Got A Ticket? Here's How Much Your Car Insurance Premiums Will Increase

Among all the factors that determine what a given motorist will pay for car insurance – including age, sex, marital status, address and the make and model of car – the most critical is one’s driving record. The difference between having a clean history and one that’s pockmarked with citations can mean hundreds of dollars or more a year out of pocket. Tack on multiple at-fault accidents and you might be virtually uninsurable.

Depending on the violation, getting just a single ticket can boost an average policyholder’s auto insurance premiums by as much as 22 percent, according to an analysis of over 490,000 policy quotes conducted by Insurance.com.

Being cited for reckless driving was found to boost premiums by the largest margin at the aforementioned 22 percent. For the uninitiated, Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary defines reckless driving as, “Operating an automobile in a dangerous manner under the circumstances, including speeding (or going too fast for the conditions, even if within the posted speed limit) and other careless and dangerous driving behavior.” A first offense for driving under the influence (DUI) was second at a 19 percent increase, followed by driving without a license at 18 percent and careless driving at 16 percent.

These are, of course, all averages for a single incident; penalties may be higher for certain drivers, especially those with various violations on their records. For example, the survey found that (given the vagaries of actuarial data) divorced motorists are often penalized more than single married drivers for given offenses. A divorced person cited for reckless driving might find his or her insurance costs rising by seven percent more than someone who’s single and four percent more than a married driver. Similarly, condo owners are sometimes hit with higher increases after receiving tickets than are renters, single-family homeowners or motorists who live with their parents.

Source: http://www.forbes.com