Once you are convicted of DUI in Florida or are placed into a Pre-Trial Diversion one of the court-ordered conditions includes immobilization of your vehicle for ten days.
Immobilization involves either taking your car to an approved impound lot or, using one of the approved service providers who can come out to immobilize your vehicle either by putting a “boot” on one of its wheels or using a “club” device that attaches to the steering wheel.
During the meeting I had with my probation officer, I was given a list of approved service providers who could do the immobilization. I chose one who would come out and club the vehicle rather than have it taken to an impound lot.
Immobilization is required by Florida state law in DUI cases. For me, I chose to have this done immediately after being handed down my sentence as the timing was in my best interest. In my case, immobilization didn’t make much sense, because:
- I had a suspended license and it was going to take several weeks for me to have a hardship license approved
- I wasn’t allowed to drive by law anyway!
So, I picked the least expensive provider on the list and had the guy come out and club the car.
The immobilization guy was just your average Joe who does this on the side making money putting these things on and taking them off offenders’ cars.
We talked for a bit, told him my story, he told me his, I gave him $100 for the service and said, “see you in ten days.”
In a strange twist, he then said, “I know you don’t have a license, I don’t want to come back to take this off, for another $100 we can just do the paperwork and I won’t Club the car.”
Hell no!
I politely declined, telling him I didn’t want any issues with anything and it was my intent to follow all the guidelines to the letter of the law.
When ten days passed, I texted him and he came out to remove his device. The timing of this proved to be perfect, as two days later I got the call from the DMV, had my hardship hearing, and was granted another Business Purposes Only license.
Based on my experience, this whole process is ripe for fraud by both the vehicle owner and the service provider. There appears to be little oversight of the program, nobody came out to make sure my vehicle was actually immobilized, and I could have paid the guy off and been driving around while my car was supposedly locked up.
All I had to provide to my probation officer was proof that the vehicle was immobilized which was a form and the provider’s business card.
