The term “points on your license” refers to DMV Driver’s License Points, which play directly into your privilege to drive in the state of NC. Each moving violation you receive adds a certain number of points to your license, and accruing 12 points in a three year period can lead to your license being suspended.
Major violations, such as street racing or driving while impaired, can result in an automatic suspension — effective the day you are pulled over.
An important thing to be aware of is that DMV points (and insurance points, covered next) are shared state to state. That means even if you’re traveling from out of the area and get a speeding ticket here, the NC DMV will likely share the violation with the DMV in your home state. (As well as your insurance.)
Unfortunately, there’s more to this topic of driving points than how they affect your license. There are also “insurance points” which you also accrue from moving violations, though they work a bit differently than DMV points.
How insurance points work:
While avoiding DMV points on your license is a worthwhile benefit to hiring an attorney for moving violations, in some cases avoiding insurance points is even more significant.
For example, a moving violation that adds a few points to your license may not have any other immediate ramifications if your record was clean. But even a single point added to your insurance can raise your rates 25%.
And a moving violation that adds 3 points, which is common for many types of speeding tickets? That can raise your rates by 40-90%!
That can make a huge difference in your month-to-month expenses, and the rate increases for 3 years from the date of your violation.
That means pleading guilty to a speeding ticket today can mean paying significantly more for car insurance for years – even if you are a model driver for those 3 years after the violation. What’s more, these points are cumulative for those 3 years.
If you get any more points during that time span, the increases to your insurance are added to the previous increases, which can quickly make affordable insurance become quite costly.
If you’ve recently received a speeding ticket in the Winston Salem, Yadkinville, or Wilkesboro areas give our office a call today! We’ve handled thousands of traffic tickets over the years, and would be happy to provide that peace of mind to you as well.
Call us today to discuss your case!
