My Son Is Being Fined By EZ Pass For Offenses He Couldn't Have Committed

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
His situation reminds me of what @win231 is going through even though the circumstances are entirely different. About 7 or 8 years ago, my son donated his Jeep to the Cars for Kids organization. He can't remember the name of the company that picked up the car. My son asked if he should take the plates and the man told him not to worry because they handle all of that. He just started getting the penalty notices from EZ Pass recently. He checked and found out the penalties are attached to the plates that were on the Jeep.

He went to DMV today to let them know that car hasn't been registered to him in 7 or 8 years (I forgot which). They sent him to the police department to file a fraud report which he did right away. That report will be available Friday but he's going to Colorado for a long weekend to record some tracks with his former group, so he'll pick it up when he gets back. I'm hoping that providing proof that he couldn't have been the one driving whatever vehicle is using those plates will be enough for them to remove the penalties. I'm also hoping that red tape BS doesn't drag this out. Hoping the same thing for you @win231 Now of course, my son regrets trusting that the agency that picked up the car would do the right thing. @Pecos
 

OneEyedDiva said:
His situation reminds me of what @win231 is going through even though the circumstances are entirely different. About 7 or 8 years ago, my son donated his Jeep to the Cars for Kids organization. He can't remember the name of the company that picked up the car. My son asked if he should take the plates and the man told him not to worry because they handle all of that. He just started getting the penalty notices from EZ Pass recently. He checked and found out the penalties are attached to the plates that were on the Jeep.

He went to DMV today to let them know that car hasn't been registered to him in 7 or 8 years (I forgot which). They sent him to the police department to file a fraud report which he did right away. That report will be available Friday but he's going to Colorado for a long weekend to record some tracks with his former group, so he'll pick it up when he gets back. I'm hoping that providing proof that he couldn't have been the one driving whatever vehicle is using those plates will be enough for them to remove the penalties. I'm also hoping that red tape BS doesn't drag this out. Hoping the same thing for you @win231 Now of course, my son regrets trusting that the agency that picked up the car would do the right thing. @Pecos
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These days, very few people do the right thing. They do whatever makes them the most money.
Another example: I had a new roof 3 months ago. The roofer claimed they had to replace $3,500.00 worth of wood. I was home during the entire job & I saw 5 sheets of plywood & ten 2x4's. I asked for some proof & they sent me measurements they fabricated themselves. I told them, "If I sent you a document that read: "I have more money than Bill Gates," would you believe me?"
 
OneEyedDiva said:
His situation reminds me of what @win231 is going through even though the circumstances are entirely different. About 7 or 8 years ago, my son donated his Jeep to the Cars for Kids organization. He can't remember the name of the company that picked up the car. My son asked if he should take the plates and the man told him not to worry because they handle all of that. He just started getting the penalty notices from EZ Pass recently. He checked and found out the penalties are attached to the plates that were on the Jeep.

He went to DMV today to let them know that car hasn't been registered to him in 7 or 8 years (I forgot which). They sent him to the police department to file a fraud report which he did right away. That report will be available Friday but he's going to Colorado for a long weekend to record some tracks with his former group, so he'll pick it up when he gets back. I'm hoping that providing proof that he couldn't have been the one driving whatever vehicle is using those plates will be enough for them to remove the penalties. I'm also hoping that red tape BS doesn't drag this out. Hoping the same thing for you @win231 Now of course, my son regrets trusting that the agency that picked up the car would do the right thing. @Pecos
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Some people just cannot be trusted even when you have helped them. I am sorry that your son is being put through this crap.
 

Both my Huzz and my nephew have had erroneous charges filed against their license plates by EZ Pass. When Huzz got his notice in the mail, it said "here's a pic of your vehicle going through the EZ Pass gate without paying." Welp, the "pic" was a perfectly black box. So I called 'em, told them he was 200 miles away from that city, we're old, and don't drive that far any more anyway, etc.

