A speeding ticket usually affects your insurance for 3 years, but your state record can hold it much longer. New York shows it for the rest of the conviction year plus 3 more. Michigan keeps driving records 10 years.
You're really asking about three separate timers. License points expire on one schedule, your DMV record keeps the conviction on another, and your insurer applies its surcharge on a third. They almost never line up.
So a ticket can be "gone" in one sense and still costing you money in another. Georgia drops the points after 24 months, yet a carrier quoting you in month 30 can still see the conviction and charge for it.
The Three Clocks That Start When You Get a Speeding Ticket
Most articles give you a single number. That's why the answers online contradict each other: one site says New York keeps tickets 18 months, another says 3 years, and both are describing a different clock.
Driver License Points
Driver license points are demerits your state's motor vehicle agency uses to decide whether to suspend you. They count inside a rolling window, and once a ticket ages out of that window it stops pushing you toward suspension.
The windows are short. Ohio totals your points over any two-year period under Ohio Revised Code 4510.036. Virginia's DMV keeps demerit points for two years from the offense date.
Points matter for your license. They matter much less for your premium.
Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) Retention
Your motor vehicle record, or MVR, is the official history of convictions your state keeps and sells. Your insurer buys it when you apply and again before you renew. Retention here is often longer than the points window, sometimes permanent.
Virginia is a clean example. Its DMV assigns a 1-9 mph speeding conviction to the record for 5 years, even though the points vanish after 2. And the agency says plainly that the two removal dates "are not related."
Insurance Lookback Period
The lookback period (North Carolina calls it the experience period) is how many years of your MVR an insurer actually rates on. For a minor speeding ticket, State Farm, Progressive and Allstate generally use 3 years.
This is the clock that hits your wallet.
Some states write it into law. California's Department of Insurance regulation 10 CCR 2632.13.1 lets carriers count a conviction only if it falls within the three years before your policy's effective or renewal date.
A ticket dropping off your points total does not mean your insurer stops charging for it. Check the conviction date on your MVR, not your points balance.
How Long a Speeding Ticket Stays on Your Record, by State
We checked each row against the state's own DMV page, statute or insurance regulator rather than traffic-lawyer summaries. That's why a few cells say "no points system" where competitor tables invent a number.
| State | Points Count Toward Suspension | Conviction on State Record | Insurance Rule | vs. 3-Year Industry Norm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 12, 24 and 36-month windows | 3 years from violation date (1-point ticket) | Insurers may count only 3 years by regulation | Same |
| Florida | Up to 36 months (24 points) | Stays on complete record; 3-year and 7-year abstracts sold | No surcharge for a first ticket 15 mph or less over | Shorter for minor tickets |
| Georgia | 24 months (15 points suspends) | Remains after points expire | Carrier lookback, typically 3 years | Same |
| Michigan | 2 years | Records kept 10 years | Carrier lookback, typically 3 years | Record 7 years longer |
| New Jersey | 3-point credit per clean year | Remains on abstract | MVC surcharge at 6+ points in 3 years, billed 3 years | Same, plus state fee |
| New York | 18 months (11 points suspends) | Rest of conviction year plus 3 years | PIRP course cuts base rate 10% for 3 years | Up to 1 year longer |
| North Carolina | 3 years | Remains on record | SDIP surcharge for 3 policy years | Same |
| Ohio | Any 2-year period | Remains on record | Carrier lookback, typically 3 years | Same |
| Pennsylvania | 3 points removed per 12 clean months | Remains on driving history | Carrier lookback, typically 3 years | Same |
| Texas | No points system | Shown on 3-year record; kept on full record | Carrier lookback, typically 3 years | Same |
| Virginia | 2 years from offense | 5 years (1-9 mph over) | Carrier lookback, 3 to 5 years | Up to 2 years longer |
| Washington | No points system | Kept by DOL | Insurers can buy only a 3-year abstract by law | Capped at 3 |
Source: each state's DMV, statute or insurance regulator (full list in Sources below), reviewed September 2026. Serious speeding, such as 25+ mph over or reckless driving, runs longer.
Live somewhere not listed? Call your DMV and ask for two dates: when the points stop counting, and when the conviction leaves the record an insurer can buy. Those are different questions, and clerks will answer the one you ask.
