March 5th, 2010 | 
Author: 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? Consider the following.
What are the consequences? Car insurers employ many different factors to establish the rate to charge for different types of coverage. These are usually tied in with something called “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? Age, the amount of driving you do daily or annually, where you live, the vehicle you drive and even credit history are used to determine risk. Breaking traffic laws by reckless driving, speeding or other ways is one of the biggest risk factors they look at.
Most states assign a point system to licensed drivers that track if they have been convicted of breaking a traffic law. Your driving record is reviewed by auto insurers when you apply for coverage. If they see you have moving violations, they may charge a higher rate or even deny coverage. If your current Insurance company finds out about this, during an annual review for example, they may raise your rates.
What are your options? If you received a citation for a moving violation, you have some choices. Of course you can simply pay the ticket, or you can try to get it dismissed by fighting it or you may be able to attend a traffic school and get it dropped.
Paying the ticket will get rid of the fine but you will probably have the points show up onyour driving record which could increase 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. Now if you lose, you’ll still be paying the fine (and any court fees) plus your insurance costs can still go up.
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. Usually, you’ll need to pay for the course which can be several hours long or more depending on the state. 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. Since this won’t show up on your driving record, your insurer will never know. Sometimes there are limitations to how often 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 insurance comparison quotes from different companies. Just shopping around could save you quite a bit because rates vary from company to company. On the Internet, insurance quote sites are a good place to start.
You may also consider raising your deductibles on comprehensive and collision coverage for awhile to lower your insurance costs.
Posted in Auto Insurance | 
Tags: Auto Insurance, auto insurance companies, auto insurance quote, auto insurance rates, auto insurance speeding, auto policy, car insurance, car insurance quote, car insurance rates, defensive driving, insurance Rates, low, speeding ticket, traffic school, traffic ticket