No, I did not get a DUI

Discovered an issue that needs to get cleared up. When talking to AAA about my car insurance the other day, they informed me that my license has been suspended... for a DUI in December 2010. This was not me.

Someone was arrested with my DL number, either through identity theft or clerical error, and I've been driving with a suspended license for almost a year with no clue anything was wrong. Now I need to clear this up.

Any experience or advice on what to do or not to do to get this taken care of? I'm a bit paranoid that if I go visit an official in the court house, someone will physically take my license and cause all sorts of problems for me.

Call the court house first. Do not go in person.

See if you can find out if they show the case still open, and if they currently show anything of the sort that matches what AAA is saying.

I had a similar situation a year or two ago, except that i HAD gotten a just ticket. But they put it in their system twice. Took about 2 years to completely clear it up.

I doubt yours will be that bad.

If they got someone for DUI, they would have booked someone. They didn't book you, so this should be cut and dry.

But yes... do CALL, do not just randomly show up, just in case there's a bench warrant incorrectly attached with your license for not showing up to court. (Probably won't be, but jail is never fun.)

Do NOT drive anywhere to get this taken care of! Get someone to take you if you need to go somewhere!

A similar thing happened to me. It was an old ticket, license got suspended, they, for whatever stupid reason, never bothered to tell me! Went to get it fixed (fix it ticket) got nailed for driving with a suspended license, even thought I had been doing that for 1 year or so without knowing, and I was just trying to fix it.

Well, I'm on hold waiting for a clerk from the court house now. We'll see what happens. I figured that since it was DUI, someone got arrested, so there are pictures and fingerprints of someone who isn't me.

If you get pulled over for ANY reason it won't matter if you have the card in your pocket or not.

I discovered this summer that my license was suspended by another state in 1998 - for allegedly not returning licence plates when I moved 500 miles away. My current home state gave me 45 days to clear it up, which I was able to do with a couple of phone calls. I hope you are as lucky.

bludroptop wrote: If you get pulled over for ANY reason it won't matter if you have the card in your pocket or not.

Yeah, but at least I can still buy beer.

ya for some reason when the state suspends your license they don't seem to really care if you know... wife was pulled over (6 years or so back) with a suspended license because we'd changed insurance and the prior insurance company reported her as being without insurance or some such nonsense... anyway wife had my 4 month old son with her and I think thats prob the only reason the cop didn't take her in... but he did take her card, give her a ticket etc. etc... cost $600 to clear up everything and get her card back rollseyes

gota love the gubberment lol

but anyway like they said... call... then get driven... gubberment idiots just care whats on the screen in front of them for the most part.

Beer will definitely make this better. I hope it is easy to get it all cleared up, and I hope it was a clerical error and not identity theft, the fun could just be beginning if that's the case.

I know someone who fudged a license in someone elses' name but with their picture. So that meant there were TWO licenses with the same number but different pictures. Um, yeah.

I agree that most likely this is a clerical error (transposed number, etc) and also no WAY would I go down there in person at this point.

This might help...

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/got-arrested-last-night/11467/page1/

I ended up going to the new court date and producing documents that proved i was there the first time and had paid my ticket.

That said... two years later, i got nailed for driving with suspended license AGAIN, and had to raise hell at the court house about it.

I check weekly now to make sure my license is still showing as valid. And it is. Valid with 0 points.

Curmudgeon wrote: I agree that most likely this is a clerical error (transposed number, etc) and also no WAY would I go down there in person at this point.

I'm going to recommend this too. Fingerprint ink sucks to wash off...

I got a bit of a speeding ticket a while back. The kind where you HAVE to go to court to beg for reduction or bad things happen to your insurance. When they looked me up - the clerk said "You should always, always identify yourself using your middle name. There is a really bad guy out there with the same name, age and description".

That was a little disturbing - that the police don't bother with all that nonsense like identity verification before they lay on the beat-down.

In any case, it is no surprise they messed up your records and it should be a simple matter to fix it but it won't be. Sorry.

Went to renew my DL earlier this year AFTER I noticed it expired a week before. Didnt get a notice in the mail, weird...

When I showed up at the DMV I found that "I" had a failure to appear and failure to pay a red light camera ticket from a court district 100 miles away. I was able to confirm they were wrong with a phone call to the red light camera" office. They were able to pull up my DL picture and the picture of the owner of the vehicle. Unfortunately it still required me to drive 100 miles (without a valid license) to pick up a stack of paperwork from one court and then drive another 15 miles to deliver them to the traffic court. It took a few days to clear and multiple phone calls to the DA to make everything whole again. Ends up the driver's maiden name and new last name were the same as my complete name. What are the odds?

Luckily the DA was super friendly and helpful and ended up writing me a check for my troubles

The insurance company showed a DUI on my record which killed my insurance rate - had him recheck since i never got a dui and it was just a suspended liceness for forgetting to pay a fine 4 years ago and was labled by the insurance company as a dui?!

