How does having points on your licence affect your car insurance premium?
Image courtesy of Horia Varlan
If, like many UK drivers, your licence has been endorsed with penalty points you could easily end up paying way over the odds for your car insurance premium. While fortunately, parking ticket endorsements won’t see you having to pay more for your insurance, you’ll be slapped with hefty price hikes for any other driving offences you commit – and the more you repeat your bad habits, the more your penalties will be, rising exponentially.
Research conducted by Law on the Web, the UK’s leading legal advice & information site, has proven that 6 points on your licence from just a couple of minor speeding offences, for example, could see you paying anything between 28% to 44% more for your car insurance than someone no points at all.
Similarly, one of the UK’s leading price comparison sites, Moneysupermarket, published a press highlighting the damage that points can cause to an insurance premium, showing that for different offences, the cost to your insurance premium varies vastly.
Motorists convicted of alcohol, speeding or mobile phone-related driving offences will see huge increases on their motor insurance premiums, and that’s if an insurer decides that they’ll even give them a policy at all.
The price comparison site said that drivers convicted of driving or attempting to drive under the influence of drink (penalty code DR10) could stand to pay over annual premiums to rise 48 per cent, on average (or up to £2,300 more) compared with those without the conviction. And not only this, but a DR10 conviction remains on your licence for 11 years, which brings the total up to a potential £25,300.
When it comes to speeding, insurers also look very dimly upon misdemeanours of this type. One conviction can increase your premium by roughly five per cent. However, offend again, and you’ll see the cost of your insurance premium skyrocket by up to 20 per cent. If you’re stupid enough to commit the offence a third time, your insurance could increase by a third, equating to around £150 a year. And don’t forget, the more dangerous a driver you’re deemed to be, the less willing an insurer will be to insure you.
In terms of mobile phone use behind the wheel, the comparison site’s research found that the increase came to around 24 per cent for someone who’s been charged with this driving offence.
So while you might not have thought about the financial repercussions of reckless driving habits, perhaps you and your bank balance would benefit if you did.
