardless even when there is clearly no traffic around, then you are straight up talking out your ass. I guarantee if i was a 30 year old in a business suit on the way to work and pulled over goin less than 10 over I would be treated very differently. So ya I deserve the tickets, but I also feel unjustly targeted as by no means were any of the officers reasonable in the least or anything other than condescending, like I said in the title its a depressing situation haha. I drove the same way with my previous car with which I didn't receive ticket...it was a 98 plymouth neon. I don't appreciate users making this out to be me simply being a spoiled brat, I've lived on my own since 16, worked my ass off, am putting myself through school, and purchased one of my realistic dream cars on my own so its definitely sad putting her away because of minor speeding tickets. If you think thats irresponsible then sue me, I think taxpayers money could be better spent taking actual High Risk drivers off the street.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Actually, I really do stop at all stop signs.

DaGrub

I'm sure you've never gone over the speed limit too. Completely disregarding a stop sign and slowing down to the point where the car is barely moving are two different things. Get off your high horse

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Must be a Canadian thang.