Does a Speeding Warning Affect Your Insurance?

If you are caught going faster than a speeding limit, numerous things can happen if you are pulled over. While getting a ticket for going over the speed limit is common, police officers can also issue out a warning instead. There are multiple types of warnings that they can give, but in many cases, these warnings do not affect your insurance. Having the proper knowledge of when a speeding warning can affect your automobile insurance plan, and when it cannot, is essential. In most cases, a speeding warning will not change what you pay on automobile insurance premiums.

Do Warnings Affect Car Insurance Rates?

First off, if you have gotten off after being caught speeding with a warning, it is a good thing. This means that you did not technically get a speeding ticket. Even though you haven’t gotten a speeding ticket, however, you might be concerned about whether or not this warning can affect car insurance prices. Do warnings go on your record? Does the warning you have received effect what you will be paying for car insurance premiums? Will you pay more for car insurance because of a traffic warning? All of these are valid questions that need answers, and fortunately, the answers are here.

Traffic warnings will not affect your car insurance rates in most cases. If you get pulled over, and the police officer gave you a written warning, or a verbal one, it is unlikely to affect your automobile insurance premiums in any fashion. Sometimes when a police officer pulls a person over, they do not want to write the person a ticket and instead issue a warning.

A verbal warning is a warning that is given directly to you by the police officer and is just verbally spoken. There is no other record of the warning. An officer, for example, might tell you to slow down in the future or pay attention to speed limit signs. A verbal warning will generally let you know that you will end up receiving a full warning or a ticket if the behavior continues. Because there is likely no record of the incident, it generally does not affect your driving record or car insurance plan premiums.

Warnings May Be On Your Record

Another type of warning you might receive is a written warning. These types of warnings are sometimes handled differently than verbal warnings. A written warning may end up on your driving record. Keep in mind that different states treat written warnings in different ways. Some states, in some situations, can end up with your warning existing on your record, particularly if it is a written one.

The best way to determine if your written warning is on your driving record is to contact your local DMV, or Department of Motor Vehicles. They can let you know if the written warning or any other warnings or incidents appear on your driving record. If the DMV has a record of your warning, it is possible that an insurance carrier could find evidence of the warning as well. Even if this evidence exists, it is still unlikely to affect your car insurance premiums. It is rare for any warning, written or verbal, to affect car insurance prices.

Even so, some states do keep documentation for all written warnings that are administered, including for more minor offenses.

What Else Do I Need To Know About Warnings?

There can be consequences to having a warning in your file, even though it is not likely to affect your car insurance premiums. Your insurance company may have access to your warning, and as unlikely as it is, your insurance company might look to use the warning as a sign that you are a high-risk driver. This is more likely to happen if you have multiple warnings for speeding, and less likely to occur if you have a single warning for a burned-out headlight. If you just switched car insurance providers, they are more likely to take a closer look at your driving record than an existing automobile insurance provider would.

It is important to note that a combination of warnings and tickets related to the warnings can put you in a higher risk classification with auto insurance carriers. The top way to check and see if your speeding warning is on your driving record is to contact your local DMV. If they have a record of your warning, they will let you know. Consider getting in touch with them to determine if your warning is on your record. Even if it is, you have nothing to worry about in most cases, particularly if you have a clean driving history otherwise.