Speeding Tickets Raise Insurance Rates

Across the country, legislators are ratcheting up the penalty fines for speeding violations. In several states, drivers now face surcharges of up to $30 on top of the normal fines for speeding tickets. However, the fines associated with the speeding ticket are the least of your financial worries. Your real concern is your car insurance premiums. On average, one speeding violation will increase your auto insurance rates by about 30%. This could add up to thousands of dollars for many drivers. In this post, we'll explain more about the impact of speeding tickets on auto insurance premiums and give you tips on how to avoid the rate increases.

Why the Increase?

You might wonder if insurance companies just use speeding tickets as one more reason to raise rates and boost their profits. In reality, the premium increases are more than justified. Speeding is cited as a factor in 33% of all accident-related fatalities. Similarly, drivers with one speeding citation in the last three years have a 50% higher collision rate than those with no speeding violations. A greater likelihood of collision means increased risk for the insurer, which in turn translates into higher rates for you. Drivers who are more likely to crash are more likely to file a claim, so the insurer has to raise your rates in order to combat this added risk.

What to Do If You Get Pulled Over

Your behavior when you get pulled over can make or break your car insurance rates. Getting a speeding ticket or other traffic citation doesn't necessarily have to result in increased premiums. Here are a few things you can do to minimize the damage:

• Be nice. By the time you get pulled over, the officer has usually made up his or her mind about giving you a ticket, so your chances of changing that are slim. The only chance you really have is to be as polite as possible and hope for the best. If you're belligerent, the cop might give you the full fine or make a note on the citation, like "ND," which signals "no deal" in court to prosecutors or the officer himself.
• Don't own up to anything. The question, "Do you know why I stopped you?" is a tricky one. Always answer "no" to this question. The key is not to make any admissions of guilt because they can be used against you in traffic court.
• Don't pay the ticket right away. If you pay the fine, this is a form of an admission of guilt, and you will pay for it dearly with your car insurance rates. Unless you want to pay thousands of dollars extra for car insurance for the next three years, you're better off fighting the ticket. Only 3% of traffic tickets are contested, which means showing up to court is half the battle. At the very least, you should be able to get the fine lowered or the charge reduced to something that won't affect your car insurance rates. Alternatively, you might also go to traffic school to have the ticket expunged from your record.