Car insurance rates soar for drivers who have one moving violation and jump by more than 50 percent after three violations, according to an Insurance.com analysis of more than 32,000 insurance policies sold in 2010.
Drivers who bought a one-car, single-driver policy last year and had one violation in their driving history paid an average of 18 percent more for car insurance than drivers with no violations.
The numbers get worse as your offenses pile up. Drivers with two violations paid 34 percent more for insurance, and drivers with three violations tacked on a whopping 53 percent to their insurance costs when compared to drivers who were violation-free.
Number of violations
|
Average annual premium
|
Percentage increase compared to zero violations
|
|
0
|
$1,119
|
_
|
|
1
|
$1,318
|
18 percent
|
|
2
|
$1,497
|
34 percent
|
|
3
|
$1,713
|
53 percent
|
Some of the violations that hurt your car insurance rates include:
- Speeding tickets
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Careless or reckless driving
- Running red lights
- Failure to yield or stop at a sign
- Fleeing from police
- Driving the wrong way down a divided highway
- Improper passing
- Unsafe U-turn
- Failure to use a child restraint
Soaring rates for multiple infractions do not surprise Robert Passmore, spokesperson for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, an industry trade group.
He says insurers raise rates on repeat offenders to account for the higher risk of insuring such drivers.
"It's a pattern of behavior," Passmore says. "If a person has one ticket in 10 years and someone else has three tickets in six months, you tell me [who is going to get the lower rate]."
The news is especially bad for drivers age 65 and older. A separate analysis of nearly 400,000 rate quotes from 2010 found that quoted car insurance rates for drivers in the 65 and older age group jumped 57 percent after two violations when compared to drivers with no violations. The next closet age group – drivers ages 55 to 64 – saw a less damaging 47 percent rise in their quoted rate after two violations.
Lowering your car insurance rates
Which violation hurts your rate the most?
"Obviously, a DUI is going to be one of the worst" for rate increases, Passmore says. But he adds that each insurer calculates rates differently, so a specific type of violation may be priced higher by one insurer than by another.
If an insurer raises your auto insurance rate after a violation, there are still ways to cut those costs, including:
The Augustine Insurance Group. Clarsksville , Tn www.insr4less.com