Maybe it was 74 in a 65 on I-45, or FM 518 on a school morning. Now there is a citation on your passenger seat, and the real question isn't the fine. It's "Will this raise my insurance?"
In Texas the honest answer is "it depends on which company writes your policy." A state law bars most auto insurers from charging more for a ticket, but a whole class of insurers is exempt. Here is that rule in plain English, and what you can do before the ticket reaches your record.
Can a Texas insurer raise your rate for a speeding ticket?
The short answer: Only some can, because Texas Insurance Code §1953.051 bars auto rating plans from attaching a rate consequence to a traffic charge or conviction, but county mutual insurance companies are exempt, and many Texas auto policies are written through them.
Start with the statute. Texas Insurance Code §1953.051(a) says a rating plan for auto insurance may not "assign a rate consequence to a charge or conviction for a violation of Subtitle C, Title 7, Transportation Code," or otherwise cause premiums to rise because of one.
Subtitle C is the Rules of the Road, Transportation Code chapters 541 through 600. Speeding lives in chapter 545. Section 545.351 requires a speed that is "reasonable and prudent," and Section 545.352 sets the default limits, such as 30 mph in an urban district and 70 mph on numbered highways outside one. A speeding ticket is squarely covered.
In plain English: if a regular Texas insurer writes your policy, a speeding ticket is not supposed to make your premium go up. The Texas Department of Insurance spelled out how far that reaches in Bulletin B-0047-10 (November 10, 2010): no surcharge, no lost discount and no move to a pricier tier, on new or renewal business, whether the ticket ends in a conviction or not.
The exemption: county mutual insurance companies
That same bulletin applies the rule to insurers "other than county mutuals." The reason is in the Insurance Code itself. Under Section 912.002, county mutual companies are exempt from Texas insurance laws unless a law is made applicable to them, and that section applies only subsection (b) of §1953.051 to them. Subsection (b) covers unpaid claims and consumer inquiries. The ticket rule in subsection (a) is left out.
That is why TDI's auto insurance guide (updated December 11, 2025) can still say "insurance companies will charge you more if you've had accidents or gotten tickets." The county mutual exemption is the bridge.
How to tell whether your policy can price a ticket
The short answer: Look at the insurer named on your declarations page, because the company that actually issues the policy, not the brand on the app or the ad, decides whether the Texas ticket rule applies to you.
The brand on television is often a group of companies, and different companies in one group can write different policies. The one that issued yours is printed on your declarations page.
If that name includes "County Mutual," the §1953.051(a) ticket rule does not bind that company. TDI's company lookup tools include a list of authorized insurers you can filter by company type if the name doesn't make it obvious.
| The question | Regular Texas insurer | County mutual insurer |
|---|---|---|
| Surcharge for a speeding conviction? | No, under §1953.051(a) | Allowed, if its filed rating rules do it |
| Remove a discount or raise your tier over a ticket? | No, per TDI Bulletin B-0047-10 | Allowed, if filed |
| Raise your rate solely for a claim it didn't pay? | No, §1953.051(b) | No, §1953.051(b) applies here too |
| Price an at-fault accident? | Yes | Yes |
| Use a charge dismissed through a driving safety course? | No, it can't be on your record | No, it can't be on your record |
Two cautions. Being allowed to price a ticket doesn't mean a county mutual does, or by how much; each company files its own rules with TDI. And every insurer can weigh an at-fault crash, which we cover in our guide to your rate after a Texas accident.
Dismissing the ticket with a driving safety course
The short answer: If you qualify, a state-approved driving safety course gets the ticket dismissed, and Texas law says a dismissed charge cannot be part of your driving record or used for any purpose, which leaves no insurer anything to price.
A housekeeping note: on January 1, 2025, these rules moved from the old article 45.0511 to Code of Criminal Procedure articles 45A.351 through 45A.359 (HB 4504, 2023). Many websites still cite the old number.
Under article 45A.352, you can generally elect the course if all of these are true:
- You hold a Texas driver license or permit, or you are active-duty military (or a spouse or dependent).
- You haven't completed a driving safety course in the 12 months before the date of the offense.
- The ticket isn't for going 25 mph or more over the limit, or 95 mph or more.
- You plead guilty or no contest and request the course on or before the answer date on your citation, in person, through a lawyer, or by certified mail postmarked by that date.
- You show proof of insurance.
Some tickets are carved out. Commercial driver license holders can't use this route at all (article 45A.351). The course is not a right for passing a stopped school bus, for failing to stop and give information after a crash, for a "serious traffic violation," or for a work-zone offense that carries doubled fines because workers were present (article 45A.353).
The court then dismisses the charge and reports the completed course to DPS, which enforces the once-a-year limit. Article 45A.357 then does two things: the dismissed charge "may not be part of a person's driving record or used for any purpose," and an insurer may not cancel or raise your premium because you took the course or had the charge dismissed.
TDI also lists a defensive driving course among common discounts, but each company sets its own terms. Our guide to lowering car insurance without cutting coverage covers the discounts worth asking about.
Deferred disposition: the other way to keep it off your record
The short answer: Deferred disposition lets a judge hold your case for up to 180 days and dismiss it if you meet the conditions, with no final conviction, and it can help when the course isn't available, though it often costs more.
Under article 45A.302, after a guilty or no-contest plea, a judge may defer the case for up to 180 days without finding you guilty. Meet the conditions and the judge dismisses it. Article 45A.305 says that when that happens, "there is not a final conviction," and the complaint can't be used against you for any purpose.
Two differences from the course: deferral is up to the judge, and it is off the table for commercial license holders and work-zone offenses with doubled fines (article 45A.301).
