Lost Traffic Ticket in North Carolina

North Carolina provides an online citation query to help you find details about your lost traffic ticket; however, you still might need to contact the appropriate traffic court to complete your traffic ticket search.

Find Lost Traffic Ticket in NC

You can find your lost traffic ticket information by:

  • Searching the traffic ticket using the state's online citation query.
    AND/OR
  • Contacting the appropriate traffic court.

NOTE: Searching online MIGHT give you enough information to respond to your NC traffic ticket on time, but it MIGHT only give you enough information to contact the appropriate court for more details. For example, many online query results provide citations numbers—which are critical for pleading to your ticket—but some don't provide that number. You'll need to get it from the court.

Online Citation Query

Begin—or, if you're lucky, complete—your lost traffic ticket search using North Carolina's online citation query.

Fortunately, don't need the citation number; you can search by the defendant's name (that's you).

Unfortunately, the online search generally doesn't provide every all information you need to respond to your ticket. For example, only some results provide the citation number, and it's rare to find a response that provides the traffic ticket fine.

Without this information, you must contact your traffic court.

Your Traffic Court

Generally, NC traffic tickets are handled on a county level; so, for additional traffic ticket information, you must contact the court in the county where you received the citation.

NOTE: If you can't remember the county where you received the ticket, the online citation query typically provides it; if not, contact the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) at (919) 890-1000.

NC Traffic Ticket Details

Whether you find your NC traffic ticket information online or have to call the traffic court, make sure you gather all the important details in order to make your decision on how to plead, and make that plea by the deadline.

Such details include:

  • Whether you're required to appear in court.
    • Some violations carry a mandatory court appearance; if yours does, record the court's address and your hearing's date, time, and courtroom number.
  • All details to help you respond.
    • These details will help you decide how to plea, as well as how to move forward (i.e. payment details OR details for fighting your ticket):
      • Your exact violation.
      • The citation number.
      • The officer's name, number, and agency.
      • The locate, date, and time you were pulled over.
  • All details about your NC traffic ticket fine, including:
    • The exact amount of the fine.
    • Any additional fees or surcharges.
    • The deadline by which you must pay.
    • The payment options and methods your court accepts (and for which you're eligible).
    • The deadline by which you must respond—period.
    • Whether you're pleading "guilty" and paying your fine or pleading "not guilty" and scheduling a hearing, you have a deadline to complete these tasks before you face additional penalties.

Plead to the NC Traffic Violation

Once you have all your NC traffic ticket information, it's time to decide how to plead.

Refer to our guides on Paying Traffic Tickets and Fighting Traffic Tickets for details on the pros and cons of each decision as well as how to move forward once you decide.

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