How does your driving record affect your insurance rate?
Car insurance is expensive enough, but if you’re an aggressive, reckless driver (or bad luck), that bad driving record will cost you even more. Every speeding ticket, fender bender, and exploding stop sign come together. If you’re a truly dangerous driver – you’ve been arrested for DUI or you’re leaving the scene of an accident – your insurance company may let you go completely if they find out. How can you keep your listing clean, avoid price hikes, and get the best insurance rate?
Before we get to that, another question: How does your insurance company know you’ve made a mistake? Before you answer that, know that every motor vehicle violation you’re involved in is registered in your driver’s registry by the state where you hold your license. Most US states use a points system to code the severity of various violations and keep track of how awful you are to a driver. Usually, you only get points for relocation violations – when you do something illegal and dangerous while driving a vehicle – these can cause more serious and potentially damage or harm than other violations. Smaller violations like parking tickets, broken taillights, or not keeping your insurance papers in your car only come with a fine.
Carrying out violations also differs in severity. Driving more than 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour) above the speed limit can earn you a few points. Thirty miles over the border? This can get you closer to 10 points. Each state has a different formula for how many points for which violations, but the gist of it is: If you accumulate a certain number of points in a given period of time (usually 18 months), the state will suspend your license. For example, New York will suspend your driver’s license if you score 11 points or more in 18 months. In California, each offense is worth fewer points than in New York, so the numbers don’t seem to match. California will suspend you for four points in one year, six points in two years, or eight points over a three-year period.
However, the threshold for suspending your license is completely different from your car insurance. We went straight to the source – a real live insurance agent! – to find out how these points affect your insurance rates and why your insurance company may never know about them.
Drivers who get penalty points for reasons such as red light violation, drunk driving, and excessive speed will pay more insurance premiums. With the application, if a driver who used to pay 500 TL for his insurance makes too many violations in traffic, this figure will go up to 2 thousand TL.
A new era begins in compulsory traffic insurance. With the regulation of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance published in the Official Gazette, the compulsory traffic insurance premium can be determined by taking into account the penalty points applied to drivers and the period of confiscation of their driver’s licenses. So what does regulation mean? In the current practice, when determining the compulsory traffic insurance premium, it was checked whether the vehicle was involved in the accident or not. If the vehicle was involved in an accident, a premium would increase. With the regulation, not only the accident will be looked at anymore, but also the misuse of the driver will be taken into account. For example, the traffic insurance premium to be paid by the driver who gets a driver’s license penalty for reasons such as red light violation, drunk driving, and excessive speed will increase.
A GOOD DRIVER WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM A BAD DRIVER
Experts thus estimate that the premium difference between the good driver and the bad driver will reach 50 percent. The regulation also paved the way for insuring drivers instead of vehicles in motor insurance. Stating that penalties are applied to drivers for reasons such as red-light violations and speed limit violations, Istanbul Insurance Agencies Association President Turusan Bağcı said, “Drivers receive penalty points when they cross the red light, exceeding the speed limit or drive drunk. When he reaches a certain point, his license is confiscated. This situation was not reflected in the insurance company. Now, insurance companies will be able to make premiums not from the discounted tariff, but from the surcharge penalty tariff. For example, you have more than three years of undamaged discount for a standard custom new passenger car. Considering that you get the last step discount, let’s assume that you pay traffic insurance premiums such as 380 TL on average, while you are fined for reasons such as crossing a red light without the insurance company’s knowledge, violating speed limits, driving under the influence of alcohol, in this case, the insurance company may apply a surcharge on the insurance premium by taking these into account when determining the insurance premium. . With the highest penalty premium, they can pay more premiums, such as 1,800 – 2,000 TL,” he said.
INSPECTION WARNING FROM
which provides vehicle inspection services, warned vehicle owners that some individuals and institutions have been demanding appointment fees through fake websites and call centers in recent days. Noting that vehicle inspection appointments can be obtained from www.tuvturk.com.tr and the call center at 0 850 222 88 88 free of charge, the company announced that they will take legal action.
PERSONAL INSURANCE
With the application, the process of ensuring not only the vehicle but also the person begins. In accidents, the owner of the vehicle can often be different, but the insurers could not reflect this situation on their insurance premiums. Therefore, the risk premiums of the good driver and the bad driver could not be shared fairly. With the application, the process of ensuring the person, not the vehicle, will begin. For users without penalty points, insurance companies will insure the vehicle of this driver, which they find less risky, at a cheaper price.