Avoid Insurance Hikes when Getting Tickets and Moving Violations

When you get quotes on car insurance, one of the first things you will be asked is if you have any tickets or moving violations on your record for the past three years. If you have to respond in the affirmative to this inquiry, you are definitely not the only one. As a matter of fact, you share one unfortunate commonality with millions of other drivers: you’ll have to pay higher insurance rates as a result. Even if you owned responsibility and deserved your citations, you don’t have to be a slave to your insurance company’s pricing whims. You have the rights as a consumer to shop around for the best rates in spite of your ticket or moving violation.

If You’re Already Paying a Penalty

For drivers who are already paying higher premiums because of a speeding citation or other moving violation, shopping around with different insurers can save you up to hundreds of dollars on your car insurance rates. If you have multiple violations on your record, you may have somewhat of a limited selection of insurers who will take you on, but it’s still worth a try. In fact, there are auto insurance companies that specialize in offering affordable coverage to high-risk drivers. The only way to find these companies, though, is to start shopping around.

How Long the Penalties Last

Most states keep violations on your driving record for three years, but they can remain for as long as five in some cases. What most policyholders don’t know is that their insurers continue to charge them higher rates even after the violation has been removed from their driving records. You can’t count on your insurer to lower your rates immediately when the violation has expired, so you have to take it upon yourself to let them know the time period has expired. Otherwise, the insurer usually only checks your driving record when you apply for a policy and sometimes when your policy is up for renewal.

When the Citation Happens

Obviously, the best way to keep your rates down is to avoid tickets and moving violations altogether by driving slowly and defensively. But with U.S. drivers putting almost 3 trillion miles on the highway each year, mistakes are bound to happen. If you do receive a citation, see if you can take traffic school in order to have the violation removed from your record. If you can, the ticket will not affect your insurance rates. Another option, especially if you feel the ticket was undeserved, is to fight the violation in traffic court. Sometimes just showing up in court and explaining your case to the judge can at least get the fines reduced or the sentence commuted to a lesser charge that will not raise your insurance premiums. Worst case scenario, the violation will be added to your driving record, and your premiums will increase. If this happens, take heart—premium increases for the first violation are usually modest, and they don’t last forever. Just drive more carefully in the future.

Additional Resources

• Affordable Car Insurance in Spite of Moving Violations
• It Pays to Avoid or Fight a Speeding Ticket