insurance and tickets

What information do insurance companies see about your tickets?

IE, speeding tickets. Does insurance see; moving violation, speeding ticket at xxMPH or speeding at xxMPH over.

If ins companies only see 'moving violation/speed' VS speed @XX mph, there would be no reason for cops to "save you money" by knocking 5MPH off the ticket. It seems they would only be bringing in less revenue than they would at what you were clocked at.

As an aside, I've never had a cop ask for proof of ownership or make sure the vehicles vin matched my paperwork. I think he was harassing me (aside from the legitimate ticket) for living out of state and not changing my DL.

They see whatever is given to them when they run your license through the state DMV.

I believe it is the points that they see. I believe...

Proof of ownership? In my state they check for license and insurance. They will see the owner's information when they run the plates.

My insurance doubled after my last 2 point speeding violation. Up then then, I had had several two pointers that had resulted in no increase.

I also got an increase when I failed to turn on an old tag after I had donated a car to Goodwill. I thought we were going to to tansfer the tag to my old hoopty pickup which was sitting in the back yard with a bad motor, but my wife didn't botehr to tell me we(she) didn't. When I finally turned it in a coupld of months late, the DOT did not fine me, but it went into their records and good ole State Farm took the opportunity to ream me again.

Here in SC the total number of points matters but so does the way you get them. For instance if you have 8 points but all are 2 point or less infractions, it's gonna hit you but not as bad as if it were, say, two 4 point violations back to back which are typically reckless driving or speeding more than 10 over, insurance companies don't like those. All that stuff comes off the DMV records. Many times if the cop has to stop you but doesn't want to hit you in the balls he/she will write a lesser violation or sometimes careless driving, which carries no points.

A DUI will hit you HARD. You have to go into a special 'high risk' SR22 pool that can easily triple your insurance rates. IIRC it carries 6 points too.

You can get bumped into the SR22 pool for other offenses and a large number of points too. At 12 points your license is automatically suspended and THAT will bump you into SR22 for 3 years once the suspension ends.

Not directly answering the OP's question, but advice:

Fight the ticket. Especially if it's radar or lidar.

At least in Mass, you don't need to show you weren't speeding, just that the reading could have been someone else's car.

jstand wrote: Not directly answering the OP's question, but advice: Fight the ticket. Especially if it's radar or lidar.

To expand on this, I was once told by a good friend (who is a traffic cop), never admit you were in the wrong if you plan on fighting the ticket. He said that even if he were pulling me over, do not admit I was speeding.

That reminds me of the time a friend in a marked Aerostar pulled me over for "Doing 60 in a 30". After driving the van, I found myself being passed by 18 wheelers when the speedometer read "80". I suspected something was amiss.

N Sperlo wrote:

jstand wrote: Not directly answering the OP's question, but advice: Fight the ticket. Especially if it's radar or lidar.

To expand on this, I was once told by a good friend (who is a traffic cop), never admit you were in the wrong if you plan on fighting the ticket. He said that even if he were pulling me over, do not admit I was speeding. That reminds me of the time a friend in a marked Aerostar pulled me over for "Doing 60 in a 30". After driving the van, I found myself being passed by 18 wheelers when the speedometer read "80". I suspected something was amiss.

I'll have to remember that for the (hopefully never) next time.

Seeing as I copped to 5 over and had just finished passing someone, don't think I have much to stand on if I try to fight this ticket.

Datsun1500 wrote: The correct answer is "no" when an officer asks you a question. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" "Do you know how fast you were going?" etc. Always answer "No" If you say " I was doing 10 over" you just confessed a crime, to a police officer, and will get written up for something.

That may be a YMMV thing. Thankfully, I haven't been pulled over all that often. However, in my experience and in talking to cops, honesty is a refreshing change for them. Last time I was pulled over it was for running a red light. It was truly one of those split second decision things....I glanced down for a second and when I looked up the light was yellow. I had to decide to go or jam on the brakes. I had room to stop if I hit the brakes hard enough. Well, I made the wrong call. When the officer pulled me over, I told him exactly that and apologized for making the wrong call. He was almost stunned by my honesty. I got a warning and was sent on my way. Cops have a very good bull E36 M3 meter. They know that you know why you got pulled over...

In reply to Klayfish:

There are two ways things can go and picking the right one takes some psychology. Does this guy just write tickets all day? That can make him impervious to the "honesty treatment". If he is a guy who responds to calls all day, the "no bullE36 M3 treatment" is the winner. They both work, but if you pull the "no" response, expect to get a ticket and fight it.

a lot has to do with your attitude …

NCHP don't give warning tickets … but the last 2 times I've been stopped, both times by the NCHP, and both times for speeding (once 65 in a 55 and the other 60 in a 45) … my attitude (or lack of) ended up with a warning ticket

Used to be there was a box on SCHP tickets for 'attitude', i.e. whether the driver was being an ass during the stop. That got removed 20 something years back, though.

wbjones wrote: a lot has to do with your attitude … NCHP don't give warning tickets … but the last 2 times I've been stopped, both times by the NCHP, and both times for speeding (once 65 in a 55 and the other 60 in a 45) … my attitude (or lack of) ended up with a warning ticket

My brother is a Police Officer and he has told me that what you say in the first 30 seconds determines a lot about what will happen after that.