August 17, 2010

Why Getting Too Many Tickets Can Raise Your Auto Insurance Premium

Your driving record has a large impact when it comes to getting an auto insurance quote. Factors such as traffic violations or an auto insurance ticket can negatively affect your driving record. Knowing what your driving record has on it can help you maintain reasonable rates.

Each violation entered on your driving record has a point value. Point values vary from state to state and can include infractions such as: DUI or DWI charge, running a red light, a parking violation ticket, accidents to which you are at fault, driving without auto insurance ticket. The point system is set up in order to find reckless drivers; although an insurance company can use it against you when providing an auto insurance quote. Having a lot of points on your driving record from accumulating tickets suggests that you are a bad driver, resulting in hefty insurance premiums.

By no means are these points good for anything except perhaps as a profit to insurance companies. If you have a history of moving violations or have filed accident claims, you will be paying much more on car insurance. The more points you have on your record, the higher your auto insurance quote will be.

As each company deals with violation points differently, it is imperative that you contact your state’s department of insurance to find out the exact status of your record. A parking ticket may have a point value of 2 or 3 while a non auto insurance ticket could be 5 or 6 points. Not only will accumulating points from tickets raise your premiums, your driver’s license could be at risk of being suspended or revoked.

Whenever you switch or renew your current car insurance, they will automatically check your driving history. In order to figure out whether your auto insurance quotes will be higher or lower, companies implement a point system and rating factor. A 26% increase could be had on your quote if you’ve had any major violations such as an auto insurance ticket. If enough points or tickets have accumulated on your record, the insurance company could even choose to drop you from the policy.

If you have an accumulation of points on your record, hiring a skilled attorney could help in bringing down your auto insurance quote. Ultimately, you want to prevent acquiring points to begin with by following traffic regulations and avoiding an auto insurance ticket.

Additionally, taking a safety course may clear a minor violation from your record as well as improve your awareness of road safety. Taking necessary actions that improve your record is the key to lower rates. Abiding by traffic laws will help you avoid paying costly traffic tickets that harm your record and raise your premiums.