Caught In the Act: Do Speeding Tickets Raise Insurance Prices?

on May 26, 2020 at 10:53 am

Do you sometimes speed? Don’t worry we won’t tell on you!

A recent survey shows that 25% of Americans admit to driving faster than posted speed limits. If you were recently caught speeding, you already know that it’s time to slow down. However, what you might not know is how your new speeding ticket is going to affect your driving record.

Do speeding tickets raise insurance rates, and if yes, for how long? Read on to find all of the answers to your speeding ticket questions.

Do Speeding Tickets Raise Insurance?

Do speeding tickets raise insurance? The short answer is yes, not just for your car insurance but for many other kinds as well. For example if life insurance for seniors makes sense to you and you wished to take out a policy, one thing they often ask for is your driving record. More speeding tickets and speeding-related accidents often mean higher rates.

It all boils down to risk. When you are renewing your car insurance or a health-related insurance policy, the provider will look to see how much of a risk you are on the road. More risky driving means more chances for accidents, higher chances you will require payouts. For that, they may decide your risk will cost extra to cover.

The long answer to our question though is a little more complicated. Let’s start answering that by looking at when you got your speeding ticket.

Were you just pulled over sometime today or earlier this week? If yes, likely, your insurance rates are still the same as they were before the ticket. Usually, insurance rates won’t go up immediately.

Instead rates tend to increase around your renewal period. Why is it that rates stay the same short term?

Your insurance rates may stay unaffected until renewal. Your insurance providers aren’t checking your driving record every month. Some providers only check when you first take out the policy, as with some forms of life insurance. Instead, insurance companies tend to only run reports on new customers and renewals.

It’s also possible that when your policy renews, your insurance company may not run your record. If your insurance company doesn’t run your report, your rates won’t go up from speeding.

However, if you go to switch insurance companies, it’s likely the new company will find the ticket. Whenever you’re applying to be a new insurance customer, be that with a local insurance broker in Richmond, TX or a well-known nationwide firm, the company will run your record.

Why Are Insurance Increases Legal?

You might be wondering, “Is it legal to raise my insurance rates for speeding?”. While we wish we could deliver better news, the hard truth is that raising your insurance rates is 100% legal. How is that possible?

Your insurance company has the legal right to charge you more for a High Risk Auto Insurance policy if they can prove you’re a higher risk.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeders get in more car accidents. Unfortunately, your speeding ticket qualifies you as being a speeder. As a result, your insurance company has the right to ask you to pay more for your insurance coverage.

The good news is that your speeding ticket isn’t going to stay on your record for the rest of your life. How long exactly will your speeding ticket affect your driving record? The answer depends on the type of speeding ticket you got.

Different Types of Speeding Offenses

When you get a speeding ticket, endorsements go on your driving record. Another name for an endorsement is a penalty point. Your state will have it’s own penalty system and rules.

To give you an idea of how penalty points affect your driving record, we’ll breakdown Florida’s system. While your state may do things slightly differently, in general, it’ll be a similar setup.

Here are the different types of speeding offenses and the penalty points in Florida:

Less than 15 MPH over limit 3 Penalty Points
More than 15 MPH over the limit 4 Penalty Points
Speeding past a school bus 4 Penalty Points
Not wearing your seatbelt 3 Penalty Points

When an officer pulls you over for speeding, there’s a chance you get more than 1 type of ticket. If you’re not wearing your seatbelt, or you cut off another vehicle, you could get more than one ticket. Along with having several tickets, you’ll also be looking at multiple penalty points.

How Long Will Penalty Points Affect You?

Once you determine how many penalty points you have, you can start to figure out how long they’ll affect you. You’ll also be able to calculate if you’re at risk for a license suspension. If you get too many penalty points within 1 year, you could have your license suspended.

So take a moment to find out how many points you have right now. If you’re getting close to a number that will cause you to get a suspension than you should try to remove some points.

Are you worried you have too many points to keep your current insurance carrier? Or are you trying to get new insurance but your record hasn’t cleared yet? Go ahead and check out this article then, to explore high-risk insurance options.

Tips for Removing Penalty Points

Since penalty points remain on your driving record for years, it’s a good idea to try and remove them. Once the penalty points are off of your record, you’re all good!

You won’t have to worry about your speeding ticket affecting your current insurance rates anymore. You’ll also be able to switch to a new insurance provider, without getting a higher rate for past offenses.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets the option to remove penalty points from their record. Instead, the ability to get rid of points is on a case by case basis. The severity of your speeding ticket, and state you live in, will determine your options.

If you are eligible to remove points, you’ll most likely need to take some type of course. Your state will probably want you to take a defensive driving course. They may also ask you to complete a basic driver improvement class.

Oftentimes, these courses are only a few hours long and can take place online. Another way to remove points is by asking the courts to dismiss your ticket completely.

If you feel you didn’t deserve your speeding ticket, you can contest it in court. You’ll have to testify that you weren’t speeding.

Keep in mind that it’ll be your word against the police officer who gave you the ticket. While it’s a longshot, if you contest and win, you won’t get any points on your driving record.

Get Back on the Road

Now you know the real answer to the question, “Do speeding tickets raise insurance rates?”. We hope that our article was able to shed some light on how speeding tickets work and what you can do about them. For more helpful insights, go ahead and check out the rest of this site.