Question: We sold our moped to another party, and a few months later we received parking tickets for the moped, which has turned into a couple thousand dollars. How do we address this when it is not us?
Answer: It appears that you did not respond to the court within 21 days after the ticket(s) were issued, and the court has entered a default judgment against you. You are not alone in this predicament. The description of your options now, emailed from Jan Kagehiro, a spokesperson for the state Judiciary, applies to vehicles beyond mopeds:
“Unfortunately this scenario is not unusual. Under the law, the registered owner is responsible for completing a notice of transfer to the Department of Motor Vehicle/Satellite City Hall. They may want to get a certified copy of the completed notice of transfer for their records. Department of Motor Vehicle/Satellite City Hall will not change the registered owner until the ‘new owner’ goes in and registers the vehicle.
“Citations incurred by the ‘new owner’ who has not yet registered the vehicle are the responsibility of the registered owner. The registered owner has two options:
“Contest the citations: They must complete and submit a Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment form. The form includes detailed instructions on this process.” Or:
“Pay for the citations: They may do so at any state district courthouse 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except state holidays. If the citations have gone to the collection agency, then they may call Pioneer Credit Recovery at 1-866-802-0053.”
Download the form, with the full title Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment Entered in Traffic Infraction Case; Appearance Bond, at www.courts.state.hi.us/docs/1DP/1DP1191.pdf. Or search for it on the Judiciary website, www.courts.state.hi.us.
Follow the instructions carefully, if you go this route. It says that “if a default judgment has been entered against you in a traffic infraction case, and you believe that you can show good cause or excuse for your failing to take action necessary to prevent the default judgment from being entered against you, you can use this form to request that the court set aside the default judgment. Pursuant to Rule 18(b) of the Hawaii Civil Traffic Rules, a default judgment may not be set aside after ninety (90) days unless there is an exceptional circumstance.”
Other people selling mopeds, cars or trucks can avoid this problem by going with the buyer to finalize the ownership transfer, which is what Honolulu’s Department of Customer Services recommends. This can help buyers, too, by ensuring that they don’t buy a vehicle with a registration stopper due to unpaid tickets, for example. “All joint buyer-seller transactions for a single vehicle ownership transfer can be processed in a single appointment at any City and County of Honolulu satellite city hall,” according to the CSD website.
A seller can get the certified copy that Kagehiro mentioned at such an appointment, said Harold Nedd, a CSD spokesperson. Appointments are available via AlohaQ.org.
The form a person selling a moped uses to report a change of ownership is different from the form used for cars or other motor vehicles, but both make clear that a buyer won’t be recorded as the new owner until the buyer submits their own portion of the paperwork. For full instructions on transferring vehicle ownership, go to the CSD website, honolulu.gov/csd, where there are separate pages for mopeds and other vehicles. Under the header “Vehicle, Registration, Title and Services,” click on “Buying & Selling a Car” or “Moped Registration,” depending on your interest.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
