Ticket for expired registration

[alpac]

Last Sunday I was stopped by the police one mile from home for expired registration on my X. Not sure how I missed the registration and inspection on the X but I did and for about 3 months! I do not remember receiving the reminder for registration renewal for the X5 but I may have missed it amoung the registration renewal of my 5 different vehicles. As usual with traffic ticket I either show up in court in November or plaid guilty and pay the $155 fee. Anyway, today I was surprised to get a bunch of advertisements in the mail from attorneys offering their services saying that they could prevent me from loosing my driving license and have my insurance increased. I have used lawyers successfully in the past for speeding tickets but I had no idea that having an expired registration could have that kind of consequences. Does anybody knows North Carolina's rules for expired registration? Is it just bluff from these lawyers? Should I go to court, plaid guilty and paid the fees or hire a lawyer? A Lawyer is probably going to be at least $500 or $600 so before hiring one I want to be sure I really need him or her.
Any suggestion would be appreciated?
Thanks