This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Car insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 15, 2009
You have been slapped with a fine for a driving infraction — now what? Should you just pay the ticket and forget about it? What about demerit points and how they will affect your driving record, not to mention your auto insurance rate?
Sometimes it is best to pay and sometimes it is better to fight. Here are three scenarios that each call for a different course of action:
Scenario one: You parked in a no-park zone without noticing the sign and got a $30 dollar ticket.
You may or may not want fight this one. The amount is paltry and you are best off just paying it in full. Plus, parking tickets fall under the jurisdiction of your municipality’s by laws, and by laws have no effect on your auto insurance rate.
Scenario two: You were doing 96 km/h in an 80 km/h zone and the officer who stopped you gave you the highest fine, plus you acquired three demerit points.
If you have a half-day available, you’ll want to fight this. Since you were over 15 km/h, you will automatically gain three demerit points and you will be fined — that is the law. However, you may be able to get the fine lowered or possibly even demerit points removed if you plead your case. It is always a good idea to keep your record as clean as possible for the sake of your auto insurance rate.
If this is your first ticket, know that most auto insurance companies may let you off the hook for your first minor offense, meaning that your auto insurance rate may not be affected. If, however, you choose to change companies, know that the infraction may be taken into consideration and you may not get the best rate possible, as every provider has its own set of rules and rates. To always ensure you have access to the best rate, you will want to practice good driving habits, keep a clean driving record and shop around, checking out the prices offered by different auto insurance companies.
Scenario three: You were found at-fault for a collision that caused damage to both your car and the other driver’s vehicle. The other driver was found not at-fault. However, the other driver cut you off, causing you to rear-end his car. You got fined, acquired points and now have a mark on your record.
You may want to fight it. If you feel that there were extenuating circumstances or that you were in the right, then take the half-day and go to court so you can plead your case. At the very least, you may have the fine reduced, decrease the number of demerit points applied and hopefully have the charge reduced as well. If you were found at-fault for careless driving, this will gain you six demerit points. However, if you can get it lowered to a charge of following too closely, then this could be reduced is four demerit points.
If you get it reduced to a lesser charge, then your policy will take less of a hit. For example, careless driving could be a 50 per cent surcharge on your premium as a result. However, following too closely gets you a surcharge of only 15 percent.
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