You are probably aware that in most cases you have the option to take a defensive driving course in Texas when you receive a traffic citation. If you are like most people, you choose to take defensive driving rather than just pay the ticket because you want to keep a clean driving record or it is cheaper than if you were to just pay the fine. Both of these reasons are perfectly valid reasons to take a Texas defensive driving course, but I would like to examine the cost savings portion of choosing the defensve driving option in a bit more detail, because you will be suprised at the potential cost savings.
The statistics show that the average traffic ticket in Texas is $150 (source:theautoinsurance.com), however depending upon the specifics of your citation, that price could be slightly less or significantly more. Based on our research and the current fee schedules with some of the major municipal courts for speeding tickets in particular, you will likely find that your fine amount would be much higher than $150. For example, the standard fee schedule at the San Antonio Municipal Court for speeding citations start at $166 for the first 10 mph over the speed limit, and increases by $5 for each additional mph over. That can add up in a hurry. So if you get a ticket for going 15 mph over the speed limit through San Antonio Municipal Court your fine would be $191. This amount could be much higher also should the violation occur in a school or construction zone. You get the picture. It is not cheap to get a traffic ticket. Based on these costs you can see why most people will exercise their option to take defensive driving, but how much do they really save?
Using the current $150 statistic for the average fine amount (which is low in my opinion) in our calculations, we tabulate that the average person will save roughly $360 by taking defensive driving rather than just paying the fine. Wow! How can this be? First, courts will still charge a fee to you even if you take defensive driving. This fee usually ranges from $90 to $110. This amount is paid to the court when you elect to take defensive driving and that is when they give you insturctions and a deadline to complete the course. At that point you must pay to take the defensive driving course. Today, the online Texas defensive driving courses are all at $25, which is the lowest price the law allows. If you find one for less, they are not state approved, so buyer beware. The last cost to you is to order a copy of your driving record. Not every court requires this, but most do, and the cost is $12. So if you add all this up the total cost (assuming $90 court fee) is $127. This is a savings of only $13, but wait. The largest savings that you aren’t factoring into this equations comes in the form of auto insurance premium discounts that most insurance providers offer.
Assuming an average auto insurance policy of $1200 per year ($100 per month) for ease of numbers, the savings for taking a defensive driving course is 10% per year and the discount is good for 3 years before you would have to take the course again. The total savings in 3 years with a 10% discount would be $360 if your insurance is $100 per month. This discount is not factored by most people, since they assume that because they got a ticket their insurance provider will not issue the discount, but this is not necessarily true. When you complete a defensive driving course in most cases you will receive an insurance copy (if not, I recommend that you contact the school to verify that you will recieve this). This is what you turn into your agent’s office to get the discount, even if you received a traffic ticket.
Hopefully this explanation will help you determine that it is a slam dunk decision to take a Texas defensive driving course rather than just pay the fine. Drive safe out there!