How Long a Speeding Ticket Affects Your Car Insurance
Plan on 3 years of higher premiums. Your carrier pulls your MVR at renewal and adds a surcharge that usually sticks until the conviction is more than 36 months old.
But the size of that surcharge swings wildly by company. CarInsurance.com's August 2026 analysis found a single ticket raised USAA premiums 20% and Nationwide's 68%.
| Rank | Insurance Company | Clean Record | After One Ticket | Increase | Extra Cost Over 3 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USAA Smallest Hit | $1,628 | $1,955 | 20% | $981 |
| 2 | State Farm | $2,875 | $3,497 | 22% | $1,866 |
| 3 | Allstate | $3,159 | $4,025 | 27% | $2,598 |
| 4 | Progressive | $2,569 | $3,436 | 34% | $2,601 |
| 5 | Farmers | $3,207 | $4,431 | 38% | $3,672 |
| 6 | Travelers | $1,962 | $2,801 | 43% | $2,517 |
| 7 | Amica | $2,769 | $4,102 | 48% | $3,999 |
| 8 | GEICO | $2,159 | $3,426 | 59% | $3,801 |
| 9 | Nationwide | $2,524 | $4,247 | 68% | $5,169 |
Source: CarInsurance.com, updated August 14, 2026, using Quadrant Information Services rates for a 40-year-old driver with full coverage (100/300/100 liability, $500 deductibles). "Extra cost over 3 years" is our calculation: (after-ticket rate minus clean rate) times 3.
Look at the last column. A State Farm policyholder pays about $52 a month extra for three years. With Nationwide, the same ticket runs about $144 a month. That's a $3,303 swing for an identical record.
GEICO surprises people. It's the second-cheapest carrier for a clean driver in this data, yet its 59% surcharge pushes the post-ticket price to $3,426, basically level with Progressive. Our GEICO review covers its other pricing quirks.
How Speed Changes the Surcharge
Going faster costs more, though not as much as you'd guess. CarInsurance.com's 2026 averages for full coverage:
- 1-10 mph over: $3,390 a year, or $283 a month
- At 11-29 mph over, you'd pay $3,547 ($296 monthly)
- A 30+ mph ticket pushes the average to $3,750, which is $313 each month
The gap between a minor and a major ticket is $360 a year, or $1,080 across the lookback.
Serious speeding can also keep you on the hook past three years. North Carolina, for instance, now uses a five-year experience period for many 4-point convictions dated July 1, 2025 or later.
For the full breakdown of state-by-state increases, see our guide to car insurance after a speeding ticket.
State Laws That Shorten the Insurance Hit
A handful of states cap how long, or whether, an insurer can charge you for a ticket. If you live in one of them, the "3 years" rule of thumb may overstate what you'll pay.
Florida: First-Ticket Surcharge Ban
Florida Statute 626.9541 bars insurers from raising your premium solely for a noncriminal traffic infraction. The protection disappears if you're caught going more than 15 mph over. Two tickets within 18 months also void it.
That's a real perk. A driver cited at 12 mph over, with nothing else in the past 18 months, can't legally be surcharged. Our breakdown of how Florida traffic tickets affect premiums walks through the exceptions.
California: Traffic Violator School
Complete a licensed traffic school course and the California DMV holds the conviction confidential. Insurers can't see it. You get this once per 18 months, measured violation date to violation date, and the ticket must be under 25 mph over.
Illinois: Court Supervision
Court supervision is an Illinois disposition where the judge withholds a conviction while you finish a probation-style term.
Finish it cleanly and nothing gets reported to the Secretary of State as a conviction. That keeps it off the public record your insurer buys.
North Carolina: SDIP Exemption
The Safe Driver Incentive Plan (SDIP) is North Carolina's statewide insurance points system. One point adds 40% to your premium, and two points add 55%, per the NC Department of Insurance. Both last three policy years.
The catch? There's an exemption most drivers never ask about.
A single conviction for 10 mph or less over draws no surcharge, provided you have no other moving violations in the experience period and it wasn't in a school zone.
You'll find more on the state's rules in our North Carolina car insurance guide.
New York: Point and Insurance Reduction Program
New York's Point and Insurance Reduction Program (PIRP) is a DMV-approved defensive driving course. It cuts your base rate 10% for three years. It does not erase the ticket, though, and the DMV says so directly.
