3/14/09

I just got a speeding ticket. How much will it affect my auto insurance premium?

If it was your first ticket, you might not see any change in your rates. Unfortunatly, the state matters and other factos so it is hard for us to give a blanket answer. We will tell you what we know.

Some states have laws governing when and why auto insurers can change policyholders' premiums; often, insurers are not allowed to raise your rates after just one speeding ticket or other citation.

Different companies have different practices when it comes to raising premiums. Some companies will consider the severity of your violation and raise your rates accordingly; others will raise rates a specific amount per violation.

Because there are too many factors to simply say it will be $50 more a year, here is a real example:

The average New York auto insurance policy costs $1313 a year.

If you have a clean driving record then most New York companies offer a discount. That discount is typically a 25% savings ($328). So, using these averages a driver with a clean driving record is paying $985 a year for car insurance.

One speeding ticket would remove that discount and increase the base rate by 2%. That is a $354 increase a year, or $1062 over 3 years (companies usually surcharge for 3 years).

Review our related questions for more help and to answer some of your comments. In addition, you can review our state pages for your state's average auto insurance premium amounts.

You may want to get a quote using your factors and add a violation to the quote and remove it to see the difference in price.

Read our article titled, What a Traffic Ticket can Truly Cost You. Thank you for using our site to learn about car insurance.