What are Driver's License Points?

As a child, you may have gone to a school that rewarded a student’s misbehavior with something called a demerit. Demerits, added together over the course of a week or month, usually resulted in some sort of all encompassing punishment that then cleaned the slate for the next demerit collecting time period. Points on your license work almost the same way as school demerits—but their consequences can be much more financially damaging,

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Every time you are guilty of a traffic violation, points can be assigned to your driver’s license. The amount of points you are given will depend on the seriousness of the violation. A DUI (driving under the influence) could result in more points than a speeding ticket. Now, if you take a voluntary driving class after the violation you can sometimes avoid the points, but if you don’t they will be attached to your license and become insurance points.

Your punishment for these insurance points? Higher insurance rates. These points directly affect the cost of your insurance premiums because they indicate that you are a higher risk than those people without points. Your best bet in avoiding this long-term consequence is to always follow the rules, restrictions and laws that your state imposes on drivers.