Slightly off topic, but it kind of annoys me that they don't send notices for getting your license renewed. Luckily, on Saturday the guy at the liquor store noticed that mine will be expiring soon. Last time I didn't realize until I went into a bar, got carded, and the guy said "You know this expired 6 months ago, right?". Uh, no. Whoops.

16vCorey wrote: Slightly off topic, but it kind of annoys me that they don't send notices for getting your license renewed. Luckily, on Saturday the guy at the liquor store noticed that mine will be expiring soon. Last time I didn't realize until I went into a bar, got carded, and the guy said "You know this expired 6 months ago, right?". Uh, no. Whoops.

By "they" you mean "Indiana," right? I've never seen another state so hell bent on NOT sending notices of any kind, for anything.

Our licenses in Vermont expire on your birthday. Helps remind you.

I agree on being very careful, It would be very easy to spend a few weeks in jail before they say oh, nevermind, you can leave now.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I got a bit of a speeding ticket a while back. The kind where you HAVE to go to court to beg for reduction or bad things happen to your insurance. When they looked me up - the clerk said "You should always, always identify yourself using your middle name. There is a really bad guy out there with the same name, age and description".

So don't go by Giant Snorklewacker, check.

I got a reminder in the mail when my Colorado license was ready to expire. They let me renew it online and even reused the same picture. My last license was good for 10 years, the new one only 5. Still, when it expires, the picture will be 15 years old...

Well, isn't this topical... you weren't licensed in NJ were you?

New Jersey DMV workers accused of selling identities for $200 a pop

I found out that mail from the MVA doesn't get forwarded when you've moved. This became evident when I got a $75 expired tag ticket on the M3 track rat in October. It had been dead since March...

Not as bad as when let insurance lapse on 2 parked, mostly disassembled motorcycles for several months. That was several sets of Hoosiers worth of MVA inflicted pain.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

16vCorey wrote: Slightly off topic, but it kind of annoys me that they don't send notices for getting your license renewed. Luckily, on Saturday the guy at the liquor store noticed that mine will be expiring soon. Last time I didn't realize until I went into a bar, got carded, and the guy said "You know this expired 6 months ago, right?". Uh, no. Whoops.

By "they" you mean "Indiana," right? I've never seen another state so hell bent on NOT sending notices of any kind, for anything.

About ten years ago I got my license suspended for a "Failure to Appear" violation. Turns out in Indiana if you get two speeding tickets a year you are automatically required to attend a defensive driving class. Never got the notice and didn't find out until a job I was at were going to put me on the company insurance. After the MVR check came back my boss came up to me and asked if I realized I had a suspended license. Uh, no.

Only thing I ever recieve from the BMV is the annual notice to renew my plates. Though since now you can only renew plates online I figure that's going to stop. I still do get notices from which ever state agency is responsible for CDL's every two year informing me that my physical is about to expire.

griffin729 wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

16vCorey wrote: Slightly off topic, but it kind of annoys me that they don't send notices for getting your license renewed. Luckily, on Saturday the guy at the liquor store noticed that mine will be expiring soon. Last time I didn't realize until I went into a bar, got carded, and the guy said "You know this expired 6 months ago, right?". Uh, no. Whoops.

By "they" you mean "Indiana," right? I've never seen another state so hell bent on NOT sending notices of any kind, for anything.

About ten years ago I got my license suspended for a "Failure to Appear" violation. Turns out in Indiana if you get two speeding tickets a year you are automatically required to attend a defensive driving class. Never got the notice and didn't find out until a job I was at were going to put me on the company insurance. After the MVR check came back my boss came up to me and asked if I realized I had a suspended license. Uh, no. Only thing I ever recieve from the BMV is the annual notice to renew my plates. Though since now you can only renew plates online I figure that's going to stop. I still do get notices from which ever state agency is responsible for CDL's every two year informing me that my physical is about to expire.

I didn't even get a plate renewal notice this year until it was already considered late for one of my cars. On top of that, they had the taxes wrong on it. I knew this because it was registered at the same address as the other 3 at the time, but the flat tax portion was twice as much.

Fun.

When I lived in NJ, I had my license and registration suspended several times because of another driver with the same name, physical description and 10 days older than me. He would get stopped, not produce a license and when they entered the info in the system, My license info would show up. Each time I had to go to DMV headquarters to straighten it out. My problem stopped when I moved out of state.

BTDT. Good thing one dealership I applied at FINALLY told me why I wasn't hired. I went to the sheriff's office, pled my case, and got it worked to where I had to goto the county that suspended my license, speak with an assistant DA, appear in court, and got it dismissed. After 6mo, it finally "fell off". While it still shows on the courtnet documents, it was so long ago, it doesn't matter. All this stemmed from a speeding ticket, which lead to a failure to appear, etc... And no, no notices or anything.