Your driving record is a big part of how insurance company rates are determined. Put simply, the more tickets, accidents and claims you have on your record, the more you can expect to pay for car insurance.But many are paying higher premiums then they should due to errors existing on their driving record that have gone uncorrected.
Just How Big a Problem Is It?
According to the Federal Trade Commission 1/5 of consumers have errors appearing on their credit report. That would be roughly 52 million Americans. The FTC also notes that could lead to consumers paying more for auto loans and insurance. But what about consumers driving records, how many errors could there be? Turns out the answer is pretty close to the same.
A survey of driving records conducted by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) showed that one in five convictions for traffic violations may contain errors from motor vehicle records.
The IRC looked at driving records in four states, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, and Washington. The study showed that convictions for driving infractions were either incorrectly entered or were missing from driving records. The error rate in the four states were as follows:
Connecticut - 22% of convictions errors
Florida - 21% of convictions errors
Ohio - 14% of convictions errors
Washington - 10% of convictions errors
How Much Could This Actually Cost Consumers?
According to Forbes depending on the violation, getting just a single ticket can boost an average policyholder's auto insurance premiums by as much as 22 percent. The Los Angeles Times reports on average, the cost of an auto insurance premium in Louisiana was $2,699. Also Michigan($2,520), Georgia($2,155), Oklahoma($2,074).
So even having just 1 error on their driving record in these states, could be costing consumers an extra $519 in higher car insurance premiums every 6 months.
Chris Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Quote44.com says," That number is a staggering amount to say the least. That's only looking at 4 states, were probably talking about millions upon millions of DMV reporting errors across the country when you really dig deep and look at all 50 states."