Coming up behind a Sunnyvale PD in a residential area going about 27/29 (just shy of 5 over). Before I even pass him I see his tail lights go on and he inches towards the lane, goes in behind me, already planning on pulling me over before I even pass him.

Headlight out (not a big deal during the day though), illegal exhaust, just shy of 5 over in a residential, and expired registration sticker. These are the reasons for why he could pull me over that are running through my head. Two blocks down on Fremont the red and blue go on. Signal, and turn into a residential SAFE area. Keys on dash. Hands on steering wheel.

Do you know why I pulled you over?

Why would I lie and say "No sir."? That'll give him a chance to pick from any of those 4 reasons. I say "I'm guessing because of the expired registration sticker, which has been paid, I'm just waiting for the sticker." "Exactly."

He looks up that I had paid, but apparently DMV never got the payment. I also didn't have the current insurance on me.

5 minutes after stopping, I was on my way without a ticket. The lesson? Be polite and straightforward, it'll go a long way.

For the record, I'm running catless crucial DP and a Cobb catback. And the point of this thread is to balance out with those that only post when interactions with law enforcement don't work to their benefit.

 

How did he look that up when DMV never got the payment??

 

You never know.....

 

i got out of a possible dui by being polite and honest.. oh and having a chick in the passengers seat..

 

I"m calling shens!!

 

I had this happen once about 10 years ago, I got a car from my grandparents and moved not too long after and never updated my address with DMV. My fault that I never got the renewal notification, the officer said basically the same thing, but I told him I had no idea why he pulled me over. He told me that my tabs were expired and I would need to get that taken care of. I told him I would go strait to the DMV and get it taken care of, which I did. I was appreciative that he did not give me a ticket.

 

same thing happened to me. it was a lady cop, cute one too. the records said my registration is expired while i had the paper work saying that i paid for it(one that comes with the sticker). she said it probably takes a week or two for it to go through and just let me go. i was surprised she didnt saying anything about my loud tbe.

 

They are able to look up the status of your registration.

I forget what the actual wording was that he used. First he said the status was "Registration Pending" as of April (when I thought they got the payment, and I took care of the smog check). Then he went back to look into it in depth and said that the payment had not been received. I've had other family members that had paid the reg fees but not gotten the smog check yet. Officer looked up that the payment was received and told them to hurry up and get the smog check. You really think law enforcement doesn't have access to DMV records?

 

Thats probably what it is. "Payment Pending" being processed.

 

man i need to get my new sticker

 

Being honest FTW!

i think the real lesson here is to take Internet classes

 

but that doesnt mean the DMV never got paid... as the OP stated.

 

right on with this post! i used to be pretty hot headed in my younger days and always got *****ed out by cops because i thought i was smooth and could get away with anything. turns out i'm not so smooth lol. so i've gotten a bit smarter when it comes to getting pulled over. it's simple: just be genuine with your words and he/she will be able to tell (they talk to liars all day every day), treat them like any other normal person (because they are), and just have plain ol respect for them (as you would with anyone). if you get the ticket, hey you were gonna get it anyway, but i've gotten out of a few tickets here and there just cuz i was cool with them and laid it all out and admitted to what i had done. most of the time they just want to know that you know you did something wrong and own up to it. if the cop is the dick, he's the dick, not you. what's the worst that can happen by taking the high road (pun intended).

 

LOL how is that being honest?

If he was being honest he should have also mentioned his illegal exhaust, busted headlight and the fact that he was speeding.

He just shut his mouth and noted the more obvious reason to the officer.

 

Gratz on not getting totally screwed! Polite goes along way. I hate it when i get excuses or people tell me to give them a warning. Thats just asking for LEO's to enforce the traffic stop to its fullest. Just for info =).

Chris