Originally Posted by achTTung

Cracked flexpipe.

I had been living in VT for a couple years, and never bothered registering my car in VT. Years later, still had NY plates.

I'd only drive in NY at night so it wouldn't be noticeable that my inspection sticker was the wrong color, and the reg sticker was too small to see on the road anyway.

Problem is, cars are still loud at night, even if you can't see them.

To add to it, NY never informed me that they had suspended my NY license a couple years previous to this incident, so I ended up with a ticket for loud exhaust, expired registration, expired inspection, and aggravated unlicensed operation... which is serious enough to put you in cuffs and throw you in jail.

$500 bail, and I took it all to court.
Exhaust charge was dropped completely
Registration and inspection charges were $0 fine, but I had to pay the court surcharge ($55 and $85, respectively)
Deal on the unlicensed operation was that if I kept my record clean for 6 months it would be dropped. I just didn't drive in NY for 6 months... piece of cake.

They did find an old file on me from 8 years back though while processing all my ****. I flaked on a no seatbelt fine, and they never kept up their paperwork..
Just to close it out, he charged me $100 for that too.

In all, what could have been close to $1500 in fines cost me $240.