A $900 ticket can cost you your job.
Here's the plan before it does.

Trigger: your job or license is on the line and the gap is over $500. Do not wait for the warrant or suspension to land — courts give the most flexibility before the deadline, not after.

1. Call the clerk this week. Use this script — read it as-is or adapt the numbers:

2. Protect the license.

• Ask for a compliance extension or payment plan in writing — a verbal "okay" doesn't stop an automatic suspension.
• Get the clerk's name, the new due date, and a case or confirmation number. Screenshot or photograph every document.
• Keep proof of the arrangement in your glovebox. If you get stopped, a paper trail beats an argument.
• Never drive on a suspended license to get to work — that's a new criminal charge and a longer suspension. Rideshare, carpool, or a coworker swap until it's reinstated.
• After paying, confirm reinstatement with your state driver services office (DDS/DMV) and budget the reinstatement fee — it is almost never included in the fine.

3. Tell your supervisor before the court does. A heads-up plus a written payment plan reads as responsible. A no-call/no-show because you were in a holding cell reads as a termination.

The play: split the gap across your next paydays and clear it before the court's warrant or suspension threshold hits. Small automatic moves beat one desperate lump sum.

• Move the money the morning you're paid — before gas, food runs, and apps touch the account.
• Pay the court directly each period if they'll credit partial payments; get a receipt every time.
• If a payday falls after a court deadline, call before that date and log the clerk's name — a documented good-faith effort matters.
• No payday loans or title pawns to speed this up. A 300% APR "bridge" turns a $650 problem into a four-figure one.

The endgame: a permanent $500 traffic/legal buffer sitting inside your emergency fund, untouchable for anything else. The next ticket becomes an errand, not an emergency.

• Build it at $125 per paycheck — the same habit that cleared this fee, kept running until the buffer is full.
• Park it in a separate savings account or a labeled sub-account so it doesn't get spent by accident.
• Refill rule: any time the buffer gets used, it becomes the #1 savings priority until it's back to $500.
• Once the legal buffer is locked, grow the main emergency fund behind it — that's the wall that keeps court dates from becoming job losses.