Question:
My homeowners association is talking about handing out fines for
speeders in our gated community. If I were "ticketed" by my
HOA, could my insurer find out and penalize me? What about
affecting my license? I'm in Colorado.
Answer:
It's pretty unlikely that this type of speeding "ticket" would
affect your license or insurance.
Unless a
speeding violation
is placed on your official state driving record, your insurance
company should be none the wiser about you being caught speeding by
your neighborhood homeowners association (HOA). Without knowledge
of your risky behavior, your car insurance provider can't penalize
you by rating you on the infraction and raising your rates.
Since the ticket and fines are handed out by your HOA, and not a
true law enforcement agency, we don't see how the speeding offense
would ever make it to your motor vehicle record. It's our
understanding an HOA is able to "ticket" its own residents (and
guests of residents) only if the agreement and contracts the
residents have with their HOA allow for it.
If your HOA is considering fining residents when they, or their
guests, are caught speeding in your gated community, then you need
to address your HOA with any concerns you have before a decision is
made to go ahead with such a venture.
We are aware of a gated neighborhood in Colorado whose
HOA has started fining those found speeding
in their community.
Here, the streets are considered private property and not
regulated by the local sheriff's office, so the HOA has set up a
photo-laser-radar to capture the picture of the license of speeding
automobiles.
This particular HOA uses the photos to determine which resident
the car belongs to (or if a visitor, what resident they were a
guest of) and then fines them. The fines range from $15 for one to
4 mph over the limit up to $100 for 20 mph or more over.
We contacted the Colorado
Department of Insurance
to verify that this type of "ticket" wouldn't affect motorists' car
insurance rates.
The representative said that, as a general rule, an auto insurance
company will only use motor-vehicle ticketed violations and/or
at-fault accidents. Thus, meaning tickets given out by authorized
law enforcement officers and that go on your
Colorado
driving record.
She too had read about the HOA that started to issue fines to
speeders and doesn't believe it is an official ticket, but a fine
given out from the HOA based on the agreement the homeowners have
with the association. She advised you to check with the Colorado
Division of Motor Vehicles to see what they said about these types
of tickets and your driving record.
Regarding official speeding tickets, the DOI representative said
that each insurance company has its own underwriting guidelines and
rating systems. So, if you have one or more moving violations on
your driving record, it could affect your rates. It's best to have
a conversation with your insurance agent regarding your insurer's
business practices in regards to how they rate on traffic
violations.
If you have official moving violations on your driving record, it
could result in your auto insurer penalizing you with a surcharge,
which means higher rates and the possible loss of a good driver
discount. If this happens, shop around before renewing with your
current insurance provider. It's very possible that you could save
hundreds, if not more, by comparison shopping for an insurer that
doesn't rate as harshly for minor traffic tickets. (See "3 ways to
save big money on car insurance")