Luckily, I got a nice gal on the phone, she pulled up a clearer pic on her end, low and behold she said the pic was of a vehicle with the same lic. # but from another state! So we got out of that one. My nephew got out of his too and he said the gal on the phone told him that they've been having people alter their lic plates by using paint & making an 8 into a zero or vice versa, for instance, so they can drive through without paying or getting caught.
 
Marie5656 said:
Hope everything works out for your son. What does he think he could have done differently? I do not understand why he was told not to take the plates. He will be in my thoughts
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What he could've done is say "No thanks, I'll take them to the DMV."

The tow-guy said he'd take care of it because either he's a criminal or he knows one, and he wanted the plates.

@OneEyedDiva - I'm sure everything will turn out just fine for your son. A lot of cops can sense if someone's being truthful or not pretty quick. Besides, they'll match up the plates with a vehicle, and chances are they were used on one that won't come back to your son. ...if they got a plate number, they must have a description too.
 
I have been burned two times selling a vehicle to a friend or family member. I left my plates on the vehicle and they did not relicense the vehicles under their names. Both times they drove the vehicle on my plates and when it died out on them one left the vehicle on the side of the road two states away and the other left it as junk in his yard.
 
I live next door in PA, so I don't know about Jersey, but don't you have to renew your cars registration every few years? I doubt the people, who have your son's plates, are diligently renewing them? If there's no record of renewing the plates for 7/8, it is not conclusive proof, but probably that your son is telling the truth. And the Cars for Kids organization will definitely have tax records showing his gift of the jeep.
 
OneEyedDiva said:

My Son Is Being Fined By EZ Pass For Offenses He Couldn't Have Committed​

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I hope it works our for him, I think it probably will, but may some time and effort.

I had a bunch of problems with the Florida DMV when I moved to Utah. I licensed our vehicles in Utah and got Utah insurance right away. A couple of months later I got a driving without insurance violation notice and Florida revoked my Florida license. It took a while to figure out what to do, but in the end I sent copies of my Utah paper work, and my Florida license plates and drivers license to Florida DMV. Then they dropped the charges, but took time and was a hassle.
 
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fuzzybuddy said:
I live next door in PA, so I don't know about Jersey, but don't you have to renew your cars registration every few years? I doubt the people, who have your son's plates, are diligently renewing them? If there's no record of renewing the plates for 7/8, it is not conclusive proof, but probably that your son is telling the truth. And the Cars for Kids organization will definitely have tax records showing his gift of the jeep.
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Yes our registrations here have to be renewed every year. That someone at the DMV told him to file a police report leads me to believe that his credibility was not in question. He didn't state he had a problem while filing the report either. So hopefully he'll believed by the EZ Pass agent(s) as well.
@Murrmurr Of course he regrets not taking the plates himself (which answers @Marie5656's question "what could he have done differently?"). My son has always been too trusting because he thinks others are like him.
@Lawrence Too bad that happened to you! I gave one of my young cousins my first car when I got another one. His grandfather (my grand uncle) told me he had an accident with it and left it on the street. When you don't have to pay for stuff, I guess the items are not valued. I must've taken the plates and he must've registered it in his name because I never got any notices about it. That was so many decades ago, I don't remember the particulars.
@ohioboy "A victim of fraud is not responsible to the govt. If it is a private company contracted by the state to run EZ Pass, the same rule applies." That's what I'm thinking.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
His situation reminds me of what @win231 is going through even though the circumstances are entirely different. About 7 or 8 years ago, my son donated his Jeep to the Cars for Kids organization. He can't remember the name of the company that picked up the car. My son asked if he should take the plates and the man told him not to worry because they handle all of that. He just started getting the penalty notices from EZ Pass recently. He checked and found out the penalties are attached to the plates that were on the Jeep.

