How Much Does 6 Points Increase Car Insurance?

There is nothing fun about having penalty points added to your driving license, especially not when it comes to finding affordable car insurance. However, that’s the price to pay for being convicted of a motoring offence. Not only could a motoring offence leave you with a hefty fine and points on your license, but also significantly increased car insurance. The number of points you receive will depend on the severity of the driving offence itself, with the more severe offences resulting in more points. As insurers view drivers with points on their license as a higher risk to insure and more likely to make a claim, they increase car insurance premiums and the excess. This means that having points on your driving license will result in more expensive car insurance policies.

Points On Your Licence Will Increase Car Insurance, But By How Much?

The majority of points will be on your driving license for four years, these are for things such as speeding and using your mobile phone. After four years, these are wiped. There are some motoring offences that will result in penalty points on your license for a lot longer, up to eleven years, and this is because they are more severe. Drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs and careless driving all fall into category. It doesn’t matter what the penalty points are for, you must declare them to the insurance company as this is a legal requirement. Unfortunately, points on your license will increase the cost of car insurance.

There are no set rules about how much your car insurance will increase by having 6 points on your license, as every insurer has different ways of working out premiums. Whereas one driver’s premium may increase by a lot, another driver’s premium may not increase by too much at all. However, there are some rough estimates and a higher number of points will result in a higher premium increase. It’s thought that having six penalty points can increase your car insurance premium by anywhere up to 25%, with three points only increasing it by around 5% and twelve points potentially increasing it by a whopping 90%. Of course, these are only estimates and all premiums are calculated on an individual basis.

Car Insurance With Points on Licence

There’s no denying that organising car insurance can be a time consuming process; not only will you want to find a policy that you can afford, but also one that covers everything you need it to cover. Unfortunately, this is made a little more difficult if you are looking for car insurance with points on your license. Though everyone obviously tries to avoid being convicted for motoring offences, it’s something that thousands of people have to face. A motoring offence won’t just see you faced with a hefty fine and points on your driving license, but also increased car insurance premiums.

How Does Having Points on Your Licence Affect Car Insurance?

To put it simply, having points on your driving license will result in car insurance being more expensive than it is for those without any points. A driver with motoring offences will notice an increase in their car insurance premium, regardless of what that motoring offence is. This is because drivers convicted of motoring offences are more likely to make a claim on their car insurance and therefore policy providers increase the cost to reflect this risk. After all, they need to cover the likelihood of you making a claim.

When you apply for car insurance with points on your driving licence, insurers will take all of your driving convictions into account. This includes everything from a minor speeding offence to offences that are much more severe, such as drink driving and reckless driving. Any driving offence that resulted in you having points on your license will increase the cost of car insurance, as insurers view you as being a big risk to insure. The more points you have, the higher the increase.

It’s not just the cost of the overall insurance policy that may be higher if you have points on your license, but also the excess. You may also find yourself having to pay a higher access in the event of a claim. Though you may be tempted to avoid telling insurers about any motoring convictions in order to keep costs down, this is not recommended. Failing to declare points on your license is an offence.

Do You Have To Tell Insurance You Have Points?

It’s no secret that the majority of driving offences will result in you receiving penalty points on your driving license, as well as some also consisting of a hefty fine. Though you are sure to do everything you can to steer clear of being issued with penalty points. It only takes one mistake before you are faced with points that you would rather have avoided.

There are a range of driving offences that result in penalty points. Driving over the speed limit, driving with a defective tyre, careless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol. The number of points you receive will vary and they can stay on your driving license. Anywhere between 4 and 11 years, which can cause problems when it comes to finding affordable insurance. An insurance company will likely view you as a high risk driver if you have points on your licence. Therefore the cost of your insurance will be higher, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid telling them. It’s important to always tell the insurance company that you have points.

The Consequences of Not Owning Up About Penalty Points

There’s no denying that keeping quiet about penalty points is tempting, but it does more harm than good. Anyone who has points on their license will find that their insurance quote is higher than it would be should they have no points, but not owning up about penalty points is serious business.

The Road Traffic Act 1998 states that it is an offence to withhold any relevant information when applying for car insurance, and this includes mentioning points on your license. Legally, you must tell the insurance company about all penalty points and failing to do so is breaking the law.

If you are not honest with the insurer about penalty points on your licence, you run the risk of invalidating your insurance policy and are therefore uninsured. There are severe penalties that come with driving without insurance. Prosecution and further points on your license. This also means that should an accident occur the insurance company could refuse to pay out as you don’t have a valid policy and are not actually covered, making you liable to pay out personally.

Cheap Insurance for Banned Drivers

When it comes to driving your car sometimes things can go wrong. When this happens you are left with either points on your license, or being banned all together from getting out on the road. Both of these things can have a significant impact on your life; as well as have an impact on how much money you can be expected to pay out for your insurance in the long-term too.

Fortunately; the majority of driving bans do come to an end and the time will come that you can grab your car keys again. The only problem that you are going to find is that once you are heading back out on the road; your insurance premiums are going to get a whole lot more expensive.

The good news is that there are things that you can do to make it that little bit cheaper for you. To learn more check out our information on how to find cheap insurance for banned drivers.
 

Remember that not everyone will insure you

The first thing that you are going to need to keep in mind is that not every single insurance provider out there is going to insure you once you have a disqualification on your record. This usually will apply to those big name brands.

This can make it much harder to find insurance for your car, but, there are insurance companies out there that will cover you and also those who have it as a speciality.

Change your car

One of the first things that you can do if you are back on the road after a ban is to make sure that you change your car to one that is in a lower insurance bracket. Sure, it might not be as big in engine size; but when you are trying to save yourself money after a ban, we think that this might be your best option.

Take any courses that are offered to you

When you have been banned from driving one thing that you are likely to be offered are driving awareness courses. These will vary depending on your conviction; however the most common courses are those around speeding or courses that are designed to help those who have been disqualified for drink driving.

You might not want to take one of these courses; but we can promise you that they are worthwhile taking. Not only will you learn something from attending, you will also be able to add them to your insurance quote and bring down your premium too.

Always shop around

The thing with insurance, no matter what you are insuring is to always take the time to shop around. Sure, with banned driver insurance you are not going to have many options to consider, but that doesn’t mean that you should jump into a policy with the first insurer who will offer you cover.

If you shop around not only can you help yourself to save money, but you will also know that you getting the best deal possible for that investment too.

It won’t last forever

It can be incredibly frustrating trying to find a good price for your car insurance; as well as watching the costly insurance payments go out of your bank each month. It may sound obvious but the best thing that you can do is to keep telling yourself that no matter how hard it is; it isn’t going to last forever.

The majority of insurers will only ask for driving disqualifications from the past 5 years, so once that 5 year period is over, you should find that your insurance premiums go back down.