speeding tickets can result in fines between $25 and $500, plus two to six points on your Georgia driving record. You can either contest the violation in court or accept the conviction, pay the fine, and withstand a potential 29% increase on your

car insurance

rate.

How to deal with your speeding ticket in Georgia

Step 1: Assess the fines and points associated with your ticket. You can learn more about your traffic violation by reviewing the information on your citation, but here’s a rundown of the penalties you may face:

Minimal penalties: A speeding ticket for driving five miles per hour or less comes with a $0 fine and zero points on your Georgia driving record.

Regular penalties: Exceeding the limit by more than five miles can boost that fine to $25 to $500, and going over the limit by 15 miles per hour can add two to six demerit points to your record.

Super Speeder penalties: Motorists caught driving over the limit by 75 miles per hour on a two-lane road or 85 miles per hour or faster on other roads or highways will receive a Super Speeder ticket, which adds an extra $200 to the existing fine and six points on your driving record.1

Step 2: Decide whether to pay or fight the ticket. You can pay your fine and accept the penalties to resolve your case before your court date, but pre-paying your ticket means you are pleading guilty to the citation. While you won’t need to appear in court, you will face points on your license, the fines and fees, and a higher insurance rate.

Step 3: Shop for car insurance before your next renewal. Your speeding tickets won’t impact your rates until your policy is due for renewal, but your rates will increase by an average of 29% due to your citation. Shopping for new quotes from different providers can help you find a lower rate after a Georgia speeding ticket.

Learn more:

The best way to shop for car insurance in 2023

How to pay your ticket

You can pay your Georgia speeding ticket online, by phone, by mail, or in person. You will need the following details to complete the payment:

Citation number (found on the speeding ticket)

Court case number

Driver’s license number

Here’s a rundown of how you can pay your ticket using the payment methods mentioned above:

Online: You can access the court’s or county’s website to pay your ticket. If those websites are unavailable, you can use

the Judicial Council of Georgia’s centralized database

. Additionally, if you received a Super Speeder ticket, you can pay it through a portal on the

Georgia Department of Driver Services

website.

By phone: You can call the court to pay by phone. The phone number may be listed on your citation.

By mail: There may be a payment address outlined on your citation, but before you mail your check, you’ll likely need to contact the court to arrange the payment.

In person: You can visit the courthouse referenced on your citation to pay your fine in person. 2

Keep in mind: In the state of Georgia, you have 30 days from the date that the citation was issued to either pay the ticket or take your case to court. If you fail to respond to the ticket within 30 days, you could face additional fines and penalties, including a license suspension. Furthermore, if you received a Super Speeder ticket, you have 120 days to pay it or face a license suspension and $50 reinstatement fee.

How to get your ticket dismissed in Georgia

You are given the option to dispute your speeding violation in traffic court to have your ticket reduced or dismissed. Citations are commonly dismissed when the following effective arguments are used:

Law enforcement error or defective radar: Police officers typically use technology like radar and LiDAR to measure vehicle speed in Georgia. Your ticket could be dismissed if you can prove that the technology used to detect your speed was operated incorrectly or malfunctioned.

Defective speedometer: If your vehicle’s speedometer was broken at the time of the violation, you may be able to get your ticket dismissed.

Medical emergencies: The court may dismiss your violation if you were speeding in response to a medical emergency.

Having a

clean driving record

, free from any prior traffic infractions, improves the likelihood of having your speeding ticket dismissed.

Whether you are a new citizen, an out-of-state driver, or a new driver—not knowing Georgia’s speeding laws does not serve as a good speeding ticket defense. Avoid using ignorance as a defense in court.

Pleading nolo contendere

If your speeding ticket is worth 3 points or less, you may also plead nolo contendere, or no contest. Essentially, this means you don’t admit or contest your guilt, but agree to accept the punishment at your court appearance.

How it works: As far as your driving record is concerned, a nolo plea is the same thing as a guilty plea. The ticket will be in your history, along with the speed you were driving, should anyone run a record check on you. However, a nolo plea can keep points off your license.

If you already have several points on your license, this can be a useful way to prevent acquiring more. Remember—once you reach 15 points on your license in Georgia, your driving privileges will be suspended, so a nolo plea may be a wise choice.

Keep in mind: You can only plead nolo once every five years, so it’s best to only use it when you need to.

What are the fines and penalties for speeding in Georgia?

Speeding misdemeanors in Georgia typically lead to two main types of penalties:

Fines and fees: Fine amounts range between $25 to $500 for speeding tickets in Georgia, but you will also face additional fees that increase the overall costs associated with the ticket.

Demerit points: Depending on your speed, you will face between two to six points on your Georgia driving record. Points stay on your driving record in Georgia for two years.

Special cases If you receive a Super Speeder citation, you will face an extra $200 fee and six points on your driving record. Additionally, If your traffic violation is deemed reckless driving—due to speeding with driving under the influence (DUI) or a similar infraction—you will encounter additional fines and penalties, such as a suspended license or even jail time.

Keep in mind that if you receive 15 points within a 24 month period for breaking Georgia’s traffic laws, your license will be suspended. You may be able to request a points reduction from the Department of Driver Services, but you will need to argue a solid case with supporting evidence of safer driving habits to do so.

