Will a traffic ticket make my insurance rates more expensive?

One of the things I am asked a lot about is “will a traffic ticket make my insurance rates go up?” And the answer is, our favorite lawyer answer, “it just depends”.

If your ticket is a moving violation, which is speeding, running a red light, running a stop sign, or similar, it’s a very real possibility it will impact your insurance rates and make them go up. You can see a list of traffic tickets you can get and their prices on the traffic tickets page. If you pay your ticket and do not fight it, you are admitting to the violation. This violation then goes on your record. It doesn’t automatically trigger your auto insurance to go up in price, but when it’s time for you to renew your insurance, your insurance company will check your record and likely raise your premiums for the year to come. So will a moving violation make your insurance rates go up – most likely yes.

If your violation is something like an expired registration or brake tag, your violation are considered a non-moving violation. In most cases, non-moving violations will not go on to your driving record. Thus the insurance company will not be aware of your non-moving violation. This is why reducing your charges from moving to non-moving violations is such an important strategy.

If you ever have a question whether or not you have a moving or non-moving violation, I’ll be happy to tell you. My name is Heather Ford and I am the Traffic Ticket Lady. Shoot me a text and we can talk through ticket you have and what options you have. If you decide to hire me, I can appear on your behalf at court and we can try to get that moving violation reduced to a non-moving violation and keep your record clean.