How much does an Accident, Ticket or Violation Increase my Auto Insurance Rate?

​There are several major factors that way and to calculate your auto insurance premium. One of those major factors is your driving record. As you probably know, someone with a clean driving record is usually going to pay less for auto insurance versus someone who has accidents or violations on their record.


The real question is How much does a violation increase your auto insurance premium?


     There are many variables that go in to calculating auto insurance rates. There's no way to give a specific one-size-fits-all answer regarding how much a violation affects car insurance premiums. And while there are hundreds if not thousands of different auto insurance companies, and all of them do their own thing when it comes to how they rate violations.


     In general, most auto insurance companies fall in one of two categories: the first category are the standard/preferred companies. The second category are the nonstandard/high-risk companies. You'll find out that there is a huge difference in how these two categories vary as far as penalizing drivers for having violations on their record. Standard and preferred companies almost always punish drivers more severely for violations than what nonstandard high-risk companies do.


 "I have a  _______  violation on my record. How much will this raise my auto insurance premium?"


   Knowing that nonstandard companies go easier on violations versus standard companies helps narrow the choices down somewhat. But this is still a tough question to answer..... WHY? ...... Because even with nonstandard companies, there's a lot of variance between each company, and how they treat each violation differently. How much differently? ......


I decided to do some research on that using real-life actual quotes and compare the dollar amount differences between certain violations. I compared how much more that different violations cost on your auto insurance premium versus what it would cost for someone with a clean driving record, with all other things being equal.


How the case study was done.

• I took four of the nonstandard companies that I use the most, and did a dollar for dollar comparison using previous quotes I had recently run with drivers that had clean records.

•  I compared the premium of a driver with a clean record, and then added ten different violations one at a time, while changing nothing else but that one added violation

• The results may surprise you. But what's more important is what we will learn along the way. By comparing the numbers, we can draw some very useful conclusions as to how auto insurance companies calculate violations so differently from one another.

 What this data shows

• The first column is the average increase of the four companies that were compared. This gives you a rough idea of how much each violation increases your premium. As you can see below, an at-fault accident is the most severe violation, followed by reckless operation.

• The second column shows how much the increase was on each violation from the company that went the hardest on that violation.

• The third column shows how much the increase was on each violation from the company that went the easiest on that violation. When you see zero percent increases, that means that one of the four companies doesn't count that violation, and thus didn't increase the premium.

 As an example: Let's say that I have a clean record, and I get quoted at $100 per month with all four companies. If I then take that same quote and add an at-fault accident to my record (without changing anything else), the average price between the four companies would be $129. But with that same violation, I could pay as much as $162, or as little as $110.


So Here it is.....

Notes about Violations:

• Having multiple violations on the same day - Any time that you have more than one violation that happened on the same day, only the most severe violation gets counted. The others do not count against your premium.

 

• Differences in terminology - Different states or jurisdictions may word violations differently. But as far as insurance is concerned, the all mean the same thing. For example, a DUI,DWI,OVI,OMVI, etc. all are one in the same.... same goes for reckless operation and careless driving.... or following too close and tailgating..... in the eyes of auto insurance companies, they all mean the same damn thing.

 How long do violations affect my insurance rate? 


     Some companies go back as far as five years, but other companies only go back three years. The majority of nonstandard companies only go back three years. Many of the companies that go back five years lessen the severity after three years (so it still counts, but doesn't affect your premium as bad).


Common violations not listed above


    I did not include failure to yield or failure to control violations because they're normally accompanied by an at-fault accident, so only the at-fault accident would count against you.... I also didn't include seat belt tickets. Some companies count seat belt tickets, some don't. three of the four companies I used in this case study do not count seat belts. So there wasn't enough data to include it into the study.




   Conclusions from this case study

• This study shows how important it is for someone with violations on their record to shop around with different companies. The difference that one company may charge you can be far more or less than another.

 

• Overall, nonstandard companies go a lot easier on violations, as you've probably already noticed.

 

• You also may have noticed that some violations seem out of whack versus other violations as far as severity. For example: a driver with a DUI doesn't get punished as bad as a speeding ticket, stop sign, or red light ticket..... Although that seems illogical, that is the reality of market competition.... And yet another reason why it is important to shop around with different companies.

 If you live in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia and would like help finding a lower auto insurance rate, click on the link below, and I'll be happy to run a quote for you.... And as always, I handle all quotes personally and privately.




Get an Auto Insurance Quote with Lyles Insurance


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