Do Speeding Tickets Affect Auto Insurance? Of Course! Here’s How
Did you get a speeding ticket? Want to know if it will affect your insurance?
Well, you’re in the right place. And let’s start off strong by saying: Yes, it will.
But wait, that’s not the end-all-be-all resolve to the situation. There are ways to avoid high insurance premiums and we will mention them in this article.
Keep reading to find the answers to the question of “Do speeding tickets affect insurance?”
The Impact of a Ticket on Your Insurance Premium
Each and every company has its own policy when it comes to dealing with speeding tickets. For instance, a company might raise your rates for the next 5 years. Another might have a surcharge that can be removed after 2 years if you no longer get any speeding tickets on your driving record.
If you’ve been with a company for a long time and had a good driving record, a single ticket might not affect your insurance rates in any significant way. You might not see any kind of insurance premium increase for a single speeding ticket.
So How Does the Violation Affect the Insurance Rate?
In simple terms, a serious traffic infraction will come with serious changes to your insurance.
For instance, issues like:
- A DUI/DWI conviction will have a serious impact on your insurance rates.
- A speeding citation can afflict moderate changes to your record.
- Driving with a broken light is likely to have no impact.
Now, because we are talking about speeding tickets, let’s take a look at those in detail. If you have been ticketed for speeding, the numeric amount by how much you were exceeding the speed limit matters a lot.
A driver ticketed for driving at a speed 20 miles above the posted one will see their insurance rates increase significantly more, in comparison to someone who was going 5 miles above the limit.
In the insurance world, excessive speeding equals higher likelihood of a traffic accident, which makes you a risky client in the eyes of your insurance provider.
How to Avoid Higher Insurance Premiums?
If a driver is concerned about the impact of the ticket on their insurance premiums, they are advised not to admit guilt when they are being cited. If you do admit guilt, you cannot contest the ticket at a later time.
Signing a ticket is not an admission of guilt, but paying the fine is. Don’t pay for the ticket until you’ve decided that you won’t be contesting a fine.
However, before making such decisions, it is best to call your insurance provider with an anonymous phone number and use a fake name and ask them about how a ticket will affect an insurance rate. If you use your real credentials, they might be interested in placing a flag on your account to keep track of any tickets.
In minimal cases, you can get the speeding ticket erased from your record, therefore it won’t affect the insurance rates. To do this, you can:
- Enroll in traffic school.
- Enroll in a defensive driving course.
And these are the best ways for avoiding excessive insurance premiums and ensuring that you can drive without worry that you already pay too much for your car insurance. A clean driving record is the best way to get the cheapest insurance, so keep that in mind.
How Long Does a Ticket Stay on Your Insurance Record?
Insurance companies have a look-back period, and it is different by each state, company.
The minimum you should expect for your speed ticket to have an effect is three years. Some companies might go back to the date of the incident, but others might only go as far as the conviction period.
A major violation like a DWI/DUIT will have a look-back period of 10 years. But in some states, it can only be 5 years.
Just as a violation will not raise the rates on your insurance unless the insurer can see the offense on your driving record, so the surcharge will not disappear immediately after the offense is off your record. An entire policy period has to pass for the insurer to review your records.
What Happens If I Can Get Out of a Ticket?
If you can get out a ticket, it will show up on your record. Each state has a reciprocal agreement that enforces automatic information sharing on the citation. If your driving privileges have been suspended in a state that you were visiting, you can expect to have your license suspended in your home state as well.
The Driver’s License Compact is an agreement signed by 45 states, where Wisconsin, Tennessee, Michigan, Massachusetts, Georgia, and Washington are not members of this agreement. Nonetheless, they still share and receive instant information on citations.
A state may or may not assign a driver license point for out-of-state convictions, especially if it’s a minor infraction. Although, an insurance company will still raise your rate, no matter where it happened.
Do Speeding Tickets Affect Insurance?
As you can see, speeding tickets really do have an effect on insurance premiums, but not always. So the answer to the question of “Do speeding tickets affect insurance?” is double-sided, to say the least.
What also matters is by how much the rate will be raised, and that is dependent on a variety of factors that are stringent state-by-state, company-by-company. In any case, now that you know what you needed to know – you can act accordingly.
If you’re are high-risk driver, and can’t get affordable insurance – get in touch with us and we will happily accommodate your needs.