Does a speeding ticket affect your insurance?

Does a first-time speeding ticket affect your insurance?

In most cases, yes. Even if it’s your first ticket, your insurance company will see you as a greater risk and will increase your car insurance rates accordingly.

Some companies offer first-ticket forgiveness that can prevent your car insurance from going up after your first ticket. It’s also worth noting that not all insurance companies pull your driving record every time your car insurance renews. If the company doesn’t pull your driving record, the ticket won’t affect your insurance.

However, the odds are good that your insurance company will eventually run your record, find the ticket, and charge you for it. You may be able to avoid an increase for a first-time speeding ticket by keeping it off your record through traffic school or other possible options.

How much does insurance go up after a ticket?

Just how much tickets affect your insurance will depend on the severity of the violation and how many violations are on your driving record. A speeding ticket is generally not considered a severe violation unless you’re caught speeding way over the limit. Furthermore, if it’s your first ticket, it will generally be seen as less serious that if you have previous tickets.

The speeding ticket calculator below will help you estimate the increase in our car insurance rates after a ticket.

How much does insurance go up after a speeding ticket for a teenager?

On average, a teen’s car insurance will go up by $1,515, a year after a speeding ticket.

The average cost of car insurance for an 18-year-old with a speeding ticket is $6,764 a year, compared to $3,105 a year at age 25 and $2,633 at age 40. Rates are higher for teen drivers to begin with, so it follows that they’ll pay a lot more with a ticket.

Because young drivers are riskier, their rates are higher, and the addition of a speeding ticket increases that risk. Here’s a look at the cost of insurance with a speeding ticket at several ages for comparison.

How long does a speeding ticket affect your insurance?

A speeding ticket generally affects your insurance rates for three years, although the exact duration may vary depending on other violations on your record or the insurance company. 

It’s important to note that the surcharge doesn’t start on the date you got the ticket, but rather on the next renewal after the ticket shows up on your record. Insurance companies don’t always check your record at every renewal, so it might not show up on the next one, but as a general rule, you can expect it to.

And, just as a violation doesn’t raise your rates until your insurer sees the offense on your motor vehicle record, the surcharge won’t stop immediately when a violation falls off your record. You will have to wait until the next policy periodThe time period during which an insurance policy is in force. An auto insurance policy period begins and ends at 12:01 AM in the local time zone. when your insurer reviews your record.

How much do two points affect insurance?

Points on your driver’s license don’t directly correlate to insurance premiums. Points are assessed by your state’s DMV to track your driving record, but insurance companies don’t use that same system when calculating rates. 

Your insurance company will look at the violation on your record. If that’s a speeding ticket, your rates will be impacted based on the ticket, regardless of how many points it added to your license.

How to lower your car insurance rates after a speeding ticket

If you’ve been cited for one of the infractions on our list, do not assume that you are doomed to paying much higher rates.

Each insurance company assesses risk differently. So, an offense that causes your rates to soar at one insurance company might have a much smaller impact than another. Some won’t raise your rates after a single minor violation. Others will. That's why we recommend shopping with multiple carriers before buying a policy, and even after a ticket or accident.

“Because insurers take different approaches, it provides consumers with choices,” says Jeffrey Brewer, vice president of public affairs for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

In addition to comparing car insurance quotes, Gusner offers several tips for lowering your car insurance rate. These pointers can help you save money if you recently got a ticket – or even if you have not.

They include:

• Keep your driving record accident- and ticket-free. Perhaps the best way to keep rates low is to maintain a solid history of good driving.
• Raise your deductible. Paying a higher deductible often results in lower premium costs. For example, III says raising your deductible from $200 to $500 could trim your collision and comprehensive insurance costs by up to 30%.
• Build a strong credit history. Insurance companies used credit-based insurance scores to determine how much to charge you for auto insurance. So, developing good spending habits – such as avoiding debt and paying bills on time – can lower your insurance costs.
• Reduce coverage on older cars. Consider dropping comprehensive and collision coverage once your car’s value has dropped to less than 10 times the cost of the premium.
• Look for additional discounts. Insurance companies often offer many other ways to cut costs. For example, your premium might fall if you take a defensive driving course or if you drive relatively few miles each year. Ask your insurer about the discounts it offers.
• Take a defensive driving class. A defensive driving class, even taken after the fact, can remove points from your motor vehicle record, in some cases. While it cannot erase a conviction from your insurance company’s calculations, the class might bring a discount that softens the blow from the surcharge.

Methodology

Insurance.com commissioned Quadrant Information Services to gather rates comparing a driver with a clean record to a driver with a speeding ticket. Rates were fielded based on a 40-year-old driver with a 2023 Honda Accord LX and good credit, as well as for drivers at age 18, 25, and 65. Rates were gathered from 34,588 ZIP codes in all states and Washington, D.C. across 170 insurance carriers. 

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