What sort of fines and fees does one pay when caught driving without a license in Texas?

by Roch Drives on January 23, 2008

Texas Happy Horn asked:


My 15 year old son took my car out for a joy ride without my permission. He totalled the car and received two tickets. One for driving without a license and the other unsafe speed. We live in Texas and I was wanting to know if this is going to cause him not to get his license at 16? And what fines and fees to expect to pay.
He hit a tree and no other vehicles were involved.

Lillian

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{ 4 comments }

alwayson January 26, 2008 at 8:33 pm

He won’t have a license as a juvenile.It will cost around 600$ after all is said,fined ,and done. Unless someone else was involved.Then it could be thousands.

txpainthorse January 29, 2008 at 6:42 am

Check with a lawyer or call the court. Your car insurance company might know as well.

lardawg54 February 1, 2008 at 2:09 am

He will be 18 when he is eligible for a license now. I am surprised he hasn’t been given any time in Juvenile detention.

Alison Grinter February 1, 2008 at 4:11 pm

Hi!
I’m a criminal defense attorney and I handle tickets like this quite often. These offenses don’t carry a license suspension, but the driving without a license does carry a surcharge of $100 per year for 3 years if he’s convicted, and failure to pay the surcharges will result in a suspension. You’re going to want to make sure that he gets deferred adjudication. in order to avoid the whole mess.
Every Class C Misdemeanor carries court costs of about $100 plus a fine set by the court of $10-500. So at minimum, he’ll have to pay about $250, but it could be up to $1200. That will depend on the court.

Best,
Alison Grinter