New Jersey drivers get a separate bill. The MVC charges $150 a year for three years once you hit 6 points in 3 years, plus $25 for each point above 6. Its defensive driving credit doesn't reduce that surcharge total.
New Jersey's state surcharge sits on top of whatever your carrier adds, so compare quotes on our New Jersey car insurance page before renewal.
When Your Rate Actually Drops
Here's the part that trips people up. The surcharge doesn't vanish on the ticket's third anniversary. It disappears at the first renewal after that date, when your insurer re-pulls your MVR.
Say you were convicted on March 10, 2026 and your policy renews every September. The conviction turns 36 months old on March 10, 2029. You'll keep paying until the September 2029 renewal, almost six extra months.
Pull Your Own Record
Order your MVR from the DMV. In Texas, a Type 2 record shows the past 3 years, while a Type 3 lists everything on file.
Mark the 36-Month Date
Use the conviction date, not the ticket date. Courts often post convictions weeks after the stop.
Shop 30 Days Before
Get quotes about a month before that date. A new carrier rates your record fresh at issue, rather than waiting for a renewal cycle.
Ask Your Current Insurer to Re-Rate
Call and request a mid-term review once the conviction ages out. Some carriers will; many won't. Asking costs nothing.
Timing matters for shopping in general. Our guide on the best time to shop for car insurance explains why the weeks before renewal beat the renewal notice itself.
Can You Get a Speeding Ticket Off Your Record Early?
Sometimes. The honest answer is that you can usually remove points, and only occasionally remove the conviction.
- Georgia lets you knock off up to 7 points once every 5 years with a certified 6-hour defensive driving course.
- Pennsylvania drivers who reach 6 points can drop 2 by passing a written exam, or 4 by attending Driver Improvement School.
- Texas has no points to remove. Its fix is a defensive driving course taken to dismiss the ticket before conviction.
- You'll find the strongest outcome in California and Illinois, where traffic school or court supervision keeps the conviction hidden from insurers altogether.
Points reduction still pays off. Enough points can trigger a suspension, and a suspension is far pricier to insure than a ticket.
Our article on how license points affect car insurance covers where that line sits, and insurance after a license suspension covers what happens if you cross it.
Fight the ticket before you pay it. Paying is a guilty plea in most states, and once the conviction posts, no course will pull it back off your record.
Accidents follow a similar pattern with longer windows. See how long an accident stays on your record if you're dealing with both.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on which record you mean. Most insurers rate on 3 years of history. Your state driving record often keeps it longer: 5 years in Virginia for a 1-9 mph ticket, and Michigan retains records 10 years.
Usually 3 years from the conviction date, ending at your first renewal after that date. CarInsurance.com's August 2026 data shows one ticket raises full coverage between 20% (USAA) and 68% (Nationwide).
No. Points often count for only 2 years, as in Ohio and Georgia, while the conviction stays on your driving record longer. Insurers look at the conviction, not your points total.
A 1-point speeding conviction stays on your California DMV record for 3 years from the violation date. California regulation 10 CCR 2632.13.1 also limits insurers to convictions from the prior 3 years.
Sometimes. California traffic school keeps one conviction every 18 months confidential from insurers, and Illinois court supervision keeps it off your public record. Most other states only let you reduce points, not remove the conviction.
- New York DMV - Get My Own Driving Record (Abstract)
- New York DMV - Point and Insurance Reduction Program
- California DMV - Driver Handbook, Laws and Rules of the Road
- Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 10, § 2632.13.1 - Good Driver Discount Eligibility
- Superior Court of California, County of Alameda - Traffic School
- Florida Senate - Florida Statutes 626.9541
- Florida Senate - Florida Statutes 322.27 (Point System)
- NC Department of Insurance - Safe Driver Incentive Plan
- New Jersey MVC - Surcharges
- Virginia DMV - Moving Violations and Point Assessments
- Georgia Department of Driver Services - Points and Points Reduction
- PennDOT - Pennsylvania's Point System
- Ohio Revised Code 4510.036 - Points Assessed
- Texas DPS - Driver Record Types
- Washington State Legislature - RCW 46.52.130 Abstract of Driving Record
- CarInsurance.com - How Much Does Insurance Go Up After a Speeding Ticket