Today, I received a lette from my insurance company saying they were
cancelling the auto insurance on my daughter because it said she was
arrested and fined some two years ago for being in possession of
illegal alcohol and/or drugs in her automobile.  My daughter was in
college at that time.  She does not drink nor take drugs.  You have to
take my word on that.  However, she said it was common practice for
kids to loan other kids their id to buy beer or even lend them their
cars for errands, etc.  My daughter is a kind soul and there is no
question she loaned her car and drivers liscense to another underage
young adult and that person must have been stopped and arrested for
probably DUI or in violation of the open container law.  What do we do
to get the record straightened out?  This could be a nightmare for the
child as the years go by.......Who do I sue...Who do I go to....Do I
hire a lawyer....Help!!

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Clarification of Question by 211563-ga on 10 Mar 2005 18:55 PST

I must have said something wrong because the answers i'm getting in
many ways do not pertain.....the law may be required to call a parent
in some circumstances but when this happened, my daughter was 23 years
old....the notice from the insurance company didn't say she was
dui...it said she had illegal alcohol/drugs in her car when
stopped....It also said she was fined...not taken to jail...so now my
best guess is she was in violation of the open container law in south
darolina which is quite strict...in that state if anyone other than
driver has beer etc. in their hand, the driver is liable.  don't know
what that was but I can imagine if they caught her with drugs, they
would not have taken her in handcuffs.....I took the suggestions that
had been sent to me by many of you very kind people and hired an
attorney and PI today and sent them to south carolina...i'll know more
tomorrow..thanks all that are trying to help...randy

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Clarification of Question by 211563-ga on 11 Mar 2005 23:23 PST

Well guess what folks...the whole damn thing was a scam....you call
the number on the insurance cancellatin form and you get a recording
saying they are a consumer protection agency, not the insurance
company, asking you what is your birthday, social, address, and on and
on and then they want a credit card number to charge the postage and
handling cost of your report.  A friend sId he saw a piece on this
scam on 60 minutes the other night and it was exactly that, a scam.  I
should have knows.  In the right hand corner it lists an insurance
agency that is supposedly my insurance agency and its not my insurance
agency.  I called info in atlanta and there was no number for them. 
How stupid can I be but its just another scam on unsuspecting people
that are fixin to get their identies stolen.  Isn't it amazing that
none of us, including me, came up with this as a possible answer and
thank you all for your kind advice and assistance.

FIRST:

Go to the police department of the area that your daughter was in college at.
Found out what you can from them.
Explain the situation.

ALSO:

Send a letter to the insurance company stating your case. Find out what they need.
You might want to send a letter to your congressperson asking how this
could be overturned or revisited.

Your best bet, in my opinion, is to tell everyone/anyone who will
listen and might be able to help.

-Wind

1.  First, have your daughter take charge of getting this straight.  
2.  Have her get a copy of her driving record to see if this charge/fine is on it.
3.  She knows who she loaned her ID to.  Let her backtrack and ask
them what happened.  You never say she actually told you she loaned
the ID to someone etc. but merely state that's what you believe. 
Seems to me that if she loaned her ID to someone and they got a ticket
it is highly unlikely they would pay the fine.  It's more likely that
she got the ticket and paid the fine so you wouldn't find out about it
- or at least knows the circumstances about the incident.
4.  Contact your state's insurance commissioner and find out what
appeal rights, if any, you have.  Any appeal would require hard proof
of innocence.

Seems your daughter's actions, whether it was she that received the
ticket, or for loaning her ID, will be paying a price.

First talk to your daughter about her being 100% honest with you. I
work in the law enforcement field and have seen time and time again
the parent believing the child. ?My angel would never do that in a
million years?. Well in college your child would do that in a million
years. But before you spend the time and effort on this you need to
make sure she is being honest. I will tell you how to clear her name
legally but if she is not being honest then she can get in to deeper
trouble.

