How to Get Points Off Your Driving Record

New York, like many other states and jurisdictions, uses a point system to track and penalize traffic violations. Accumulating points on your driving record can have consequences, including a potential license suspension, increased insurance premiums and damage to your driving history.

Fortunately, you have options to protect your driving record after a speeding ticket or another violation. Learn more about how you can dismiss points from your record with 100% online defensive driving training.

Reduce Points with a Defensive Driving Course

To protect your driving record in New York, you can take an Internet Point & Insurance Reduction Program (IPIRP) course, commonly known as a defensive driving course. Completing traffic school online can help you reduce the number of points on your driver's license and lower your insurance premiums.

Under New York's point system, every ticket, traffic violation or other driving citation adds points to your driver's license record. If you accumulate 11 or more points in an 18-month period, your license could be suspended.

There are two ways to reduce the number of points on your license.

The first is to just let time pass. After 18 months, a ticket will no longer count toward license suspension. If you don't want to wait — or can't afford to — you can take a NYS DMV-approved defensive driving course.

Completing approved driver safety training reduces up to four points on your record. That can be the difference between keeping and losing your driver's license.

You can only reduce the impact of existing traffic violations accrued in the last 18 months. If you have fewer than four license points, you can't keep the rest as “credit” against future speeding tickets. They will stay on your driving record, but the total amount will be reduced by four when calculating penalties.

Make sure you meet the eligibility requirements before enrolling in a defensive driving course. Although there are no official age requirements, the course is designed for licensed drivers 16 and older. In New York, you are eligible to take the course every 18 months to reduce points.

Our online defensive driving course is approved by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (NYS DMV) as part of its Point and Insurance Reduction Program. This course makes it easy to comply with state regulations and protect your record from penalties.

Regularly checking your driving record is crucial to staying informed about your current point status. The NYS DMV allows you to request a copy of your driving abstract. Reviewing your abstract allows you to assess current marks on your driving record and take action if any errors or discrepancies are found.

About Our Course

Our 100% online defensive driving course lets you complete lessons at your convenience from a computer or mobile device. The course generally takes around six hours to complete, but you can divide it into multiple sessions to make it more digestible.

Benefits of our course include:

100% online and DMV approved
No final exam
Reduce up to four points from your driving record
Save 10% on your car insurance for three years
Automatic completion reporting
And more

You can take our course every 18 months for point reduction and every three years to renew your 10% insurance discount. To receive your insurance discount, contact your provider to learn how to correctly submit your completion certificate.

You will receive a certificate of completion by mail within seven to 10 business days of finishing the course. Provide the certificate to your insurance provider to receive your mandatory discount.

Receiving Point Reduction

Point reduction can help you maintain a clean driving record and potentially avoid a driver's license suspension or revocation.

We will automatically report your course completion to the DMV. Upon receiving confirmation of your completion, the New York State DMV will reduce up to four license points from your total. It can take up to 10 weeks for the DMV to process your program completion and apply it to your record.

It's important to note that while a defensive driving course can reduce license points, convictions and points are not actually removed from your record. Instead, those points are not officially counted toward your active total for penalties.

Certain serious offenses may also be ineligible for reduction. Always check with the NYS DMV or Traffic Violation Bureau (TVB) for updated information on point reduction and eligibility.

Sources

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. (2014, September). Point & Insurance Reduction Program. Retrieved from https://dmv.ny.gov/brochure/point-insurance-reduction-program

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. (n.d.). About the New York State Driver Point System. Retrieved from https://dmv.ny.gov/tickets/about-nys-driver-point-system

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. (n.d.). MyDMV. Retrieved from https://dmv.ny.gov/mydmv/mydmv-0