For many California drivers at one time or another they unfortunately get a ticket and need to take California traffic school. Taking California online traffic school has many benefits and can help you ensure that you do not waste thousands of dollars paying for a speeding or traffic ticket for years to come. Yes thousands. How can it be thousands of dollars for just one ticket you may be wondering, well let’s look at how just one ticket affects your insurance costs and how taking online California traffic school can fix all that and save you thousands. Meet Edward.
Edward had a clean driving record until one day he was in a rush to meet his girlfriend and was pulled over for driving 9 mph over the speeding ticket. He was given a $200 speeding ticket and the officer told him he could also take traffic school instead of getting points on his record. In California, his speeding ticket was a 1 point offense. He also currently has a $100 car insurance policy. According to state law this ticket will stay on his record for 5 years.
Edward called the court and found out it would cost him $200 for the speeding ticket plus an extra $150 dollars in court fees. He would have to pay this regardless of whether or not he took California traffic school. Finding out he still had to pay for the ticket no matter even if he took traffic school, his first response was to just pay it. That was until he found out how it would impact his insurance cost.
Edward’s insurance company raises rates 20% for having an additional point on your driving record. For Edward that means an extra $20 monthly for his car insurance. That may not seem too bad, but he will have to pay that $20 extra for the next 5 years until the ticket disappears off his record. That means an $1200 in insurance costs for that one ticket.
His other option, take traffic school online for $20 and not have the speeding ticket appear on his record. That saves him $1180!
Now let’s remember that if Edward doesn’t take California traffic school, the ticket will stay on his record for 5 years. What will happen if he gets another ticket? For Edward that would bring about another more expensive insurance premium. On average, care insurance rates increase by 35% for your second offense. For Edward, that would mean his $120 rate (after his first ticket) would increase to $162 for the next five years. Or he could just take California traffic school for $20 instead and save all of that money.