First find out where the arrest took place. Try looking on line. Just
about every state has something like the state I live in
http://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome.do In Missouri its
called casenet.  Your state will be different but let me know your
state and I will help you find it.

You can also run down to the local Sheriff Office / State Police and
request a back ground on you daughter (or she can). This will show her
criminal history, tickets, arrests etc. and what agency.

Once you have this information you need to return back to the
arresting agency usually a sheriffs department or local police
department. When a person is arrested finger print cards and photos
are taken. Every state is required to fingerprint on most charges
(Drug offenses, DUI / DWI, and every arrest are mandatory) and submit
them to the state and or FBI database.

Once you are there you need to advise them of your situation. They
will take a statement from her and take a set of prints from her. The
prints are then submitted to the data base and matched with the
current ones on file (ones from the arrest that stay in the system for
ever and ever). If the prints don?t match then the courts can be
petitioned to dismiss and remove the charge form the system. The
investigating agency will help with that. The arresting agency can
also compare the arrest photo and signature on any tickets, bond
sheets, incarceration sheets with past signatures of you daughter.
Also if the officer was doing there job they identified other
passengers in the car as witnesses.

Also keep in mind that all states require a mandatory court appearance
for any drug offenses and DUI / DWI so the person?s signature will be
on the court papers.

So there is several ways the investigating police agency can clear your daughter.

If the person that she loaned the license to is found then they face
charges and by signing the card they committed forgery. Most Judges
and PA?s hate that very very much.

Total cost to you is about $20.00 for the back ground check and gas money. 

But keep this in mind that if your daughter makes a report and files
it and the prints are found to be hers she has just filed a false
report. And in some states it?s a felony to do so.

That?s it and good luck

Well, I see lending one's license and car to someone underage for the
procurement of alcohol to be perfectly reasonable grounds to get the
insurance cancelled.  Not to mention that what she did was illegal. 
She enabled a minor to procure a controlled substance and she
potentailly endanged lives by allowing someone who could be drunk to
wield a dangerour weapon (her car).  If she didn't get arrested she's
quite lucky.  And why do you think we should take her word that she
does not drink or do drugs?  She has already displayed lack of good
judgement.

Hi 211563,

I agree, if this was not her actions, then her name must be cleared ASAP.  

You have received some excellent advice from everyone, but especially
theother420-ga.  Bravo, now THAT's a plan!

I cannot improve on that, unless you post your city and state, then a
Researcher can locate the actual proper places for you to go. With
your daughters name (no more), we might be able to look up past or
pending court records.  Many cities have this information online.

I'm sure you told her that being on your policy was much cheaper than
if she got a policy on her own. Maybe there should be some
consequences for her poor judgment in loaning her license and car. If
you assist her in clearing her name, hopefully you will afford her the
learning experience of getting quotes for, selecting, and paying for
her own car insurance, as a reminder of the responsibility of owning
and driving a vehicle.

~~Cynthia

I'm confused...

Don't all driver's licences have a photo on them?

If your daughter "lent" her licence to another student, she must have
been a *twin*...

Just my 2 cents...

Steph53

I would definitely have your daughter take charge of getting this
straightened out.  I think the longer she waits, the worst it looks
for her.  Visit the police department and get as much info as
possible, and also explain what actually happened.
Good luck,
thenunz

Something very similar happened to me about 10 years ago.
My brother was stopped, in my truck. He didn't have his liscence with
him, said he was ME. HE got a DUI but it was on my record.

What I did was
1st: I went to the county court house, records department. They were
able to pull up the record of my DUI and give me a copy.
2nd: I went to the Police office, they matched the record and pulled a
copy. They have the defendants picture and finger prints on file. They
obviously did not match me.
3rd: the Police had the Governor or Mayor, can't remember which write
a letter that I was not the person charged.  The record stayed but
updated to note this was an alias name.
4th: I was able to take this letter and get all my insurance stuff and
drivers liscense stuff straightend out.

in the end, it was a HUGE hassel but you should be able to get it
straight. Start with the court house.

