Is Your Car Insurance Rate Affected by Traffic Tickets?

By: David Schneider, Car Insurance Expert
CheaperCarInsurance.com

Many drivers wonder if getting a speeding or traffic violation ticket will cause their car insurance rate to rise. The answer isn’t cut and dry. The short answer is no, a single traffic violation ticket will likely not cause your car insurance rate to go up.

When Does a Ticket Make My Car Insurance Rate Rise?

There are instances where a ticket can cause a rate increase. Here are some examples:

• If you’ve had numerous traffic tickets in a short period of time
• If you were speeding over 50 miles an hour above the posted speed limit
• If you get a DUI or DWI
• If you were driving recklessly

These are all situations where your car insurance company may consider you a high risk driver and can reserve the right to increase your car insurance rate without notice. If you keep on driving with reckless abandon, your car insurance company can even drop your policy, leaving you scrambling to find coverage from an insurance company who’s not afraid to insure a high risk driver.

How to Get Your Car Insurance Rates Back Down

If you’ve had a stretch of bad luck and had your car insurance rates rise due to multiple tickets, don’t despair. A few years of safe driving without an accident or traffic violation will put you back on the A list with your car insurance company. With that status will come your good policy rate, or even better: drive well long enough and you could qualify for a Good Driver discount from your car insurance company.

How to Avoid Tickets

The best way to avoid a hike in your car insurance rates is to avoid getting traffic tickets. Here are some tips to help you be a better driver.

• Take a driver’s education course. If you never took a course as a teen, or it’s been a while, enroll in a low cost driver’s education course to refresh your memory on things like speed limits, traffic signs and defensive driving.
• Don’t drive angry. If you’re stressed, pull over and take a few deep breaths rather than risk speeding and getting a ticket.
• Go slow. Driving over the speed limit won’t get you to your destination that much faster, so why risk it?
• Don’t tailgate. It never makes the person in front of you move any faster and it puts you at risk of getting into an accident.
• Stop fully. Whether you are at a stop sign or a red light, make sure you stop completely, otherwise that policeman hiding behind the bush might write you a ticket for failure to yield.
• Know the speed limit. Often drivers aren’t aware of what the speed limit is when they get tickets. Pay attention to traffic signs so you are always conscious of the speed you should be going.
• Don’t get distracted. Put away your cell phone, keep the music at a quiet blast and don’t drive with a car full of people to avoid being distracted from your first mission: driving safely on the road.

If you get a traffic ticket and see your car insurance rates rise, contact your insurance agent and see if you can get a one time forgiveness and remove the rate increase. After all, we’re all human!

If you’re not sure what the policies are in regards to traffic tickets and car insurance rates going up, contact your car insurance company to find out. Each insurance company has different policies, so if you don’t like the policies of your company, get a quote from other companies that have policies you do like.

Posted: January 17, 2010