You Have One Point. Here Is How Much Room That Leaves.

People with one ticket on their record often assume the Good Driver Discount is already gone, and some stop asking for it. That is an expensive misunderstanding. It isn't. Insurance Code section 1861.025 allows one point. What you have lost is your margin, and knowing exactly what would use it up is the way to keep the discount.

What would count as a second point

• Any other conviction involving the safe operation of a vehicle that carries a point: many speeding, signal and lane violations.
• A principally-at-fault accident that damaged only property, which adds one point for the Good Driver count even if no ticket was written.

Some events end eligibility on their own, whatever your point count: a principally-at-fault accident causing injury or death in the previous three years, or a DUI conviction in the previous ten.

What does not add a point

• A first handheld-phone conviction on or after July 1, 2021. Vehicle Code 12810.3 gives a point only for a repeat within 36 months of a prior conviction for the same offense.
• An accident where you were not principally at fault, including the situations the regulation presumes are not your fault, such as being lawfully parked or rear-ended without a conviction. A property-damage-only accident at or under $1,000 cannot be principally at fault at all.
• A conviction made confidential through traffic school. Under Vehicle Code 1808.7, the first traffic violator school conviction in any 18-month period is confidential, may not be disclosed except to a court, and carries no point. That does not apply to commercial license holders, violations in a commercial vehicle, or violations worth more than one point, and whether you may attend is the court's decision.
• A work-vehicle conviction protected under Insurance Code 488 once you file the required declaration.

The date your margin comes back

The Good Driver regulation, 10 CCR 2632.13.1, counts convictions dated within three years before the policy's effective or renewal date. Two things follow. The date that matters is the conviction date, not the day you were cited. And the point stops counting at the first effective or renewal date more than three years after that conviction, which is the moment to confirm your policy reflects it. If that date falls mid-term, ask the company how and when it will re-rate.

A short checklist while you carry one point

1. Order your driving record and note the conviction date of the point you have.
2. If you get another citation, read the court's instructions carefully before paying it; whether traffic school is available is the court's call.
3. After any accident, watch for the insurer's written fault notice and ask for reconsideration within 30 days if it's wrong; our page on challenging an at-fault finding shows how.
4. File an Insurance Code 488 declaration for any qualifying work-vehicle ticket.
5. Put the three-year date in your calendar.

With one point, prices for the same record still vary between companies. Compare Good Driver quotes with your conviction date in hand.