As you may or may not be aware, California is broke. As a result, ticket issuance for the most mundane of violations is at an all time high. Brian and I use a couple simple rules of thumb to keep our records clean and our insurance happy!

So, you’ve been pulled over. Just take your ticket and deal with it later, right? Not for Brian and I. Brian has a pretty unique strategy which has worked for him in the past. When police talk to Brian, he pretends he knows nothing of what he’s done wrong and asks to pay for the ticket up front, right then and there. The reasoning behind this is that the cop, thinking that Brian is just going to pay his fine later on won’t take any notes. This will become crucial later. I, on the other hand, like to start writing down notes and taking pictures right then and there. This is helpful especially when you are far from home. Also, Brian and I are always respectful to police officers and there is no reason you shouldn’t be. They have a job to do and they do it with a certain degree of professionalism most of the time. They slip sometimes, but we don’t go the speed limit every day either. Also, politeness has been known to avoid the ticket all together. (continue reading…)