Receiving a traffic ticket in New York has financial consequences beyond the cost of the ticket itself. In addition to the fines, your insurance company can increase your rates and you can be assigned to the New York Driver Responsibility Assessment program which will cost you a minimum of $300. Fortunately, there is a way to reduce both your points and insurance costs by attending an approved Point and Insurance Reduction Program (PIRP) driving safety course but there are some things you need to know about the program before registering.

The consequences of getting a ticket in New York

In New York, a driver who receives six or more points on their driving record within an 18 month period must participate in the Driver Responsibility Assessment program. This assessment will cost a driver $100 per year over a three year period. For every point over six points, an additional $25 will be added. Failure to pay will result in suspension of your driver's license.
Point Reduction


Attending an approved PIRP course will reduce the points on your New York driving record by up to four points. For someone who rarely gets or has never gotten a ticket, reducing those points can help insure that you will not go over that six point assessment limit should you get another ticket within an 18 month period.

There are two important notes to remember when trying to reduce your points:

• The PIRP program is only good to reduce points on tickets received within the 18 month period before you attended the course. You cannot use the course as a “get out of jail free card” to reduce points that you may get in the future and you can only attend the course once in an 18 month period; points for tickets received within 18 months after attending the course will remain on your record.



• If you have already been assigned to the Driver Responsibility Assessment program, you cannot use the PIRP program to reduce the points and get out of paying your annual assessments.

Insurance Cost Reduction


Insurance costs can be reduced by 10% of the base price of your current insurance policy for three years by attending the PIRP course. As with the points however, there are a couple of things you should understand about insurance reduction.

• The Insurance cost reduction only applies if the principal operator of the insured vehicle attends the course. For example; a teenager, whose mother is listed as the principal operator on the policy, borrows her car and gets a ticket; he cannot get an insurance reduction by attending the course.
  


• Your Insurance company can still raise your rates due to a collision that was your fault or when the policy is renewed; the 10% reduction only applies to your current rates.
  

Labels: driver responsibility assessment, insurance reduction, ny pirp, pirp course, point reduction, point reduction course

On Monday, May 18, 2009 New York’s DMV commissioner issued a press release which announced a new Internet Point Insurance Reduction Program. For short this program is known as I-PIRP. The I-PIRP program was designed to provide an accident prevention courses that allowed for instruction during times convenient to New York drivers. This course is also known as a defensive driving course.

I-PIRP was developed with a specific goal in mind. The goal was to expand beyond the classroom-based course in order to educate more drivers and reduce the number of crashes that are caused by unsafe driving habits in New York. Ultimately, I-PIRP was intended to help achieve the DMV’s overall goal of making the roads a safer place for all New Yorkers.

The press release went on to explain, that drivers who completed the minimum 320 minute course would receive a 10 percent reduction on their insurance premiums and a reduction of up to 4 points off of their driving records.

In short, the press release announced the start of a new program that would save New Yorkers money, help them develop safer driving habits, and possibly help prevent them from having their driver’s license suspended. Sounds like a pretty good program to me. However, 15 months later, I have not heard many people mention this program. I began to wonder what the DMV was doing to promote this program.

As I searched the internet for information I found a brochure on the NYS DMV website. The brochure offered detail information about both classroom based and online courses. After reading the first paragraph it suddenly occurred to me why the I-PIRP program was not being promoted by the DMV. According to the brochure, the PIRP (and I-PIRP) courses are available through DMV approved private companies. The DMV refers to these private companies as "course sponsors."

The brochure was very informative and explained how the program works and the benefits associated with taking the course. The brochure also included a large frequently asked questions section which addressed a lot of information that could potentially be a point of confusion. However, no matter how helpful the brochure was, I still have to wonder who knows about I-PIRP. I found this information because I was looking for it.

Many New York drivers will hear about the 10% mandatory insurance reduction from their agent, but what about the people that do not know about the benefits of the program? How will they find I-PIRP? That is what I would like to know. Even though the program is run by course sponsors it would still benefit the New York driving community as a whole if the NYS DMV promoted this accident prevent course. Not to mention the drivers that could benefit from the course.

Labels: defensive driving, ipirp course, new york defensive driving, ny defensive driving course, ny pirp, point and insurance reduction program, point reduction course

New Yorkers who have received a ticket can reduce both the points for that ticket and their insurance rates by taking an approved Points and insurance Reduction (PIRP) driving safety course. New Yorkers have a couple of options when taking the course so, before registering, you may want to stop and think about what type of course is best for you and whether or not you are eligible to take the course.

Classroom or Virtual

A person who wants to attend a PIRP course should consider the following before choosing the type of course they want.

What is my learning style? – If you are a visual learner, one who learns more easily by seeing or by reading, you will probably want to consider taking the I-PIRP (Internet – Point and Insurance Reduction Course) online.

If you learn more easily by listening, you may want to consider taking the classroom course. Each style of course has its benefits and drawbacks based on your personal learning style.

Classroom – the classroom course provides advantages to those who like to learn by listening or who feel they don't learn as well simply by reading.

Advantages of the classroom course are:

• The opportunity to ask questions of the instructor and learn from his/her experience.


• Learning by hearing the experiences of other drivers in the classroom.


• Getting the class out of the way in one sitting.


• No final exam for course completion.

Under New York law, the PIRP course must be six hours long. If you choose to take the classroom course, you may want to consider whether or not to complete it in one day or over a two day period.

Internet – Those who learn best by seeing and reading, will probably want to consider taking the I-PIRP course from their home computer.

Advantages to the internet course include:

• The benefit of learning at your own pace.


• You can stop the course and pick it up again later as long as you complete the course within 30 days after registering.


• The ability to attend at a time most convenient to you either from home or at work.

There are assessments in the internet course to prove that you viewed and understood the course material.

Am I eligible?

To reduce points from your driving record, the course must be taken within 18 months after receiving the ticket. It cannot be used to reduce points on any future tickets and the course can only be taken once in an 18 month period.

Insurance reduction

Your current insurance rates can be reduced by 10 % over the next three years but only if the course is taken by the principal operator of the vehicle as listed on the insurance policy. A secondary driver on the policy who takes the course won’t realize an insurance cost reduction.

Learn more about the benefits of the NY I-PIRP Defensive Driving Course.

Labels: insurance reduction, ipirp course, new york defensive driving, ny pirp, point reduction course

How does the New York Point and Insurance Reduction Program Work

Labels: new york defensive driving, point and insurance reduction program, point reduction, point reduction course