Courts set their own conditions and fees. The City of Houston's municipal courts, for example, list fees from $243.90 to $308.90 depending on the case, and say that if you miss the conditions, "a conviction will be reported to DPS." Friendswood, League City, Pearland and county justice courts publish their own.
| Option | On your driving record? | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Pay the fine | Yes, a conviction reported to DPS | Fastest, but it creates the record a county mutual insurer can price. |
| Driving safety course | No, the charge is dismissed | Once per 12 months. Not for 25+ over, CDL holders or certain offenses. |
| Deferred disposition | No final conviction if you comply | Judge's discretion, up to 180 days, court fees vary. |
What your Texas driving record shows, and who looks at it
The short answer: A conviction goes on your DPS driving record, insurers commonly check that record when you apply and often at renewal, and how far back each company looks is set by its own filed rules rather than one state number.
The Department of Public Safety sells several versions of your record through its driver record portal. A Type 2 record lists accidents and violations from the past three years. A Type 3 lists everything on file, and the certified Type 3A is the one courts accept for a driving safety course. DPS lists the fees at $6.50, $7.50 and $12.00. Pull yours before you shop.
Texas no longer uses points. What remains is a suspension rule: under Transportation Code §521.292, DPS treats you as a "habitual violator" with four or more moving-violation convictions in 12 consecutive months, or seven or more in 24 months.
How a ticket reaches your premium
- At application. A new company typically orders your motor vehicle record before it finalizes a quote.
- At renewal. In our experience, a ticket usually shows up in the renewal price, if the company can and does price it.
- Look-back periods vary. We know of no single Texas rule setting how many years a violation counts for insurance. Ask the company, or ask us.
A ticket also isn't your credit. Texas lets insurers use a credit-based insurance score, though TDI says a company can't turn you down or charge more only because of credit. The score and the driving record are separate inputs.
No more state surcharges: what the 2019 repeal changed
The short answer: Texas repealed the Driver Responsibility Program effective September 1, 2019, so the state no longer bills yearly surcharges for tickets, though a $50 state traffic fine still applies on a guilty or no-contest plea or a conviction.
Texas drivers once paid two prices for some violations: the court fine and a state surcharge billed for years afterward. DPS announced on August 26, 2019 that HB 2048 repealed the program, waived all existing surcharges and related suspensions, and stopped new ones after September 1, 2019.
The same bill raised the state traffic fine from $30 to $50, according to the Legislative Budget Board's fiscal note. Transportation Code §542.4031 now says a person who pleads guilty or no contest to, or is convicted of, a rules-of-the-road offense "shall pay $50 as a state traffic fine," on top of the local fine.
In plain English: no more state surcharge bills for a speeding ticket. State law counts a deferred disposition as a conviction for this fine, so the $50 applies on the deferral route too; ask your court how it handles the course route. Any change to your premium comes from your insurer, under the rules above.
Teen and young drivers: different rules apply
The short answer: Drivers under 25 can use the driving safety course for any moving violation, a deferral for them requires the course, and a driver under 18 with two moving-violation convictions in 12 months faces a DPS suspension.
Texas treats young drivers' tickets more seriously, with more off-ramps:
- Under 25: the course option covers any moving violation in a justice or municipal court, not only rules-of-the-road offenses (article 45A.351).
- Under 25 on deferral: the judge must require a driving safety course, and a provisional license holder must also be examined by DPS, with a $10 fee (article 45A.304).
- Under 18: two or more moving-violation convictions within 12 months is a ground for DPS suspension under §521.292.
For a teen, the record matters for the license and the family policy. Our guide to adding a teen driver in Texas covers provisional license limits, which car to list them on and the discounts that help.
Why a ticket is a reason to compare at renewal
The short answer: Because whether a ticket costs you anything depends on which company writes the policy and how its rules work, comparing several carriers at identical coverage before renewal is the most direct way to keep one ticket from setting your price.
Same driver, same ticket, different answer depending on the company. That is the practical meaning of the county mutual exemption.
We're an independent agency. We shop Geico, Progressive, Liberty Mutual and Safeco, and re-confirm which carriers can write your policy before every quote. When we re-shop coverage for clients, they save on average about $500 a year. That is an average, not a promise.
The stakes are real: the NAIC's Auto Insurance Database puts the average Texas auto expenditure at $1,428.94 in 2023, versus $1,281.60 countrywide. How we keep the comparison honest:
- Identical limits, deductibles and coverages on every quote, so a lower price is a lower price.
- Answer the violations question truthfully. The record gets checked anyway.
- Don't trade coverage for price. Dropping to the 30/60/25 state minimum or rejecting UM/UIM or PIP mostly shrinks what protects you.
For the full picture of what a Texas policy should include, read our Texas auto coverage primer, and for more ways to cut cost, see 2026 strategies to lower your auto rate. Local drivers can see our guides for Houston car insurance, Pearland car insurance, Friendswood and League City, plus the Greater Houston and Gulf Coast car insurance guide. Ready for numbers? Start on our auto insurance page.
The bottom line
A speeding ticket in Texas is not automatically a rate increase. Insurance Code §1953.051(a) bars regular insurers from pricing it, county mutual insurers are exempt, and the company named on your declarations page tells you which rule you live under.
Before you pay, ask about the driving safety course or deferred disposition, because a dismissed charge stays off your record. Then, before your renewal, let us compare the field at identical coverage. Send us your declarations page or call (832) 703-1289.
Last reviewed by the Watson Insurance team on October 6, 2026. Statutes, TDI guidance and court procedures are re-verified when this page is refreshed. Educational only, not legal or personalized insurance advice; for questions about your ticket, contact the court or an attorney.
