After a ticket, a crash, or a non-renewal notice
Three different problems that arrive in the same envelope. Here is what each one actually does to your rate and how long it lasts.
How long it follows you
Most carriers rate on a three year window for violations and accidents, and five years for major convictions. The clock runs from the conviction or the loss date, not from the day your policy renewed. That means the surcharge you are paying today has an end date, and it is worth knowing what it is before you agree to a renewal.
What to do this week
Do not let the policy cancel
A lapse costs more, and for longer, than the surcharge you are trying to escape.
Let us re-shop it
Carriers weight the same violation very differently. Moving is often worth more than negotiating.
Ask about the defensive driving option
Florida allows a basic driver improvement course to keep points off in some cases. It has to be elected properly and it is not always available. The clerk of court, not us, decides.
Diary the drop-off date
We put the date the surcharge expires on the file and re-shop it then, without you having to remember.
What to expect
A single speeding conviction typically moves a rate by a noticeable but survivable amount. An at-fault accident with injury moves it much more. A DUI moves you into the FR-44 world entirely, which has its own page.
A non-renewal is not a cancellation
A non-renewal means the carrier will not offer another term. It is not a black mark in the way a cancellation for non-payment or misrepresentation is, and it is very often about the carrier's book rather than about you. Bring the letter and we will read what it actually says.
What this touches
Questions people actually ask
Should I tell my insurer about the ticket?
They will see it. The question that matters is whether we should move you before renewal, and usually the answer is yes.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
Leave a name and a number and a licensed Florida agent gets in touch. No obligation, and no call from six companies you have never heard of.
A licensed Florida agent may call, text or email you about your request.