Do Better Drivers Really Pay Less On Their Premiums?
You may wonder how much impact your driving record has on your auto insurance premiums. The fact is that your driving record is probably the single-biggest factor besides age that determines how much you pay for auto insurance.
Better drivers really do pay less for car insurance than those with tickets, accidents, and other blemishes on their driving records. Here are a few facts about how your driving record impacts your premium rates.
The Speed Limit
The most common types of moving traffic citations are speeding tickets. Millions of speeding tickets are issued every year, and if you are like most people, you have received one at some point in your life. Most people do not consider speeding tickets anything but an expensive nuisance, but they can greatly impact the amount you pay for your auto insurance.
Speeding is viewed by your insurance company as a precursor to an accident. It is one of the best ways your insurance company can remotely monitor your driving habits. If you receive one speeding ticket for going ten miles an hour over the speed limit in the course of ten years, your insurance company is probably not too worried.
However, if you receive three in one year, or get one for going more than thirty miles an hour over the speed limit, the insurance company is definitely going to pay attention.
This is because getting multiple speeding tickets not only indicates that this is a bad habit with you as a driver, but also because you are ignoring the natural consequences of speeding. Most people slow down for some time after getting a citation; if you do not, this may be an indication of a deeper problem.
Going more than 30 miles an hour over the speed limit means that you are a prime candidate for a serious accident. Along many interstates, the speed limit is 70 miles an hour. If you are caught doing 100, you have, in the insurance company?s opinion, lost any regard for your own and other people?s safety. Ironically, the average speeding ticket given on a 70-mile-an-hour road is for speeds around 95 miles per hour.
Insurance companies regularly sweep state and federal databases for ticket information, so it is best to be honest if you are pulled over. If you have had more than one ticket in a three-year span or your speeding ticket was for a very excessive speed or for reckless driving, you can count on a rate increase.
Accidents Will Happen
Of course we have all probably been involved in a parking lot mishap, but an at-fault accident not only alerts your insurance company to your bad driving habits but also costs them money. From this viewpoint, even a ?small? accident is a red flag for your insurance company.
If you do have a ?fender bender? and you know you are at fault, one thing you can do to minimize the impact on your insurance is to offer to pay for the damages out of pocket.
While not all drivers will agree to this, some do not mind if you have a fender repaired at your own cost. This can prevent the driver from filing a claim and may keep your insurance from going up.
DUIs and Other Major Problems
There are some traffic violations that will cause your car insurance to be immediately canceled and may make it difficult for you to find other coverage. One of these violations is DUI, or driving under the influence.
Besides being horribly dangerous, DUI can negate your insurance company?s responsibility to pay for an automobile accident.
The best advice: do not drink and drive. If you do incur a DUI, be sure that it is your first and last. Repeat DUI offenders find it almost impossible to find coverage.
There are also certain tickets such as reckless driving that can mean many different things but can alert your insurance company to a major problem. If you were speeding in a school zone, for example, your company may look at this differently than if you got a ?regular? speeding ticket.
Keep your driving record clean and you will enjoy lower auto insurance premiums!
Although we do our best to offer you accurate and current auto insurance advice, we are not responsible for any negative consequences you may encounter after reading this advice. Insurance problems are often complex and can hinge on facts not provided in your submitted question. For this reason, you should not use this advice as a basis for any decision. We provide these answers for information purposes only, with the intention of steering you towards making your own conclusions about how to act or refrain from acting. Because we are not lawyers, no information on this site should be used as legal advice.
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