Does a Speeding Warning Affect Your Car Insurance?

Everyone has had the experience of being late at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, driving faster to get to your end location can result in tickets, fines, fees, and more. While many people feel like they will not be caught going above the speed limit, vast numbers of people get caught speeding and are issued tickets each year. In addition to the direct fees and fines a person can get from having a ticket, there are other negatives to violating speeding laws in each state. This can include your insurance rates being affected by the ticket. While insurance prices typically go up if a person is issued a speeding ticket, police officers can also give people speeding warnings instead. Speeding warnings are different than tickets, and there is a lot of curiosity as to whether a speeding ticket affects your insurance prices or not. This article has all of the information you need to answer the question, “Does a speeding warning affect insurance premiums?”

Does A Speeding Warning Affect Your Insurance?

Getting caught speeding can be a stressful thing. As the police officer walks up to your vehicle, you can find your heart beating faster. Fortunately, in some scenarios, a police officer will let a driver off with just a speeding warning and not a formal ticket. While you may not have gotten a speeding ticket from a technical standpoint, you may still be wanting to know if the warning can affect your car insurance prices.

Fortunately for you, you will not be affected much in terms of speeding warnings. Traffic warnings do not often affect your automobile insurance rates. With a written or verbal warning, your premiums are not likely to be affected, even though you should be aware that these warnings might be included on your driving record. An officer may tell you to slow down in the future because if you do not, you may be issued a ticket for a full warning. If either of these two things occurs, you may have information about them included in your driving record.

Written Warnings May Be On Your Record

If you get an automobile ticket, it will definitely show up on your driving record. In many states, a person’s driving record will include a point total that auto insurance companies can use in order to help determine the premiums you pay for a car insurance plan. Written warnings can be on your record in some states, but do not affect your auto insurance premiums. Many states have verbal warnings, full written warnings, and tickets, all of which a police officer can utilize to keep the roads safe.

Keep in mind that each state handles speeding warnings in different ways. There are a few situations where the written notice could exist on your record. This can let other officers know that you have already been warned, which can increase the likelihood of them giving you a ticket in the future if you are pulled over again. Keep in mind that if your local Department of Motor Vehicles keeps records of written warnings, your insurance carrier can become aware of it. Even if you have this warning though, it is unlikely your car insurance premiums will be affected.

What Else Do I Need To Know About Warnings?

Other things that you should be aware of in terms of speeding warnings, as well as warnings of different types, is that car insurance companies can utilize these warnings as part of whether they offer you an insurance policy or not. Minor offenses, like burnt-out headlights or cracked windows, as well as your first speeding ticket in some cases, will not generally cause a rise in rates. That said, if you are switching to a new auto insurance company, they may request a background check of your driving record. If they obtain your full driving history, it is possible that your written warning can affect your risk rating slightly.

Each car insurance company utilizes a formula to determine whether or not they will provide an insurance policy to a person, and how much that policy will cost. There is a large combination of variables companies use to determine rates, including a person’s location, their age, the type of car they are driving, their driving record, and numerous others. It is possible for a full written warning to bump a person into a high-risk category, therefore increasing the rates. This is rare and is most likely to happen if a person is changing car insurance companies.

Regardless of whether you have had verbal warnings, written warnings, or gotten speeding tickets, comparison-shopping is the best way to save money on car insurance plans. Here at American Insurance, you can easily find the tools to get free car insurance quotes and find the best prices for car insurance available.