Drivers Legal Plan

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by wcc083, Dec 17, 2009.

  1. Tazz

    Tazz Road Train Member

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    Lynchburg,Tn
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    You plan on committing a felony that would require a lawyer on retainer?


    Geez I hope you do not drive through my town very much! Good luck getting that knocked down by the way. They aren't real big on that around Tennessee.We kinda figure if you have killed someone in a vehicle by your negligent actions or conduct( the definition of vehicular manslaughter) the public has the right to try, convict, and sentance you to a nice stay in our spartan accommodations.








    Don't get a ticket, don't need to waste your money on a bunch of leeches!
     
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  3. Sequoia

    Sequoia Road Train Member

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    Tampa Bay, FL
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    Yes, I use Driver's Legal Plan. When I was a young, naive truck driver I forgot to check some of my permits and didn't notice the company insurance for the truck I was in had expired. Well, just my luck I ended up having an accident in NYC and was ticketed for not having current proof of insurance.

    I called up Driver's Legal Plan, faxed them everything, paid the fee for it. Had a few follow up phone calls. The court date kept getting pushed back and pushed back. Finally the day of the hearing, DLP appeared on my behalf, the case was dismissed and the ticket was dropped. DLP refunded me $80 for the ticket and another $45 I think for court costs.

    So yeah, they came through for me so I'm sticking with them. We shopped around and compared prices and services and DLP came out as the best price. This is the one owned by Jim Klepper who sometimes comes on the Sirius/Xm Road Dog trucking channel to answer truckers legal questions.
     
  4. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    Burnsville, MN
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    Well, y'all got me thinking and remembering.

    My mentor mentioned a plan he used, but I don't remember which one. And he had to use it once, and it saved him from points on his CDL.

    It seems like cheap insurance for what it provides ($13.50 per month with Driver's Legal Plan), so I just joined up with them.

    Hopefully I will never need them, and more hopefully they come through if I ever do need them.
     
  5. bbqguy

    bbqguy Light Load Member

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    I just got word today, via a check in the mail, that in my case in California I was found 'not guilty' and the entire bail amount was refunded.

    My case involved a complicated issue of whether or not I was illegally traveling in a passing lane, while passing two vehicles doing 45 mph while blocking traffic, on a California freeway. The CHIP officer didn't even get out of his car. He called me out of my cab over to his car, via his PA system, asked for my license and then wrote a ticket. Previous to this, I had never been ticketed in my entire life.

    Driver's Legal Plan saved me a whole bunch of time and effort, not to mention the fact that I was not able to be at home to receive mail from the court. Several times, over the last few months, registered mail was sent by the California traffic prosecuting entity (whoever or whatever it was) and the court containing forms which required a timely legal response. DLP took care of all of that, on time and with the knowledge needed to properly respond.

    Yeah, it was worth the $13.50 a month I paid over the last 4 months, since subscribing, to get that potential moving violation off of my record. It also allowed me to focus on my job.
     
  6. Rollover the Original

    Rollover the Original Road Train Member

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    WOW! Paying money into a plan that if you never use it where is the money?
    Is it in a bank collecting interest? NOPE! It's GONE into a lawyers pocket!

    Put that 13.50 in your savings account. Let it build up earning that big 2% interest which is better than throwing it at a "pre paid plan" and drive by the rules and in 20 years when you retire from driving you will have $3304 if my math is correct in the bank!

    ANY lawyer will do the exact same thing that your PPL will do! It's their job! In this day of instant access to information all you need is the name of the court and start from there and get a lawyer in the town and turn him loose.
    He'll set his fee and will know what the fines and court costs will be and you send a check or MO and keep on trucking!

    You do not need to be at home any more to receive mail as I know for a fact that CA will email you anything you need when you make that contact with them if you are going to handle it yourself OR your lawyer knowing you're a trucker will do the same thing.

    Anything needing to be signed can be emailed to you, you print it out, sign it, scan it and email it back OR sign it and snail mail it.

    If email isn't your thing then FedX or UPS can have it in your hands at the truck stop or shipper and receiver of your choice the next day and if you have a return pack already filled out open the thing sign it and hand it back to the carrier as he's standing there! . Yeah it'll drive up costs a little more but heck why sit at home waiting on the mail if you don't use a computer?

    Pre Paid Legal is not a good investment unless you are an outright idiot behind the wheel!
     
  7. gravdigr

    gravdigr Road Train Member

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    how is prepaid legal any different from truck insurance? where does that..what....$9k a year go (pulling numbers out my butt). Sure it's required by law but if you are a good safedriver you will never see any kind of return on that?

    In my business we kept a lawyer on retainer for taking care of customer disputes and such. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Any really, $3k over the span of 20 years? I bet most people here spend more than that on bottled water when tap water is free.

    And, you can be a 100% safe driver and have circumstances make an incident look like it was totally your fault even if it wasn't. Standard lawyer retainer for a good lawyer runs around $500, if you can find one while you are being questioned by police. There are any number of scenerios where a perfectly legal and safe driver can be put under blameby circumstances under control.

    I won't say someone should or shouldn't have prepaid legal. Just disputing a few of the things I read here. PLaying devils advocate so to speak.
     
