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The cost of a Washington speeding ticket starts at $33 and could reach $188, according to a fine schedule laid out by the Washington Court system. But that’s a base fine allocated to Washington Speeding tickets. Plus, Washington premiums could increase by up to 20% in the three to five years after being convicted of speeding.
How much will my insurance go up after a speeding ticket in Washington?
On average, Washington state drivers can see car insurance premiums rise by 20% after being convicted of speeding tickets. This is about $32 a month added to your premium.
However, this premium increase will not take effect anytime soon. Rather than immediately raising your bill, the insurance company will check your driving record the next time your insurance policy is updated and allocate additional fees for travel violations on the record. Please note that tickets are just one of the risk factors that insurers consider when calculating renewal rates. Your age, credit history, coverage level, and other factors in your insurance profile also affect your fees.
The table below compares average Washington car insurance premiums for four different driver profiles based on driving records and age.
| Driver Profile | Average annual full coverage premium |
|---|---|
| Clean Record | $1,891 |
| Adult driver, single speeding ticket | $2,274 |
| 18 years old, clean record | $6,935 |
| 18 years old, single speeding ticket | $7,886 |
How speeding tickets for real drivers in Washington affected insurance
To see how real drivers in Washington state handle speeding tickets, I turned to Reddit and found that forums like R/Washington and R/PersonalFinance discuss strategies for speeding tickets on insurance.
* The quotes and quotes contained on this page have been verified by our editorial team and are accurate as of the date of posting. Outlinked Content may contain opinions or opinions that do not reflect the views or opinions of the Bank.
How much does a speeding ticket cost, regardless of your Washington insurance?
In Washington, insurance companies use three-year driving records to assess risk when publishing or updating policies. This means that if you are convicted of a speeding violation in Washington, your insurance company can confirm the violation and add a three-year insurance policy.
In many cases, insurance companies will reduce the additional fees in your policy over these three years. However, the base premium could rise simultaneously depending on the power of the market. This means that the rate may not drop to what you paid before the ticket before the three years have passed. To maintain your extra charge, it is important to shop during the extra charge period.
How to avoid increased insurance after speeding tickets in Washington
Maintaining a speeding conviction from your driving record is the best way to avoid long-term insurance outcomes. However, if you can’t, there are still ways to minimize the impact on speeding ticket compensation costs.
Try to keep your speeding ticket from your driving record
If your instinct is to pay your ticket to a fine and move on, then we recommend pausing and considering the long game. In the short term, paying speeding fines may be convenient (and cheap!), but it could add a significant amount of ongoing cost of car ownership.
Before paying a fine for traffic, find out how you can maintain a speeding conviction from your record, such as:
- Hiring a Transportation Lawyer: Traffic lawyers have experience dismissing a speeding conviction or reducing it to an in-moving violation. If your attorney’s fees are less than the potential long-term costs of insurance, it may be worth it.
- Compete for tickets: If it appears that a ticket has been issued incorrectly, it may be possible to contest it by providing the court with evidence that it remains at the speed limit.
- Request a postponement: Appearing to court to sue your case is effective, especially if it’s your first speeding ticket. The judge may agree not to report tickets for six to 12 months, but must maintain the violation for a year and pay a $150 administrative fee.
After tickets, shop competitive rates
If you can’t maintain a speeding conviction from your Washington driving record, take the time to shop and compare prices when your car insurance renewal date rolls.
While all insurance companies take speeding tickets into consideration when setting coverage prices, not all carrier algorithms deal with speed. The company that gave you the best offer before your conviction may not have the best option for you now. According to Bankrate’s analysis of average premiums from Quadrant Information Services, Washington drivers who shop after speeding tickets can save as much as $354 a year by switching to a new carrier.
Drive defensively to avoid future speeding tickets
Whether you can maintain a speeding conviction from your record, following tickets and driving defensively is key to maintaining affordable insurance in the long term. If your speeding ticket is postponed, you must keep a clean record to ensure that your conviction does not affect your insurance during the postponement period.
You can do more to prevent speeding tickets than trying to attract your will and drive safely. Consider the following tips:
- Give me more time: Planning ahead and making sure you have enough time to reach the destination you are driving is one of the best ways to avoid speeding, especially if it becomes a habit.
- Use the app to track your driving habits. Speeding is an unconscious habit for many drivers, so you can help to keep that habit down by using apps that track driving in real time and provide feedback. You can also earn insurance discounts in some cases to improve your driving skills.
- Take advantage of vehicle technology: Many modern cars offer Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) or other high-tech systems that can track speed and alert you when legal limits are exceeded. If your car has any of these systems, we recommend turning it on.
FAQ
Methodology
Bankrate uses Quadrant Information Services to analyze April 2025 fees for all ZIP codes and carriers in all 50 states. The cited fees are based on 40-year-old male and female drivers with clean driving records, good credits and the following full coverage limits:
- $100,000 per person physical injury liability
- $300,000 for each accident
- Liability for property damages of $50,000 per accident
- Uninsured driver physical injury for $100,000 per person
- Uninsured driver’s physical injury for $300,000 per accident
- $500 collision deduction possible
- Comprehensive $500 deduction
To determine the minimum coverage limit, bank rates used minimum coverage to meet the requirements of each state. Our base profile driver owns a 2023 Toyota Camry, commutes five days a week and drives 12,000 miles a year. Bundles and paperless billing discounts apply.
These are sample rates and should be used for comparison purposes only. Your quote is different.
If specified, the base profile has been modified with the following driver characteristics:
