Auto Insurance Costs And Your Traffic Ticket.
Auto insurance costs can dramatically be affected if you’ve been convicted of a moving violation like speeding or running a red light. How is your insurance affected to your insurance and what can you do about it? Here are some points to consider.
What are the consequences? Auto insurers employ many different factors to establish the rate to charge for different types of coverage. The factors that most impact rates are known as “risk.” In other words, the greater risk you are for incurring a loss (making a claim) then they higher the insurer will typically charge.
So what impacts the risk factor? A person’s age, driving habits (such as commuting miles) location and type of vehicle impact how risk is determined. Of course one of the biggest factors is if you have a history of being at fault in an accident or breaking driving laws.
In most states, if you are convicted of breaking a traffic law — such as speeding — it may be counted in a point system assigned to you as a licensed driver in that state. Auto insurers review driving records when you apply for car insurance. If they see you have moving violations, they may charge a higher rate or even deny coverage. What’s more, your current insurer may do a periodic review and could raise your rates if they discover that you’ve had a violation.
What are your options? If you re ticketed for a moving violation you usually have a few options. You can pay the fine, fight it in court or you may be able to get it dropped by attending a traffic school.
By paying the fine that comes with the ticket, the violation will probably appear on your state driving record and could impact your insurance costs.
If you go to court and fight the ticket, you may win and have it dropped. If you win, no points would be attributed to your driving record. However, if you lose in court you would still need to pay the fine, plus associated court fees and it can still affect your car insurance rates.
If you don’t feel like you would win the case in court, and your state offers the option, getting the violation dropped by taking traffic school is a good choice. Typically, you’ll need to pay a fee and attend a one or two day course on driving safety. The course fee may be less than the actual ticket fine and if you can complete the course they’ll typically drop the violation without putting points on your record. No points on your record means that your insurance company won’t raise your rates. Some states do have limitations on how frequently (between tickets) you can take a traffic course.
If you can’t take the traffic course and your rates increase, it might be a good idea to get some car insurance rates from different companies. Rates vary from insurer to insurer and you could find a lower rate just by doing a little shopping around. On the Internet, auto insurance comparison sites are a good place to start.
For awhile, you may want to raise your deductibles which will lower your premium.
Category: Car Insurance