I'm going to speak candidly so if you wear your feelings on your
sleeve you might want to look away:

I've spent my whole life in law enforcement and I have to tell you,
I'd bet a months pay that you are being bamboozled.

First, your "kind soul" daughter, out of the goodness of her heart
BREAKS THE LAW by loaning her license and her car to an underage
person. Why? So they could drink and drive.

Second, now that the letter arrives, she wants you to believe, after
two years, that she 'may" have loaned the license and car to someone
but can't remember.

Third, she expects you to fall for her story - and you did - that
someone not only got arrested in her car using her license, but they
made bond, followed through and even went to court under HER name and
paid HER fine with THEIR money?

Listen, in most states, when a minor is arrested the authorities (I
know because I do this for a living) are REQUIRED BY LAW to notify a
parent by phone or by mail. You didn't get notified did you? Don't you
think that if some strange kid was arrested using your dauther's name
that you, as the presumed parent, would have been contacted?

Assuming your daughter was the one who really got arrested and all
this is a big lie, how then can we explain why you were not contacted
by authorities? Maybe your phone call or letter got intentionally
diverted.

Here's another thought: DUI is not something you can just pay a fine
and walk away from. It requires a mandatory court appearance in most
states. The car gets towed and there are big fines and fees to pay. In
the end, if there is a conviction, there will be even more fines and
either probation or jail time. Court and probation officers CONTACT
PARENTS! That's their job.

**Look - minors don't get arrested for these kinds of offenses and
parents just go unnotified by ther system.

So, to summarize, we (you and I) are being led to believe:

1. Daughter did nothing illegal (wrong)

2. Daughter is not to blame (wrong)

3. Daughter was not the one arrested (hard to believe)

4. The person who did get arrested paid the bond, appeared in court
and paid all the fines, court costs and tow charges in your daughter's
name to keep her from finding out about the arrest (yeah, right).

5. The person who did get arrested continued this impersonation for
weeks or months to come and regularly reported to the probation
officer in your daughter's name for 3-6 months (or however long the
probation was) just so your daughter would never find out about the
arrest. (far too outrageous to believe)

C'mon Mom/Dad, you must know better than that. Get down to the police
department that the insurance company says made the arrest and the
court where the matter was adjudicated request to see the arrest
documents. If you don't find your daughter's signature on somewhere on
them I'll eat my hat.

As you can tell, my guess is that daughter made a mistake - that's
all. But now she's not wanting to own up to it.

tutuzdad-ga

PS:  Let me know if I'm right (I strongly suspect I am) and I'd be
delighted to claim the fee here.

tutuzdad-ga

I think Tutuzdad is right on the monney!!!

Steph53

I think Tutuzdad is right on the money!!!

Steph53

211563-

In my stupid years I left home and ran off to Florida. Although that
wasnt the stupidest thing- because when I left home I didnt think to
bring a SS card, a birth certificate or any form of id including my
drivers liscense. For reasons I will not mention- I could not just
call and ask that my parents send the documents to me- so I called a
cousin who willingly sent me a old liscense that she had. I was
thrilled even more because she was 4 years older than me which put me
at a legal drinking age when using it. This sort of thing is not
unheard of, and although the advice you hear is very good- I see the
possiblity that her story holds water. If in fact the story is true- I
would go about comtacting the police that where involved and the
insurance company. I would also recommend that you have a long talk
with your daughter, because it is illegal to do this sort of thing,
common or not. It may be possible that she attend some sort of driving
class offered by the county or city in order to drop the points that
she had applied to her license.

****

To quote Judge Judy, if you want a court's help, you must have "clean
hands." If you do something illegal which snowballs, then you are out
of luck because you did something illegal to begin with. If your
daughter was part of a scam where she loaned out her license to an
underage or unlicensed driver so that they could buy alcohol or drive
illegally, I don't think you are going to find much help with the
courts / police / insurance company.