In the State of New Jersey, anyone who gets a traffic ticket is always concerned about getting points “on their license.” For the most part, these people are not necessarily concerned about the points “on their license,” but instead, are more concerned that the points will cause an increase in their insurance premiums. The battle between “points or no points” has been going on in the Municipal Courts of our State for as long as anyone can remember.
Prior to 2000, the “gold standard” of obtaining a no point guilty plea in Municipal Court was to agree to plead guilty for a traffic violation that did not carry Motor Vehicle Commission points. Once again, the purpose was to prevent insurance companies from picking up these points and increasing policy premiums. At some point, the insurance companies apparently complained to the Legislature of our State about this practice and a compromise was reached. Then, on July 24, 2000, a new statute was enacted that allowed people to enter a guilty plea to something called “unsafe driving” which carries zero motor vehicle points. The statute allowed only two guilty pleas to “unsafe driving” in a given period of time. By the way, the “privilege” of getting this “no point” guilty plea requires payment of an additional $250.00 surcharge on top of your fine and court costs. At the time that this statute was enacted and up until recently, it was understood and believed by all that a guilty plea to zero point “unsafe driving” infraction would not have any effect on insurance policy premiums due to the fact that there were zero motor vehicle points being issued.
Unfortunately, this now does not appear to be the case. A client of mine recently entered into an “unsafe driving” guilty plea on my advice. Thereafter, he called my office to advise that his insurance company did, in fact, increase his policy premium because of the unsafe driving guilty plea. We immediately reached out to the Department of Banking and Insurance to argue that an insurance company should not be able to do that based on the “compromise” reached between the Legislature and the insurance companies in 2000.
The Department of Banking and Insurance disagreed, responding in part: “Please be advised that insurance carriers reserve the right to consider all convictions, both major and minor, when rating policies… it is ultimately the discretion of the insurer to determine how that infraction will affect the rating.” (Emphasis added). Thus, a guilty plea to unsafe driving and paying an additional $250.00 surcharge may not provide you with any protection against your insurance company increasing your premiums.
Interestingly, on the other hand, a guilty plea to a violation that carries only two motor vehicle’s points will save you from paying the $250.00 surcharge and, thereafter, you will be allowed to take a New Jersey Defensive Driving Course which will remove the two points from your driving abstract. The cost of the course is minimal compared to the $250.00 surcharge. Depending on your situation, this may be a more economical solution when you receive a two-point ticket instead of trying to obtain a guilty plea to the zero point option of unsafe driving.
Importantly, there are definitely situations where the zero point unsafe driving guilty plea would be better for some drivers than pleading guilty to a two point ticket. One such instance would be where a driver has accumulated a number of points on their abstract already and may be susceptible to a license suspension. Accordingly, if you receive a traffic ticket that carries motor vehicle points, it is important to seek legal advice and counsel to determine your best case scenario depending on your individual situation.