How a Speeding Ticket Impacts Your Insurance in Oregon

How much do speeding tickets raise the cost of insurance? You can expect to pay the following prices for auto insurance in Oregon before and after getting a speeding ticket.

On average, insurance costs increase by 28 percent for drivers who receive a speeding ticket. However, many factors besides your driving record affect car insurance rates, such as your credit score, age, gender, and marital or domestic partnership status, so take these averages with a grain of salt.

Finding cheap car insurance with a speeding ticket on your record is challenging but not impossible. Consider these options.

1. Find a high-risk carrier: Some insurance companies cater specifically to high-risk drivers, which includes drivers with speeding tickets on their records. Find a provider that accepts substandard drivers and offers affordable rates.
2. Join the Automobile Insurance Plan of Oregon: If you can’t find insurance that you can afford, Oregon will place you in an assigned risk pool and find an insurance provider that has to cover you by law.² Talk to an insurance agent or broker to get connected, or contact the Western Association of Automobile Insurance Plans (WAAIP) directly.
   • Email address: waaip@aipso.com
   • Fax number: 800-827-6260
   • Mailing address:
     • Western Association Automobile Insurance Plans
     • P.O. Box 7917
     • San Francisco, California 97104
   • Phone number: 800-227-4659³
   • Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PT
3. Get minimum coverage: Oregon has extensive minimum car insurance requirements, including liability coverage, personal injury protection, and uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage. With minimum protection, you can get coverage for another party’s injuries and property damages and for any medical costs incurred by you and your passengers, even if you were at fault or if the driver at fault lacks insurance. However, minimum coverage won’t cover any of your property damages, so we recommend full coverage with comprehensive and collision coverage, along with uninsured motorist property damage coverage, to fill this gap.
4. Ask for discounts: If you already have an insurance provider, contact them to ask for ways you can save. You never know what alumni association might come with a discount!
5. Bundle policies: Bundle multiple policies under the same provider for savings. Home and auto insurance bundles are a common example.

Oregon as a state has speeding laws for its highways, while each city has its own penalties for speeding on local roads. In this section, we’ll focus on the state penalties for speeding, which is a violation that only includes a fine — no imprisonment.

If you’re caught speeding, you’ll first need to pay the presumptive fine issued by the police officer who pulled you over. Then, you can decide how to plead.

• Guilty: If you plead guilty, the judge will sentence you immediately and take your previous driving record into account. In local courts, the judge will determine the fine or assessments. For violations that occurred on state highways, the amount is predetermined and you’ll be able to pay your bill online at https://www.courts.oregon.gov/services/online/Pages/epay.aspx.
• Not guilty: If you plead not guilty, it means you either deny that you were violating the law or you had a justifiable reason for doing so. You may or may not have to go to trial in front of a judge, present evidence, and call witnesses.⁵ Check your ticket to see whether a trial is mandatory.
• No contest: If you plead no contest, you’re not admitting guilt, but you are waiving your right to a trial. Instead, the judge will assess your fine independently.

Speeding isn’t the only violation in Oregon that increases the cost of car insurance. Other moving violations to avoid include:

• Failure to:
  • Obey traffic patrol member
  • Yield to pedestrians
  • Yield to an emergency vehicle or ambulance
  • Stop for bus safety lights
• Vehicular assault
• Careless driving
• Reckless driving
• Open container policy
• Driving while license is suspended or revoked⁶

A bad driving history will raise your car insurance rates regardless of your ZIP code in Oregon. When you compare rates from multiple car insurance companies, include the same demographic information each time, as quotes based on different information will be inaccurate.

Even with imprisonment off the table, speeding isn’t worth it. This driving violation is costly and could prove deadly.

Wondering how long a speeding ticket stays on your record in Oregon, or have more questions related to speeding? Keep reading for answers to the questions we get asked the most.