Fighting Speeding Tickets – What you Will Lose if you Don’t?
Who wants the hassle of fighting speeding tickets? Most people think that it’s probably easier to just pay the ticket and forget about it. Except that, like bothersome house guests, your old tickets can come back to bug you over and over again. So before you pull out your wallet and plunk down a few George Washingtons to make your ticket go away, consider taking the time to investigate whether it is worth it to fight your speeding ticket, and what you could lose if you don’t.
Financial Loss
After you pay your speeding ticket, everything’s done right? Actually, the financial loss doesn’t stop there. Just wait until it’s time to renew your car insurance. Because you’ve had a speeding ticket your insurance company is going to assume that you are a high-risk driver, and for that you are going to be rewarded with higher insurance rates – which can add up to thousands of dollars and be a financial burden for several years.
In fact, if you happen to have an excess of speeding tickets, you may find that your insurance company chooses not to insure you at all. If you are lucky you may be able to find another car insurance company to cover you – but it could cost you double or triple your current rate. Depending on how much you need your vehicle this could cost you your job, and severely impact your budget.
Additionally, depending on how fast you were driving, and any previous moving violations you may have you will likely accumulate some points on your driving record. Unless you keep you record perfectly clean for several years you will likely find that you’ll have to pay for your points somewhere along the line.
In any and all of these cases it could potentially save you hundreds or thousands of dollars if you beat your speeding ticket, and save you a ton of headaches in the long run.
Other Considerations
There are several other reasons why you may want to consider fighting your speeding ticket. If you are an underage driver your parents could be affected financially by you receiving a ticket, as you are likely under their insurance. It could also make it extremely difficult for you to get your own insurance coverage when the time comes.
If you plan on taking any type of job in the future that involves driving, having a speeding ticket on your record could possibly prevent you from getting a job. In most cases companies will only hire people with clean driving abstracts – so having a record free of moving violations is essential.
With all the reasons to fight a speeding ticket, it’s surprising that so many people still choose to ‘just pay it’, and find out about all the consequences later. Beating a speeding ticket isn’t as difficult as it seems, all you need is a little insider knowledge and some time to maintain your pristine driving record.
