Long time since I have posted, but lurk and read quite a bit.

Lot of discussion on here about the effect of speeding tickets on insurance premiums - I have a question:

Are there places in the country where the local courts actually contact insurance companies to announce speeding infractions?

I mean, if I get a ticket in some place like Oregon and pay the fine, do the Oregon courts call my Insurance company to specifically tell them I got a ticket?

They don't do this in Washington State.

There are two ways the Insurance Companies find out about tickets in Washington State:

They run your MVR (Moving Violation Report) - this costs the Insurance carriers $$$ so they play the odds - used to be they always ran them at renewal (20-30yrs ago) - theses days it is random. Sure, if you are under 25 or have a history of violations, you can get special attention but most of the time it is completely random.

The other way they find out (the primary way) is because people CALL THEM AND ASK IF IT WILL AFFECT THEIR PREMIUM - seriously, if you call your carrier or broker and ask if a ticket will affect your premium, they immediately flag your account and run the MVR and then again in 60 days.

My Wife, Sister and Sister in-law all work in the Insurance industry - this does not make me an expert by any means, but in Washington State, this is how it plays out.

About 15 years ago I got nailed by a State Cop doing 114 on my brothers Suzuki out in the desert early one morning (no-one around, by myself, did not realize I was even going that fast - nice bike) - no excuses, they got me with spotter airplane, Reckless ticket, bike impounded, trip to the pokey.

That was a bad deal all-around, got it dropped to Negligent- I kept quiet about it and my rates never went up - three years later it dropped off my record.

Since then, I have had a few here and there, always paid up, kept quiet, never had a rate increase.

So, not sure how it goes in other parts of the county, but up here, it pays to keep this sort of thing to yourself.

SC

 

It works about the same way here in Indiana. Insurance companies here do random checks every few yrs, or if you change carriers, they will run you DMV record. DUI are the exception, they are all reported to the DMV immediately upon conviction...

 

Hey doc in Indiana do you have a better chance if you are picked up out of state ? or does it matter ???? In them finding out ?