CALIFORNIA SPEEDING TICKET COST

A California speeding ticket can cost you a lot more money than the California speeding ticket fine. California has one of the highest speeding ticket fine schedules in the country. A California speeding ticket fine can cost over $200. The auto insurance rates in California are also the highest auto insurance rates in the country. A California speeding ticket along with the higher auto insurance rate will cost you a lot of money. Therefore, fighting a California speeding ticket is more a question of cost of time which includes the additional auto insurance premiums for 3 to 5 years.

The most common questions and answers that people have after getting a California speeding ticket are: How much is the fine for a California speeding ticket? The fine for a California speeding ticket will be from $200 to as much as $500 or more depending on the alleged speed of the vehicle.

How many DMV points will be added to my driving record for a speeding ticket? Each California speeding ticket will add 1 point to your DMV driving record.
What is the effect of a California speeding ticket on my auto insurance premium per year? It all depends on the type of auto insurance coverage, the vehicle type, year make model but in general terms the auto insurance premiums will increase from 20% to 30%.

Should I take traffic school as an option or fight a California speeding ticket? If you have not attended a California traffic school in the past 18 months, then in most cases you can request traffic school instead of fighting a California speeding ticket. But you should do so with first understanding all of your options. The reason for this is simple. If you request traffic school you must pay the fine as well as traffic school court fee plus the money you must pay to the traffic school for the certificate. Therefore, deciding to not fight a California speeding ticket will only save you the DMV point and the additional auto insurance premium. For example, if you California speeding ticket fine is $400 you will also have to pay $50 court traffic school fee and approximately $80 to the traffic school. The total cost of not fighting the ticket would be $530.

However, if you decide to fight a California speeding ticket there is a chance that you can beat the speeding ticket. If you beat a California Speeding ticket, you would not have to pay the speeding ticket fine or the traffic school court fee or the fee to the traffic school.

Now let’s assume that you decide to fight your California speeding ticket and you lose your fight. In that case you can still request traffic school and take care of your California speeding ticket and keep the DMV point off your record. Basically, if you fight a California speeding ticket and you lose you have lost nothing.

Normally, the traffic court will send you a courtesy notice approximately two weeks after a California speeding ticket has been issued to you. The courtesy notice will provide you the cost of the fine for the California speeding ticket, inform you if a court appearance is mandatory and advise if you are eligible for traffic school. If more than 2 to 3 weeks pass after the issuance of the California speeding ticket you can check with the court clerk prior to your appearance date on the California speeding ticket. You must not miss your appearance date that the Officer wrote on your California speeding ticket, if you do the court will assess you an additional $300 on top of the fine for the California speeding ticket and eventually this may result in a suspended license.

Here is the main link for traffic courts in California. Some of the courts in California have on-line services where you can extend your appearance date or request a trial or traffic school for your California speeding ticket. California Traffic Court

California Speeding Ticket - CDL Drivers License
If you are a commercial driver license (CDL) holder and you get a California speeding ticket you will not be allowed to attend traffic school to keep the DMV points off your record. Additionally, if you get a California speeding ticket for driving 15 mph over the speed limit then most likely you will be charges with a misdemeanor rather than a fraction. There are other more serious violations such as following too close or unsafe lane change. If a CDL holder is found guilty of any of these charges twice in a three-year period then the driver’s CDL will be suspended.

If a CDL driver is found guilty of a driving infraction such as a California speeding ticket in a commercial vehicle the DMV point count will be one and one-half times the point count normally assessed. A CDL holder should fight all traffic tickets especially a California speeding ticket to keep the points off the DMV record. In general trucking companies will not offer a job to a CDL holder with more than one serious California speeding ticket or two minor California speeding tickets.

California Speeding Ticket - Out of State Drivers License
California reports traffic violations to all fifty states and Canada. The California speeding ticket violation will be posted to your DMV record and treated just as if you received the California speeding ticket in the state where you are licensed. There are a few states that will not enter minor out of state traffic violations in the DMV record. The only way to be certain how the California speeding ticket violation will be treated in your specific state is to get in touch with your local DMV office.

Beat California Speeding Ticket
Obviously the only way to beat a California speeding ticket is to fight the California speeding ticket. A defendant may choose to fight a California speeding ticket with a Trial by Written Declaration or an in court trial. In either method, in order to successfully beat a California speeding ticket one must prepare a defense based on the facts that specifically address the weaknesses of the evidence that is being used in court by the Officer. Therefore, a detailed knowledge of the enforcement techniques is absolutely necessary to beat a California speeding ticket.