Category Archives: Car Insurance Rates

How to Handle a Traffic Ticket to Avoid an Insurance Increase

May 30, 2014Car Insurance Rates, Speeding Ticketcar insurance rates, how to handle a traffic ticket to avoid insurance increaseDouglas Portnoy

saving money on car insurance

One of the most important things I do as an attorney is to assist clients in mitigating the affect of a speeding ticket on insurance.

When I interview my clients I always try to find out four things;

1) What the new ticket is for;
2) What other tickets the client has been convicted of;
3) The convictions of all drivers on the insurance policy; and
4) the insurance renewal date.

All of this information is essential in order to determine the best way to handle a ticket. Take a stop sign violation for instance. If the ticket does not involve an accident then the best outcome is normally to use a prayer for judgment. However, a prayer for judgment is only available to one member of a household every three years. Therefore, if anyone else on the policy has used a prayer for judgment in the past three years then that option would not be available.

The insurance renewal date is also very important and is often overlooked by less experienced attorneys. The reason for this is that insurance rates do not adjust midterm.

When the insurance renewal date arrives the insurance company checks the records of the drivers on the policy to determine whether a rate adjustment is appropriate. As such, if the case can be continued until after a renewal date then this may solve a problem such as prayer for judgment availability or tickets within the three year experience period.

If you need help with a traffic ticket please give a call for assistance.

Driving Clinic Affect on Insurance Rates

April 20, 2014Car Insurance Ratesdriving clinic affects insurance ratesDouglas Portnoy

car driving clinic affects car insurance rates Many of my clients ask me about driving clinics. Driving clinics or driving improvements courses are offered by NC DMV to enable a driver to lower their driver’s license points. As such, in a situation where a driver is in danger of accumulating 12 points for the first time then a driver improvement course will enable the driver to avoid a suspension. However, with regards to insurance points, a driving clinic does absolutely nothing since the license point system and insurance points system are different. Insurance companies can still look at a conviction to determine a bump in a person’s rate even if NC DMV has removed points by taking a clinic.

Explaining How Insurance Rates Are Determined

January 25, 2014Car Insurance Ratesprayer for judgementDouglas Portnoy

When your insurance renews the insurance company will check the record of all drivers on your policy for the three year period prior to the renewal. This period is called the “experience period”.

In NC an insurance company can raise your insurance premium if a person has more than one speeding ticket over 10 mph, if more than one prayer for judgment has been used for all of the drivers or for any other moving violation.

An insurance company can also raise your premium if a driver was involved in an at-fault accident causing personal injury or property damage over $1800.00. These rules do not apply if you change insurance or change coverage in which case the insurance company can raise your rates.

For more details, call Doug Portnoy at 919.875.8773