How Will a Ticket Affect My Insurance?

When a car insurance company gives you a quote or determines your premium, one of the main factors they will focus on is whether you have a history of traffic violations and accidents.

For those wondering “how will a ticket affect my insurance,” the cleaner your traffic record, the higher the likelihood of receiving more affordable insurance premiums. However, in some cases, if you get a ticket, your insurance premium may increase drastically.

Why and How Insurance Rates Increase

Several factors play into increased insurance rates:

New York State Driver Point System

Since New York has a point system, any time you are ticketed and convicted, points will be added to your driving record. The more points you accrue, the greater the risk you are thought to have of causing an accident and needing to file a claim against your insurance policy.

Insurance Reviews

Both the state and your insurance company will evaluate your driving record on a regular basis. If you are considered high risk, the state could suspend your license. From an insurance perspective, your provider may simply raise your rates.

When asking “how will a ticket affect my insurance,” be aware that even if you don’t report the ticket to your insurance, odds are that they’ll find out eventually anyway during a periodic insurance review.

Types of Infractions and Tickets

The type of infraction you are convicted of can also impact your insurance:

Moving Violations

Most moving violations will not be serious and may not affect your insurance rates at all. They are typically considered minor infractions when they are violations such as running a stop sign, failing to maintain a clear distance ahead of you, failure to yield, failing to signal, driving over the center or side lines, failure to use a seat belt, or driving in a carpool lane illegally.

When a moving violation poses a risk of injury, the violation is likely to yield more points on your New York driving record.

Serious Infractions

If you were ticketed for driving under the influence, driving recklessly, committing a vehicular homicide, participating in street racing, or committing a hit-and-run, you may receive a felony violation.

At this point, you could lose your license, and when you eventually regain it, your insurance premiums may rise.

Speeding Tickets

Depending on how much over the speed limit you were going when speeding, your insurance premiums may or may not change. If you go to court and fight the ticket, it may not go on your record, and your premiums will likely remain the same.

Even if you go to court and are still convicted of speeding, you may be able to reduce the infraction to a lesser speed so that fewer points will be added to your record. In this case, your insurance rates are less likely to be impacted.

Call for Help

If you need further information to answer “how will a ticket affect my insurance,” call or text my office and schedule a consultation. To provide you with a more specific answer, I will need to understand what you have been ticketed for and how many points are already on your driving record.

To learn more, call or text your information to James Medows at 917-856-1247, or send an email with your information.