Many things can affect your auto insurance premiums, for example, how many miles you drive per day and per year, whether you’ve been in any accidents that were your fault and where you live.
One factor you may not be aware of is the number of moving violations you’ve received when driving a particular vehicle. (Parking tickets generally don’t count.)
When assessing risk, insurance carriers look at a person’s driving habits and presume that someone with several tickets for speeding is more likely to get into an accident than someone with no moving violations. In addition, the amount of the claim for an auto in a high-speed accident is going to be higher, with more property damage and possibly bodily injuries as well.
|Red cars and speeding tickets
Drivers have thought that the color of the car was a major influence on whether they received speeding tickets. A long-held belief is that red cars are ticketed more often than any other color. But most law enforcement agencies deny that a car’s color has anything to do with whether it will be cited for speeding more often.
According to a recent study from Insurance.com, speeders tend to prefer the same model cars. Drivers and car owners can use Insurance.com’s “Ticket Magnet” tool to analyze how many tickets their car make or model receives based on more than 323,000 insurance quotes for drivers who use the site.
The analysts at Your Mechanic examined the data more closely to determine whether the type of car makes a difference in the amount of tickets it received. When they segmented the models into luxury cars, mid-size, compact, sports cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and subcompact cars, they found some interesting data on what types of drivers are typically getting the most tickets.
|Common traffic violations
As Maddy Martin at Your Mechanic points out, traffic violations can differ from state to state, but some of the most common ones are running a red light, driving at night without headlights, illegal turns, illegal parking,or running a stop sign. Speeding laws also fluctuate based on the state and road.
Here are the 10 most ticketed cars by model and percent of vehicle owners, based on the data analysis from Your Mechanic. Note that there are no dates or date ranges provided with the results. They only reflect information from a driver who provides information to the Ticket Magnet tool.
(Photo: Carlos Osorio/AP Photo)
|10. Toyota Tacoma — 30.1 percent of vehicle owners
Related: Here's what it cost to insure popular cars in the best states for car sales
(Photo: David Zalubowski/AP Photo)
|8. Dodge Stratus SXT — 30.2 percent of vehicle owners
(Photo: Tony Avelar/AP Images)
|7. Volkswagen GTI — 30.3 percent of vehicle owners
Related: Drivers for Uber, Lyft operate their cars more safely, report says
(Photo: Ross Dettman/AP Images)
|6. Mazda 3S — 30.3 percent of vehicle owners
(Photo: Wikipedia)
|5. Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS/LT — 30.8 percent of vehicle owners
(Photo: VolkswagenColors.info)
|4. Volkswagen Jetta GL — 31.4 percent of vehicle owners
(PRNewsFoto)
|3. Dodge Charger — 32.1 percent of vehicle owners
Related: Self-driving cars: Who's liable when software is at the wheel?
(Photo: iStock)
|2. Nissan 350Z — 32.5 percent of vehicle owners
(Photo: Lexus)
|1. Lexus ES 300 — 33.4 percent of vehicle owners
Editor’s Note: Personally, I was relieved that my car – a red Ford Mustang – was not on the list. Another surprise? Some are not recent models. Are you surprised by any of these? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Rosalie Donlon
Rosalie Donlon is the editor in chief of ALM's insurance and tax publications, including NU Property & Casualty magazine and NU PropertyCasualty360.com. You can contact her at [email protected].
