Tickets Affect Insurance Premiums
For Best Car Insurance Rates Avoid Traffic Ticket Violations
Jul 25, 2007
Many consumers aren’t aware of the impact that traffic tickets have on their car insurance. That is, until they receive their next detailed auto insurance rate quote.
The following auto insurance rate comparisons document the annual premium differences based on the driving record of a 30-year-old owner of a 2005 Honda Civic in Toronto. Car insurance rates shown are averages from lowest and highest car insurance rate quotes from 30 insurers through InsuranceHotline.com.
Sample Annual Car Insurance Premiums
- Clean driving record … CDN$2,587
- 1 ticket … $2,884 (up $297 or 11.5%)
- 2 tickets … $3,350 (up $763 or 29.5%)
- 3 tickets … $4,172 (up $1,585 or 61.3%)
- 4 tickets … $5,125 (up $2,538 or 98.2%)
- 5 tickets … $5,780 (up $3,193 or 123.5%)
Drivers needn’t worry about parking tickets affecting rates for car insurance, simply because they don’t.
Minor Traffic Ticket Convictions
However, a relatively minor ticket for improperly opening a car door can have as severe an impact on auto premiums as speeding.
Other minor convictions that disqualify drivers from getting the lowest car insurance rates are:
- Crowding the driver’s seat or overloading a vehicle
- Driving without a licence
- Failure to use seatbelts
- Operating a vehicle without proper headlights
- Carrying an unsecured load
- Obstructing traffic
- Making unnecessary noise.
As some unfortunate drivers find out, getting tagged with 5 traffic tickets can easily happen. For example, police are empowered to issue 5 separate tickets to a motorist carrying 4 passengers under age 16 if no one in the car is wearing a seatbelt.
Major Traffic Ticket Convictions
Major traffic convictions can result in the highest auto insurance rates, some of which don’t necessarily involve an actual accident. Examples are failure to report an accident, damage to highway property and exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 kilometres per hour (in Ontario).
Criminal convictions can also increase annual premium renewal rates by thousands of dollars. Tickets for these criminal offences include drunk driving, failing to obey police or to remain at an accident scene, racing and refusing to take a breathalyser test. Should they be convicted on any of these charges, one can only wonder about the auto insurance premium hikes in store for celebrities like Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton.
Ticket to Lowest Car Insurance Rates Equals No Tickets
Ticket convictions affect car insurance rates for 3 years. Some auto insurance companies cancel policies for drivers who have a combination of 2 tickets and 1 accident.
Consumers would do well to proactively avoid even minor ticket violations. Further, motorists concerned with high auto insurance premiums should fight unjust traffic tickets. An unfair conviction for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 kilometres is a major offense that therefore has a severe impact on aut insurance rates.
After contesting their tickets in court and winning, drivers who have a successful day in court will have nothing on their driving records to bar them from paying only the best car insurance rates.
Sources for this Article
This article presents independent calculations and insights based on data from InsuranceHotline.com.
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