Maryland Driving Without a Registration Lawyer

Under Maryland law, all drivers must register their car with the MVA to ensure that taxes are paid on the vehicles and that the vehicles meet safety and emissions standards. If a person is caught in Maryland driving a vehicle that has not been registered, they will face a criminal misdemeanor charge as well as hefty fines and other consequences.

If you have been charged with driving without registration, contact a Maryland traffic lawyer to begin building a defense and work towards possibly having the charges dismissed.

Penalties

The maximum penalty for driving without registration is a hefty $500 fine and other potential restrictions on the individual’s driver’s license. This is a criminal misdemeanor charge that will be put on a person’s criminal record.

Points are not associated with this type of citation and, as such, will not affect someone’s driving record in that regard. However, it is unusual to see a citation for driving an unregistered car without a citation for driving without insurance because frequently, people whose vehicles are unregistered often do not have insurance. Driving without insurance is a more serious charge in Maryland than driving an unregistered vehicle. It depends on the charges you are facing and it may be beneficial to contact a Maryland driving without registration lawyer to help review the charges against you.

Additionally, when a law enforcement officer pulls a person over, they request the person’s license and registration because they want to make sure the individual is properly licensed to operate a vehicle and the vehicle itself is properly licensed. Law enforcement officers are trained to ask such questions, in the event that the individual does not have their registration, it may prompt the officer to question whether they have other documents such as their license and proof of the insurance. The officer may then issue a citation for driving without a license, driving an unregistered vehicle, and/or driving without insurance, as the case may be.

Building a Defense

There are a number of reasons why someone’s vehicle may not be registered. Such as, simply failing to register a vehicle within the designated time frame, or mistakenly letting the registration lapse. For that reason, a driving without registration lawyer will be able to evaluate a person’s case and ensure the best possible outcome.

Additionally, there are several defenses to a citation for driving without registration. One may be that the vehicle was properly registered and it was just a mistake that caused your registration to not appear during the officer’s search on his/her computer at the traffic stop. Another defense is that the individual was not actually operating the vehicle at the time he or she was cited. Furthermore, if the MVA suspends your registration, it could be a defense that you never received a notice of it. As such, you can show that you had no knowledge of the suspension of your registration.