  8. bbqguy

    bbqguy Light Load Member

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    East Wenatchee, WA
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    One may say the same about any insurance. I am hardly an idiot behind the wheel, and a lot of states, Kali being a frontrunning example, are targeting truckers for extra income. Honest mistakes happen and tickets can result. Tickets affect hireability and retention. If one wishes to hire an attorney, should the occasion arise, that's fine. But I like the convenience of my pre-paid plan; it is a reasonable price, and I can hardly argue with the results I have had.

    Your point about email is well taken, but whether or not official or registered mail will be emailed is at the discretion of the jurisdiction, and still requires oneself to then forward the email to the attorney that has been hired and who has a billing clock that will be running.

    During hometime, just for giggles, I did an attempt to find a Kalifornia attorney based on common search parameters with google, and with an online attorney referral system, just to see if that might have been a better way to go. Talk about trying to find a good fish in a sea of sharks!!! $400.00 to $600.00 retainers with additional money required if a full hearing is needed. Based on MY case, which went to a full hearing, I could have easily spent over $1800.00.

    My driving record is still spotless, my company has now dropped the additional points off of my company's risk assessment which they retain for every driver, and the $244.00 fine I had paid as bail was returned.

    I'm fine with my decision to subscribe to DLP.
     
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  9. lilillill

    lilillill Sarcasm... it's not just for breakfast

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    I highly recommend going to the Pilot in Temple, GA and seeing the gal that runs the TVC counter there... not to purchase a plan or anything... just to SEE her, lol.

    :biggrin_255:
     
  10. blanks

    blanks Light Load Member

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    gravdigr
    ++
     
  11. Rascally Road Warrior

    Rascally Road Warrior Light Load Member

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    I wouldn't be out here driving without some sort of legal plan and it's certainly not because I am or plan on doing anything illegal. Police brutality and wrongfully accusations from officers are on the rise, and this story here is just one of many examples
    http://articles.cnn.com/2008-12-04/..._pregnant-woman-trooper-ticket?_s=PM:POLITICS

    I have been out here for only (going on) 5 years, and I have dealt with my share of idiotic troopers to serve me a life time. just last month I was headed down a 3 lane highway through a major city. I approached heavy traffic and slowed down. There were two vehicles merging onto the highway - I was in the far right lane and couldn't move over. One of the vehicles trying to merge was a DOT officer. This officer cut in behind me and shot over into the far left lane, looked back at me and took off, tailgating other cars intimidating them to get out of his way... no siren or lights.#

    A couple miles up the highway I come upon a scale house and I get the red light on my PrePass to pull in. I pull on the scales and it's one of those where you can actually seen your weights. The scale reads 53,000 pounds, and then the voice comes over the speaker. "Driver, pull around back and bring in all your paperwork!". Once inside the officer behind the counter says, "Do you know why I pulled you in?". Trying to bite my tongue as there were so many answers I wanted to use, but didn't. "No sir", I replied. Apparently he was upset that when he tried to merge onto the highway, I didn't move over, and I explained to him that I couldn't. After our little ####-chat, he says, "ok, you're free to go". So I asked him, "what just happened here and is this something that is going to mysteriously show up on my CSA record?" He assured me that there will be no record of any of it, he just wanted to know why I didn't move over.

    Like I said, you could be doing everything by the book out here and safely. All it takes is one jerk of a cop to blow your credibility out of the water and you're done. I just recently had a car cut right in front of me and stopped completely... she apparently wanted to get a real good look at an accident on the shoulder. I tried the best I could to avoid her but ended up hitting her from behind. No one was hurt and the damage was minimal. There were two witnesses who saw everything and came back to give their account of what happened which thankfully was in my favor. However, once again I get some jerk cop who is full of himself. He asked the witnesses one question which was, "were both vehicles in the same lane upon impact?". Well duh... the witnesses said yes. The cop went over and asked the other driver what had happened and then started walking back to his patrol car. Now at this time I hadn't said anything yet because I was still waiting to explain what had happened. As the officer started back to his car I asked him if I could explain what happened. He stopped but didn't say anything so I'm thinking that was the go ahead to start speaking.#

    After I explained to him that the other car cut in front of me and stopped, he started yelling saying that my story didn't match to what anyone else was saying and I am going to be cited for careless driving and that's final. Just then the witnesses (2 witnesses) tried explaining that what I had just said was indeed what had happened, but instead of allowing the witnesses to speak freely, he only allowed them to answer the one question, "were both vehicles in the same lane upon impact?". When the witnesses tried to clarify, the officer yelled at them and told them to get in their cars and leave. At that time I said, "this is bull****". Just then the officer verbally went up one side of me and down the other as if I was in bootcamp getting lashed out by a Sargent.

    So now I have to spend "X" amount of $$$ getting a lawyer in order to get this dismissed. The good news is that I have the witness' name and phone number which they gave me just before they left, and they insisted that I have my lawyer call them. Chances are, I will be also filing a complaint with the local Florida Highway Patrol as well, but I am waiting to see what my lawyer says about it.#

    There are those who are born with poor coordination skills, some people have no mechanical skills while others are gifted in different ways. Me, I am one of those who was born with crazy luck, and it's because of that I take extra measures to make sure I run as safe and legal as possible out here, but Murphy's Law seems to always jump into the passenger seat.

    I'm thinking of starting a thread about police miss-treatment. I can't be the only one out here who has had experience with jerk cops.#
     
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