Thanks, but if you read my 1st post you'd see that I'm not trying to walk away from the fine. I simply do not want to deal with ARO but rather the province.

When you were stopped by the police, you were either asked by the police officer to produce your pink insurance form which you were not able to do or when you gave your vehicle ownership to the police officer, he/she could contact the MTO with the VIN ( vehicle identification number ) shown on the ownership to confirm if the vehicle you were driving was insured. This is a new procedure set up last year by the MTO for driver's who could not produce their pink insurance form but claimed that their vehicle was insured.

Every time an insurance company insures a vehicle, that information is reported directly to the MTO. What was happening was a person who owned a vehicle and did not have insurance could go to a MTO kiosk inside a shopping mall, insert their credit card, register a phony insurance company and a phony policy number and out pops their licence sticker. You can still obtain a licence sticker at a MTO kiosk but if the vehicle is not insured, it will not issue the sticker.

Having said that, obviously your vehicle was not insured. And so, the police officer gave you a "summons" to appear in court with a specific date and time. No fine was stated on the "summons" because under the Highway Traffic Act, the fine must be levied by the court ( i.e. the judge or magistrate ). Once a fine is levied, it is NOT negotiable. However, you can negotiate a time to pay the fine depending on your financial circumstances. For example, the judge may allow you to pay the fine over 6 to 12 months with payments being made directly to the courthouse in the jurisdiction in which the fine was levied

If this fine was not paid within the time specified in the court order, then the Province either will place this fine on your vehicle ownership making it impossible to obtain a licence sticker before the fine is paid, or place this fine on your driver's licence making it impossible to renew your driver's licence before the fine is paid or if you plan to do neither, assign the collection of this fine to a collection agency.

Under the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002, Paragraph 16(1)(i) there is NO LIMITATION PERIOD for the collection of fines, taxes or penalties or any interest that may be added to the tax or penalies. Interest is never added to a fine but may be subject to a surcharge.

And so, my friend, if you think that you can walk away from paying this fine, you are sadly mistaken. Seriously consider how you plan to pay this fine, pay it and get on with life.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

OK so could I go to the courts and ask for a recognizance or to reopen the case?

That is not a city issue....it is a Highway Traffic Act offence which is provincial. Having not paid it which is a moving violation means your drivers lic. is under suspension until it is paid . This has to be done at the courts.
The other way is when your lic. comes up for renewal it will need to be paid first. The only reason the province would send a collection agency is you have made no attempt to re instate your lic.

Oh ok, I got dinged with a driving with no insurance.

Still need to be more exact as to what before we can give you options. The type of offence makes a difference.

Actually, its an offence, not a ticket.

What kind of traffic ticket?

Hello All: Got a letter through the mail saying I owe them. How should I handle this. The debt is mine but I'd rather go through the City than ARO. Does anyone know how to deal with this?

Thanks.
Z