NYC ‘car addict’ sues after his $315K Lamborghini supercar gets ticket from noise camera

A Staten Island driver is suing over a “noise camera” ticket for his $315,000 Lamborghini — saying the fine should be dropped because he didn’t modify the supercar to make it louder.

Insurance broker and self-confessed “car addict” Anthony Aquilino said the city goofed by issuing him an $800 noise ticket for driving his 2018 Lamborghini Huracan Performante, since the exotic white sports car is totally stock — and legal to drive in the Big Apple.

“The fine amount is $800 for the first offense. The second offense is $1,700 & the third offense is $2,700,” Aquilino told The Post. “How can anybody afford that? Especially if the city wants to move these cameras all across the five boroughs.”

Big Apple law only allows the city to issue tickets to cars purposefully modified to increase their engine noise, the car owner contends in the lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.

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And his 2018 Lamborghini Huracan’s massive and legal V-10 engine is just loud by its factory design.

The only way for him to avoid the fines in the future, his suit states, would be to stop driving the two-seater supercar, “which is undoubtedly unreasonable,” his suit reads.

“The only remedy would be to sell the vehicle,” Aquilino said. “How else do you fight the fine?”

Since he didn’t intentionally modify his car to produce more noise, he can’t legally be held accountable for any noise, he contends — and the car is otherwise legal to drive on city streets and passes inspection every year.

“I feel that if the residents are upset by noise and the city wants to crack down on noise — I don’t disagree with it,” Aquilino said. “I disagree with if a car is unmodified and you want to fine them.

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“I got the fine when I was slowing down and going up 41st Street,” Aquilino added. “So speed isn’t a factor in this.”

About six weeks after his ticket, Aquilino even took his prized ride to the Lamborghini dealership in Manhattan to get it diagnosed as having no aftermarket installations or modifications installed, he said.

“Aquilino did not ‘cause or permit’ the total sound from the Vehicle to exceed the sound level restrictions,” the suit reads, “as he did not modify the Vehicle in any way and operated the Vehicle in an ordinary and reasonable manner.”

Council Member Keith Powers, who pushed an expansion of the noise cameras citywide in a bill he dubbed the “Stop Spreading the Noise Act,” has made past statements that seem to support Aquilino’s position in the suit.

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“We’re going after those who are potentially using an illegal vehicle, a modified vehicle, some that are really acting loudly,” Powers told NY1 in December, 2023 , just after his law passed.

But on Monday, Powers told The Post that the cameras will bust all noisy operators, regardless if the decibels are due to any modifications or not.

“The noise camera program was instituted to address any vehicle that is disrupting the local community by violating city and state laws related to noise,” Powers said in a statement. “New Yorkers have a right to a peaceful night of sleep, and that’s what our program aims to achieve.”

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection, which controls the noise-detecting cameras, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The city’s law department told The Post they would be reviewing Aquilino’s suit.

Aquilino said he bought his used Lamborghini in 2021 with cash — and by trading in a purple Porsche 911 valued at $185,000, according to a sales receipt he included in his court filing.

He also owns a Cadillac and a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, one of the fastest cars on the market.

“I’m not speeding. I’m not driving excessively. I was driving down 41st Street at a normal rate of speed and there’s people walking by and they don’t even pick up their heads,” said Aquilino. “So if I was driving that recklessly or being that noisy, they would’ve picked up their heads like: ‘what is that noise?’ No one even budges.”

According to city violation data aggregated by the popular website How’s My Driving NY , Aquilino did receive two tickets on that same day in the West Village for blowing through a red light and speeding in a school zone.

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