He went to DMV today to let them know that car hasn't been registered to him in 7 or 8 years (I forgot which). They sent him to the police department to file a fraud report which he did right away. That report will be available Friday but he's going to Colorado for a long weekend to record some tracks with his former group, so he'll pick it up when he gets back. I'm hoping that providing proof that he couldn't have been the one driving whatever vehicle is using those plates will be enough for them to remove the penalties. I'm also hoping that red tape BS doesn't drag this out. Hoping the same thing for you @win231 Now of course, my son regrets trusting that the agency that picked up the car would do the right thing. @Pecos
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The fraud report should get things cleared up. I got flagged by some state finance agency when I was working for CDCR, some correctional officer who shared MY name didn't pay his toll to FastTrack when he crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Long story<sigh>
Anyway, I went to the DMV, got some 💞 from them for being a fellow state employee, got the info to exonerate myself, told the Ass't Warden, and had no more heartburn over the matter. (y)
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Yes our registrations here have to be renewed every year. That someone at the DMV told him to file a police report leads me to believe that his credibility was not in question. He didn't state he had a problem while filing the report either. So hopefully he'll believed by the EZ Pass agent(s) as well.
@Murrmurr Of course he regrets not taking the plates himself (which answers @Marie5656's question "what could he have done differently?"). My son has always been too trusting because he thinks others are like him.
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I'm sure he'll be believed, Miss Diva, but I bet you'll be relieved when it ends.

It was an honest mistake. There was no reason for your son to think that guy was up to no good. Naturally you want to trust people you do business with.
 
Running scams is so popular today that it's almost becoming a career choice. And why not? Big corporations do it, politicians do it, bankers do it, and they get paid for it. Many people actually respect them too, so now mom and pop are trying their hand at it, as well as those who have been fleeced themselves. It's pie that so many want a piece of.
 
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I don't know if I missed it, but I hope he still has the paperwork from the donation. I'm sure he had to sign something. But who would think something like that would come back at you all those years later.
 
My son got a call today from a NYC police officer who told him they arrested a man who was driving with my son's old plates. He promised to keep him posted as to what's next.

@Remy No, he didn't save the paperwork but the subsequent steps he's taken so far seem to be enough to put him in the clear of any wrongdoing, especially with the latest development. He thinks the donation had to be at least 8 years ago and he's had 3 or 4 cars since.
 
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Same thing happened to me after I donated a truck with a blown engine. This was about 10 years ago. It was my husbands truck, the engine blew after some shoddy work by a mechanic that let a shop rag get sucked into a manifold. Here nor there,I got the EZ Pass think cleared up but I still get in the mail a tag renewal notice. My son still gets mail at my address for a vehicle he inherited from a family friend and the car was put in my son's name. All of that handled at probate. This is why I have a big file cabinet, I may not need it but if I do it is in there somewhere!
 
OneEyedDiva said:
His situation reminds me of what @win231 is going through even though the circumstances are entirely different. About 7 or 8 years ago, my son donated his Jeep to the Cars for Kids organization. He can't remember the name of the company that picked up the car. My son asked if he should take the plates and the man told him not to worry because they handle all of that. He just started getting the penalty notices from EZ Pass recently. He checked and found out the penalties are attached to the plates that were on the Jeep.

He went to DMV today to let them know that car hasn't been registered to him in 7 or 8 years (I forgot which). They sent him to the police department to file a fraud report which he did right away. That report will be available Friday but he's going to Colorado for a long weekend to record some tracks with his former group, so he'll pick it up when he gets back. I'm hoping that providing proof that he couldn't have been the one driving whatever vehicle is using those plates will be enough for them to remove the penalties. I'm also hoping that red tape BS doesn't drag this out. Hoping the same thing for you @win231 Now of course, my son regrets trusting that the agency that picked up the car would do the right thing. @Pecos
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A similar thing happened to me. I sold a car a few years ago and the SOB I sold it to drove it for a while without registering it in his name, so it still had my plates on it. Evidently, he didn't pay a toll while driving it with my plates and I've been getting notices ever since that I owe money for a ticket. They're not allowed to report violators to the credit agency, so I haven't done anything about it, but it is kind of annoying.
 

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