DefragDiva
New Member
My question is, does a No Proof Of Insurance Violation leading to an impounded car automatically call for a search?
Slightly complicated, I am a chauffeur, and apx 4 am, I was in a marked company car returning from an appt with a client. I was initially pulled over for a missing license plate light (go figure!), but all the fun started when I discovered no insurance card in the car.
The car actually belongs to another individual in another county, who was providing my boss with a particular style of auto.
I wasn't sure of the penalties for no proof of insurance in GA, esp since the state recently went to electronic recordkeeping of that info.
I was frustrated because I thought my boss had been remiss, but actually the owner in some other county had been remiss. Ugly cellphone calls at 4am.
In any case, the DMV check did not indicate the car was insured, so they were going to impound it.
It wasn't till after about half an hour of my sitting on the curb, after screaming at my boss on my phone, that I'm wondering why the car is being searched, as if they are looking for something specific. I realize after the fact, I had never been asked for permission to search, and I don't know what was with these guys, they asked the most stupid questions I'd ever heard. "Does the car have any secret compartments?" I had no idea, it was the second time I'd driven it. "Where's the cigarette lighter?" uhhh, for one, we're a transportation service, we're all on cellphones, what do you think? THEN, he asks me a few more times WHERE is the cigarette lighter. Didn't know, didn't care, but WHAT did that have to do with anything???
Then he asked me about one of those unused doohickeys on the dashboard, like where some models have a gauge or something installed, and this car didn't have it . . . Like why would I know what or why that was like that?
In any case, does being impounded on an insurance violation include automatic search? I wasn't being arrested, didn't even have my license taken, and then the officer wants to know if I have anything on my person he should know about. I say no, and he declined to search, but I was never directly asked about searching the car. He began nosing thru it while I was on the phone yelling at my boss about where's the insurance card and all.
I have to go to court to pay for the STUPID license plate light ticket, and no insurance card ticket, but can I ask the judge about this search situation . . . I clearly don't get in trouble to this degree much and feel quite stupid, but the more I think about it, the more I am wondering why the car was searched without particular cause . . . what is extraordinary about a black, executive sedan being on the road at 4 in the morning? I was due an hour later to take people to the airport.
~Thanks!
Slightly complicated, I am a chauffeur, and apx 4 am, I was in a marked company car returning from an appt with a client. I was initially pulled over for a missing license plate light (go figure!), but all the fun started when I discovered no insurance card in the car.
The car actually belongs to another individual in another county, who was providing my boss with a particular style of auto.
I wasn't sure of the penalties for no proof of insurance in GA, esp since the state recently went to electronic recordkeeping of that info.
I was frustrated because I thought my boss had been remiss, but actually the owner in some other county had been remiss. Ugly cellphone calls at 4am.
In any case, the DMV check did not indicate the car was insured, so they were going to impound it.
It wasn't till after about half an hour of my sitting on the curb, after screaming at my boss on my phone, that I'm wondering why the car is being searched, as if they are looking for something specific. I realize after the fact, I had never been asked for permission to search, and I don't know what was with these guys, they asked the most stupid questions I'd ever heard. "Does the car have any secret compartments?" I had no idea, it was the second time I'd driven it. "Where's the cigarette lighter?" uhhh, for one, we're a transportation service, we're all on cellphones, what do you think? THEN, he asks me a few more times WHERE is the cigarette lighter. Didn't know, didn't care, but WHAT did that have to do with anything???
Then he asked me about one of those unused doohickeys on the dashboard, like where some models have a gauge or something installed, and this car didn't have it . . . Like why would I know what or why that was like that?
In any case, does being impounded on an insurance violation include automatic search? I wasn't being arrested, didn't even have my license taken, and then the officer wants to know if I have anything on my person he should know about. I say no, and he declined to search, but I was never directly asked about searching the car. He began nosing thru it while I was on the phone yelling at my boss about where's the insurance card and all.
I have to go to court to pay for the STUPID license plate light ticket, and no insurance card ticket, but can I ask the judge about this search situation . . . I clearly don't get in trouble to this degree much and feel quite stupid, but the more I think about it, the more I am wondering why the car was searched without particular cause . . . what is extraordinary about a black, executive sedan being on the road at 4 in the morning? I was due an hour later to take people to the airport.
~Thanks!
