How Do Parking Tickets Affect My Insurance Premiums?
Parking tickets aren’t something anybody cherishes about their driving experience. You may be issued a parking ticket by a police officer, or security personnel on a private property such as a college campus or a hospital. While getting a parking ticket isn’t the worst type of ticket you can get, everyone can surely agree they are a nuisance and an inconvenience. Every driver, no matter how good they are, ends up getting one at least once in their life. Dealing with a parking ticket can be stressful enough, but does a parking violation also raise your insurance premium? And what about your driving record? Is all hope of attaining that sweet “good driver discount” lost? Let’s find out.
A Parking Violation’s Effect on Your Insurance Premium
You’ll be pleased to know that the answer is no… not directly anyway. The one exception is if you don’t pay your ticket on time, or fulfill the necessary requirements the ticket stipulates. If you let them build up, they can turn into a real problem that can end with your license getting suspended until you take care of them (plus any additional fines you’ve accumulated). If this happens, your insurance company is going to take notice, and your rates will go up. If this becomes a habit of yours and your license gets affected multiple times, you may even become uninsurable and companies will refuse to take you. You could even end up with jail time if you let those pesky tickets pile up too much. But this is entirely avoidable… Just pay your tickets on time and don’t let that happen!
Does It Go on My Record?
More good news: parking tickets do not affect your driving record. They are considered “no-point tickets”. While the same rule above applies, as long as you pay the ticket on time, you won’t have to worry. If you don’t, the DMV may take notice, but it won’t affect your permanent record on it’s own. That being said, you can’t remove any current points you have by paying the ticket.
Other Ways You Might Be Affected By A Parking Ticket
While, again, none of these issues are a direct result of the parking ticket itself, there are certain things that can come with getting a parking ticket. For example, you might also have your car booted (meaning your car will have a device put on one of the wheels to prevent it from moving), or you may find that your car has been towed. If one of these are the case, they are while other issues to deal with, and they will likely need to take priority and be dealt with ASAP just to make sure you avoid exacerbating the time consuming and costly process of getting your car back and in a driveable state. But just remember, after you’ve dealt with these situations, Don’t forget… you still have to pay that ticket!
If you do forget, or you let those fines pile up, you may also have your credit impacted negatively, which can cause all kinds of issues on it’s own as well. That can make applying for anything that requires credit (such as a car loan or a home) more costly as well.