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Former owner sold it to a junkyard with the plates on it. They fixed it and sold it. The buyer didn't remove the plates, and he's now accumulated numerous tickets that he's been forced to pay. He's tried numerous avenues. Most of the tickets have been in Rogers Park, near the Jarvis stop. Best to look in the night-time, as most tickets have been during the night.
$150 reward for sighting of early 90s green Honda Accord, last spotted in Rogers Park
chicago.craigslist.org - 11 weeks ago - 1301 views
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Jeremy-
I just posted your/this story on Chicago Now.
http://bit.ly/vXnvm
But, with a little bit of advice on how you should have handled it. You need to MAKE the police take your stolen plate report. Whatever the circumstances, those plates are NOT in your possession and are therefore lost or stolen.
And, because the plates were stolen, you shouldn't be paying ANY of those GD tickets.
Of course, I got off the phone from a second lengthy conversation with the Chicago police, who tell me (again) that I cannot report the plates as stolen.
They also tell me that the car is mine, legally, and I could drive it away. Perhaps they will also tell me that I am driving it.
Hey Jeremy-
I haven't been at my computer the entire afternoon or evening. I was not disallowing you from commenting, but all initial comments need to be moderated. ALL your comments were approved and you can comment freely now. Comments are moderated, because I get several hundred spam comments every day. And BTW, I approve ALL comments that aren't spam or encourage violence.
So, I apologize for not approving your comments sooner.
1-I am very glad you got someone at CPD who would listen to logic and reason. Now you just have to contact the Secy. of State and get the plates revoked like you said.
2-Just a note for the future. While I understand you were trying to purchase a house, the city and the thug collection agencies they hire to collect parking ticket fines are exaggerating in order to scare you into paying. Credit reporting agencies RARELY consider unpaid parking tickets when it comes to your credit score. According to one lady at the big three credit reporting agencies, they essentially ignore them. Plus, these tickets are so fresh, they would not have made it into the credit reporting system this soon.
In other words, they duped you into paying the tickets even though you should not have been held responsible for them. A long time ago, I made the same mistake. We live and learn.
3-I understood from the start that you live out of town. I never explicitly said you should contest them in person. However, all tickets may be contested by mail, as well as in person. Obviously, living outside of Illinois, the contest by mail option would be the one for you.
I'm VERY glad you finally got the plates reported stolen.
Now, I hope someone finds this a-hole impersonating you in your old car and slaps some sense into him or her.
The best case scenario is the cops arrest this person.
You press charges.
Then, tell that idiot you'll drop the charges if they pay you back the $600 for the tickets. Threaten them with a lawsuit to further scare them into paying you back.
And you CAN sue them. If you really want to be a dick, like I am, once this person is identified, you can file a small claims lawsuit to recover all the monies you paid for the tickets they received.
I would not hesitate to do it, but I'm a contentious jag.
It seems that our friend over at Parking Ticket Geek has an undemocratic strain in him, and didn't allow me to comment on his blog entry, though I was urbane as ever.
As he has posted to this thread, here are my comments:
1) We had to pay the tickets, as we are in the process of buying a home and they were being reported to collections, which would ruin our credit.
2) At first, we just called Wayne at Alderman Joe Moore's office, who attempted to have the car towed twice, only to find it gone. Since it was not running when we junked it, we didn't imagine it had been resold.
3) It was not possible to contest the tickets in person as you suggested, as I live in the DC area.
OK folks,
On the fourth try, I was able to successfully report the plates as stolen: police report # HR518425
Now I can revoke the plates and license and not worry about being liable for the slaying of pedestrians in Chicago by... ...THE GHOST CAR.
Good point. I hadn't thought he could report the "plates" as stolen.
Which means I took down the craigslist posting, as now the police will be doing their job.
Thanks for your help and for getting the word out!
Anyone live up by the Jarvis stop? It shouldn't be too hard to spot this car if it's around at night.
Wow, kinda dumb of him to not take the plates off. They're as tied to you as your driver's license is.
Yeah, no kidding. I bet the junk yard boosted the price a bit for a car with plates already on it. :)
Surprised he didn't cash for clunkers trade for a classier ride. I'll have my brother's CTA ATU union buddies keep on the lookout. Big $$ reward, Brad?
Hey all, that's my car, actually. I'm the poster.
The oddest thing is, the car's first ticket was near to the place from which the junkyard towed the thing. Seemed like some sort of existential snafu.
Next, it continues to haunt it's old parking spots, even though we've moved to DC, like a ghost car with unfinished parking business. Wayne over in Alderman Joe Moore's office tried to have it towed, before we realized someone was driving it.
We've actually paid around $700 in tickets, with another $200 in the pipeline. The police refuse to allow us to report it stolen, because we attempted to prove to the courts that we had sold it in the process of contesting the tickets.
We considered re-possessing the car to recoup our losses (after all, if it's not stolen, it must be ours, right?), however, as soon as the buyer turns in the title, it becomes his/hers. Which would make us car thieves.
We've called Rep. Jan Schakowsky's office, Alderman Joe Moore's office, the BMV, and the police.
When you can't get justice in the system, you've got to crowdsource it.
;^)
-Jeremy John
Owner of the Ghost Car
Urban myth in the making: "The Ghost Car of Rogers Park"
Good luck man, that sucks. The city won't let you out of tickets no matter how hard you fight I got stuck with $500 of tickets because I didn't have IL plates and wasn't legally required to, and provided proof of that, and still had to pay them! Find the car, take it back, resell it and maybe recoup your $. Keep us posted!
I'm near Morse, but I'll definitely keep an eye out. I wonder whether we potential plate-nabber-backers have any legal protection out there...
May I put a C-note bounty on the missing ride in exchange for the book publishing & movie rights?
As soon as they are proven to exist. Or as soon as the phantom Accord is proven to exist other than as a bureaucratic extortion technique.
A 21st century Kafka-esque fantasy!
Excuse Me! An early 90s Accord is NOT A CLUNKER. thank you very much :)
I'm in the area and will keep my eye out for it. If anything it's always good to know where I can get free parts from. (joking)
I like the way you think, Justin.
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/license.plate.scofflaw.2.1160915.html
Huzzah! The WC makes CBS2!
Er, also, I hope this help you get your car back. We've got the cool people hanging out here, but CBS has access to a lot more brains at the moment.
Jeremy, I assume you reached out to these guys? Congrats on getting the CBS assist.
No Dana Kozlov, we're not called WindyCity.com, but we'll take the screenshot and near-mention nonetheless.
You know, come to think of it, there was a funny story on Gapers Block a couple years ago about an inadvertently stolen car -- and it was a green Honda Civic too! What is it about that car?
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