<p>19 y.o. D got a speeding ticket this morning (75 in a 65 mph zone). This is her first violation of any kind (moving, parking, etc.). Just wondering what the consequences for our insurance might be. I know that it depends on our state, our insurance, and lots of other things, but I though hearing others’ experiences might make me feel better (or at least in good company).</p>
<p>No impact on our insurance. S paid for the state sponsored safe driving remedial education (as well as his ticket), thereby avoiding any points. I think that only works here on the first violation. I did the same thing many years ago. It cost him a total of about $180 plus a Saturday spent in driving school.</p>
<p>No impact on our insurance and D2 was REALLY over the limit!! :eek:</p>
<p>We lived in NJ when D1 got her ticket(s). Our insurance premium really went up. I then discovered safe driving online course, and all of us took the course. It cut our premium by half, I was very surprised by that. I would have been happy with 20% off.</p>
<p>My son recently got his first ticket. My agent said that it typically takes 1-2 years before the insurance company picks up on the ticket (they get records from the state annually.) And they can raise your rates for 5 years. :(</p>
<p>No tickets yet thankfully, but in our state if you are under 18 and get a moving violation it is an automatic 90 day license suspension and a $500 reinstatement fee, in addition to the fine for the ticket. Yikes!</p>
<p>We have a weird point system, but basically 1 ticket can easily add 10% or more to your insurance, and it can affect all drivers on the policy, not just the one who got the ticket. And it can stay on your record for 6 years.</p>
<p>My D was able to get a deferment on her ticket. Paid the fine, and if she didn’t have another moving violation in the next year, it would be removed from her record. If she got another ticket, there would be an increased fine and it would be reported.</p>
<p>End result was no impact to the insurance and the rates actually went down when she turned 19.</p>
<p>The info on the deferment was either on the back of the ticket or on that city’s website.</p>
<p>duplicate post</p>
<p>When S1 got his first speeding ticket (there was another one a year or so later), he hired a lawyer who got it reduced to nine miles over the speed limit which kept our insurance from going up. He also hired a lawyer for his second speeding ticket which got dismissed due to faulty equipment. </p>
<p>Both of these happened while he was in college. Neither was near our home or his college (one was out of state). It was in his best interest to hire a lawyer to handle it for him…esp. since the court date was during final exams. S1 paid all lawyer fees/expenses himself.</p>
<p>We’ve never had any impact from my son’s speeding tickets and the last one was 2-3 years ago (all after he was out of his teens I think) My daughter’s did go up after she slid into a car in icy conditions - there was a line of grotty cars and she hit the new camero in the middle of the line.</p>
<p>He will be moving to another state next week - his insurance is currently good till feb, I think - does anyone know if ,can he keep our insurance till then or will he have to change it immediately?</p>
<p>I’d ask the insurer who currently covers your child’s car–no point in having insurance that won’t provide coverage IF it’s needed. I’ll have to have S inquire about this too. His car is in LA & so is his insurance. We’ll be driving across country & he’ll end up in VA or DC & need to get new insurance–not sure about the timing of that either.</p>
<p>Reading this thread reminded me that he does need to look into that. The state he is moving to requires that new residents transfer their car title in 45 days and get a new license in 90 days. Not sure when the 45 days would start though. He does not have his own place yet but will be staying with a distant family member for a couple of weeks till he gets an apartment, but will start his job before he finds a place.</p>
<p>In CA, my memory is that the time starts when the person enters the state; I’m sure each state is pretty explicit in its rules as to when the clock starts. We’ll have to look up when it starts for DC/VA, depending on where S decides to settle. </p>
<p>There are so many wrinkles I didn’t deal with at a similar age–had no car until after I was done with all my schooling & moved back to my home state for my full-time job. I didn’t buy a car until about a year later (limped along with the family car until it was clearly too dangerous to continue–door started flying open at turns & rust rained down when the door was shut; it would also stall out many times w/o any warning & for no apparent reason).</p>
<p>My S got a speeding ticket and did traffic school and paid for ticket. </p>
<p>To my knowledge, this hasn’t raised our rates…yet. That was about a year ago. I didn’t know it can be that long before insurance company knows about it. Yikes. (I hope not!)</p>
<p>I told my daughter the day she got her license that I would have a zero tolerance policy on traffic tickets. One ticket and I would no longer cover her insurance to drive. Knock on wood, she never had a ticket.</p>
<p>HImom - Remind your son that laws in Maryland, DC, and Virginia vary slightly and cause drivers a bit of a headache when traveling in and out of the district, and crossing the bridges on the beltway.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In DC it is a primary offense to talk on a cel phone, unless it’s hands free, as well as text; meaning you can be pulled over and charged specifically for either of these.</p></li>
<li><p>In Maryland it is a primary offense to text while driving, but a secondary offense to talk without hands free; meaning you can be pulled over specifically and charged for texting, however you cannot be pulled over for talking on a cellphone, only added to charges if you are pulled over for something else.</p></li>
<li><p>In Virginia cellphone use if you are under 18 is a primary offense, if you are 18 or over you can use a cellphone with hands free or a speaker, otherwise it is a secondary offense. Texting is also a secondary offense, although Fairfax County is enforcing various forms of an old law against failure to pay attention. I wouldn’t mess around there.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>New legislation has been presented most years to increase the fines and degree of offense of phone use and texting so it’s good to pay attention to the changes.</p>
<p>Oh, and not that your son would ever need to know this, but just a bit of trivia, radar detectors are illegal in DC and Virginia, but still legal in Maryland. College students tend to get stuck on that one quite a bit as they are still legal in most states.</p>
<p>So there you have it, in a nutshell. No wonder no one knows what’s going on. Welcome to our nation’s Capitol!!</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for the tip! Does sound confusing, but thankfully, S mainly uses his phone only when forced and so far, never in a car (except when he’s a passenger). He hates talking on phones and rarely texts–not sure why I even have a cell phone plan for him, but guess hope springs eternal that he’ll start communicating more. His favorite form of communication is IMing his sister.</p>
<p>As far as I know, he doesn’t speed, nor does he own any radar detector (he’s very frugal & likes to keep his insurance rates low by not getting tickets). He’s well past 18 and even 21, so should be over most age limits. Other than his one big crash shortly after he started driving to work many years back, he’s a great driver (only the motorcycle was badly hurt–no people).</p>
<p>Something to consider if you plan to get him a GPS (an excellent investment even if you’re a native, let alone a transplant!), would be to look for one with Bluetooth. It’s going to cost you more, but in the event your son needs to answer a call you’d rather he have his hands safely on the wheel, no matter the law. We did this for our oldest son who was at community college but taking a night class at a neighboring campus an hour away in the next county. He doesn’t like driving that far so it was peace of mind for all of us. </p>
<p>I’m sure your son will quickly adapt. Young people usually do. These are just newer laws. Maryland, DC, and Virginia rarely do things in sync. They are like sqabbeling siblings who agree on the same game but can’t agree on the rules!!</p>
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<p>Usually, if you do traffic school they won’t raise your rates (the first time). The only good news about them not finding out for a year or so is that year counts against the # of years they can raise your rates. So if it takes them a year to find out and they can raise them for 6 years, then you would only be subjected to the rate increase for 5 years. At least, that’s how it works in my state.</p>
<p>My agent did say if my son’s rates went up too much, we could look for a different policy for him.</p>
<p>One interesting thing - son had a fender-bender a few years ago (he rear-ended someone while it was raining) and since the cop never gave him a ticket, our insurance premiums didn’t go up even though there was damage to the other vehicle. Go figure.</p>
<p>re: the cellphone laws…I was curious to see the details on CT’s laws and found this table which gives details laws for ALL STATES:</p>
<p>[Cellphone</a> Laws](<a href=“http://www.iihs.org/laws/cellphonelaws.aspx]Cellphone”>http://www.iihs.org/laws/cellphonelaws.aspx)</p>