A ticket or an accident does not mean you are out of options.

How long a ticket or an accident actually stays with you

In California, most moving violations and at-fault accidents affect your insurance rate for about three years from the date, and the DMV keeps points on your driving history for a while longer. Serious items, a DUI in particular, are treated more seriously and for longer.

The practical takeaway is a hopeful one: this is temporary. Things age off. And because companies do not lower their pricing on the same schedule, the company that gave you the best price right after something happened is often not the one giving you the best price a year later. Checking again as things age off is how drivers stop overpaying.

What California will not hold against you

California is unusual here, and it works in your favor. Under Proposition 103, auto insurance companies have to price mainly on three things: your driving history, how many miles you drive a year, and how long you have been driving.

• Your credit cannot be used at all in California auto insurance pricing. If you have been told somewhere else that credit was the reason for your price, that is not how it works here.
• The Good Driver Discount is required by law for drivers who qualify, generally three years licensed with no more than one point.

Knowing what can and cannot be counted is half of not overpaying.

Told no somewhere else? That is who we are here for.

Big companies are built to write a narrow slice of drivers. Step outside it (a couple of tickets, an accident, a gap, a suspension) and their price starts doing the talking for them.

We do things differently. A-MAX has spent more than 20 years working with drivers other companies pass on, and we have helped over three million people get on the road. You are more than one line on a report, and we will look at the whole picture and find you the best fit among the companies we work with in California.