According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the new laws associated with Senate Bill 597 (2005) extend the reporting period for DUI offenses from 7 to 10 years for all public requestors, including insurance companies.
The new law allows insurance companies access to the driving record information to properly apply the new provisions of the Insurance Code established under Senate Bill 597 (2005), to determine a customer’s eligibility for a good driver discount as you mentioned. Based on the new laws, drivers with a DUI violation occurring within the past 10 years are not entitled to receive a good driver discount. The Good Driver discount in CA is normally at least 20 percent lower than a driver who does not have this discount with the same insurance company.
So these new CA laws increase the time period from seven to ten years during which arrests and/or convictions of DUI violations will be counted as prior offenses for the purposes of increased driver license penalties and insurance rates.
Whether your insurance company will raise your rates for the whole time period that your DUI is on your record, or only keep you from the good driver discount that you are not allowed by law to be eligible for, would depend upon your insurance company's rating system.
Your insurance company's rating system should be filed with the CA Department of Insurance. So you can check with the CA DOI or contact your insurance company representative if you have specific questions regarding your policy and / or the carrier's rating system.
The CA DMV also notes that points for more serious offenses, such as hit-and-run or a DUI, will stay on your record for 10 years, so yes the 2 points assessed for a DUI remain on a driver's record for 10 years as well.
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