In North Carolina, insurance points drastically increase insurance premiums. For this reason, having an attorney defend you in traffic court may save you from costly insurance points. In North Carolina, traffic tickets can be extremely costly, resulting in skyrocketing insurance premiums and sometimes a suspended driver’s license.
When you receive a traffic ticket, you have the right to challenge your charges, whether you received a ticket for speeding, or making an illegal turn, or driving while intoxicated (DWI). The potential consequences of a traffic ticket include insurance points, points on your driver’s license, and driver’s license suspension.
In North Carolina, it’s important to understand that when you pay your fine, you are admitting guilt. The inevitable consequences of admitting guilt are points on your license, fines and insurance points. You do have a choice though, you can choose to hire an attorney and plead not guilty at a trial before a judge.
The North Carolina Insurance Rate Bureau is the agency that is authorized to make rules about insurance rates. Under the Safe Driver Incentive Program (SDIP), safe drivers are awarded with lower insurance rates. However, the SDIP allows insurance companies to charge higher rates to motorists who have been convicted of a moving violation within the last three years. Drivers also receive points for any accidents they have been involved in where they were at fault.
The way it works is, for each point a driver accrues, it translates to higher insurance rates. In fact, acquiring just one insurance point increases your insurance rates by 25%! One can see how motorists with a clean driving record are mostly threatened by the increased insurance premiums when they get a ticket for speeding or some other moving violation.
The SDIP authorized insurance rate increase are as follows: 1 point=25%, 2 points=45%, 3 points=65%, 4 points=90%, 5 points=120%, 6 points=150%, 7 points=180%, 8 points=220%, 9 points=260%, 10 points=300%, 11 points=350%, and 12 insurance points equals a 400% increase in your insurance premiums, ouch!
You can see why it’s critical to fight your traffic ticket charges, not only do they add points on your driving record, but they are assigned insurance points as well, which drastically increase your insurance premiums!
Some of the most serious traffic offenses add 12 insurance points and these include: manslaughter or negligent homicide, prearranged highway racing, lending your car for prearranged highway racing, hit & run resulting in bodily injury or death, DWI with a blood alcohol content above .08%, driving a commercial vehicle with a blood alcohol content above .04%, driving while impaired and illegally transporting liquor for sale.
Highway racing accrues 10 insurance points while reckless driving results in 4 points, passing a stopped school bus is 4 points, illegal passing is 2 points and tailgating is 2 points. It’s important to understand that insurance points are separate from driver’s license points. Insurance points are associated with the cost of driving and your insurance rates, whereas driver’s license points are associated with the “privilege” to drive in North Carolina.
In North Carolina, when you accumulate 12 driver’s license points within a 3 year period, or 8 points within a 3 year period after your license has been reinstated, the points will result in a driver’s license suspension. The schedule for driver’s license points are as follows: passing a stop school bus is 5 points, aggressive driving is 5 points, reckless driving is 4 points, hit & run with property damage only is 4 points, tailgating is 4 points, driving on the wrong side of the road is 4 points, speeding in excess of 55 mph is 3 points, no liability insurance is 3 points and so on.
Let’s face it, your driving privileges are important; whether you need to commute to work or school, or drive your children to school and other activities, you need to drive. Not only is it important to have a valid driver’s license, but it’s important to keep your auto insurance rates down. When you receive 12 auto insurance points for a DWI, not only do you face license suspension but you also face a 400% increase in your auto insurance premiums!
In many ways, the increased auto insurance costs are the most serious consequences of getting any kind of a ticket. For this reason, whenever you receive a traffic ticket, it’s important to weigh the auto insurance points and the driver’s license points associated with the offense. Hiring an attorney to defend you at trial can make all the difference in the outcome of your case, possibly saving you thousands of dollars in increased auto insurance premiums.