Fines for Georgia speeding tickets

Traffic violation	Base fine	Additional fines	Additional penalties
5 mph over the posted speed limit	$0	N/A	N/A
More than 5 mph but less than 10 mph over the posted speed limit	$25	N/A	N/A
More than 10 mph but less than 14 mph over the posted speed limit	$100	N/A	N/A
More than 14 mph but less than 19 mph over the posted speed limit	$125	N/A	Demerit points
More than 19 mph but less than 24 mph over the posted speed limit	$150	N/A	Demerit points
More than 24 mph but less than 24 mph over the posted speed limit	$500	N/A	Demerit points
Over the posted speed limit by 75 mph on a two-lane road or 85 mph on other roadways	$500	$200	Demerit points

Point system for Georgia speeding tickets

Speeding offense	# of demerit points	# of years on driving record
15 to 18 mph over the speed limit	2	2
19 to 23 mph over the speed limit	3	2
24 to 33 mph over the speed limit	4	2
34 mph or more over the speed limit	6	2

Your insurance will go up after a speeding ticket—here’s how to lower it

Your speeding ticket will incur initial fines and administrative fees, but the most impactful financial hit that most drivers take after a speeding citation or traffic offense are higher car insurance rates.

In Georgia, drivers see an average auto insurance premium increase of 29% after a single speeding ticket.

Once you’ve settled your speeding ticket fine, it’s a good idea to use the following tips to find affordable car insurance:

1. Review your renewal date and compare car insurance quotes

Your insurance provider will become aware of your speeding ticket when they review your

motor vehicle report (MVR)

before your renewal date. This is when you’ll see a rate increase, so it’s wise to find out how long you have before your policy renews and your rate goes up.

When your renewal date comes around, you will notice a surcharge for your speeding ticket that steepens your rate. Once you know how much your policy will cost going forward, you can begin comparison shopping for car insurance quotes from other providers.

Even with a speeding ticket on your MVR, you may be able to find a car insurance company that offers a lower rate for your coverage needs.

The Jerry app can help you efficiently review personalized quotes from multiple insurers at once.

Learn More:

Compare car insurance quotes (2023)

Pro Tip: Reshopping for insurance can help you uncover lower auto insurance rates as your speeding ticket becomes less prominent on your Georgia driving record.

In minutes, Jerry can help you compare quotes from over 55 carriers, finding you the best coverage at the best rate.

If you use the Jerry app to secure your car insurance policy, you’ll have access to updated rates that better reflect your driving record over time with the automatic reshop feature.

2. Take a defensive driver (driver improvement) course

As stated in Georgia’s driving laws Section 40-5-86, you can reduce up to seven points on your driving record once every five years in Georgia by taking a

certified driver improvement course

. 3

Contact your insurance provider to see if you’re eligible for a defensive driving discount and receive a list of approved courses.

3. Take advantage of discounts

If you previously reaped the benefits of good driver discounts on your car insurance policy, you will lose them due to a speeding ticket. While your rates will be higher alongside a speeding ticket surcharge, there are a few other

car insurance discounts

that can bring down your expenses:

Telematics discounts (i.e. tracking your driving)

Paid-in-full discounts

Responsible payer discounts

Low-mileage discounts

Good student discounts

When are insurance companies notified about speeding tickets?

Your insurance company will find out about your speeding ticket when

your policy is up for renewal

and they look over your updated motor vehicle report.

You can expect a rate increase when your policy is due to renew, but before then, you will pay your current unaffected premium.

The cheapest car insurance companies after a speeding ticket in Georgia

Here’s an overview of the renewal rate increases from popular insurance providers after a speeding ticket:

Insurance company	Average rate increase after a speeding ticket
Allstate	15%
USAA	17%
American Family	22%
Nationwide	26%
State Farm	26%
Farmers	31%
Auto-Owners	36%
Travelers	37%
GEICO	38%
Progressive	43%

The average costs of insurance for Georgia drivers without speeding tickets are $240 per month for full coverage or $2,878 per year. For drivers with speeding or traffic citations on their MVR, rates increase to $308 per month or $3,701 per year for full coverage. That brings the average yearly rate increase for Georgia drivers after a speeding ticket to $823.

With this said, every insurance company handles traffic violations and rates differently. While you will receive a higher rate due to a traffic violation, your premiums could come out to more or less than the average based on your overall driving record, the number of years you’ve been insured by your provider, and how you plead in court for the ticket.

Where’d we get these numbers? To find the average rate increase after a speeding ticket in every state, Jerry’s editorial team researched the average rate increase after a speeding ticket using expert sources from Forbes, NerdWallet, ValuePenguin, WalletHub, Liberty Mutual, The Zebra, and CarInsurance.com. We averaged the rate increase data from these sources and applied it to average rate data derived from thousands of real quotes drivers found through Jerry to determine average premium drivers pay after a speeding ticket in each state.

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FAQs

Should I fight my Georgia speeding ticket?

It’s worth trying to fight your ticket if you believe the citation was unfair and you can prove that you weren’t speeding. You can also argue that you were speeding less than what you were cited for, which can lower the points on your license and the percentage your insurance will increase.

However, you will need to be able to back up your claims with evidence—if you don’t have any, it might just be easier to pay the fine. Seeking legal advice from a reputable law firm can help you uncover the best route for your Georgia speeding ticket.

Will I lose my license if I don’t fight a speeding ticket?

While you won’t usually lose your license for speeding in Georgia, you can lose your license for having too many demerit points on it. If you acquire 15 points on your license in Georgia over 24 months, your driving privileges will be suspended for 6 months.

How much is the fine for a 20 over speeding ticket in Georgia?

Driving more than 19 miles per hour but less than 24 miles per hour over the speed limit in Georgia results in a fine of $150, plus additional processing fees.

How much is a regular speeding ticket in Atlanta, Georgia?

Regular speeding tickets in Georgia result in fines of between $25 to $500. Drivers are not charged fines for driving five miles per hour or less over the speed limit, but once you cross over 5 miles per hour, you will incur a fine.

SOURCES

https://georgia.gov/pay-super-speeder-fine

https://georgia.gov/pay-traffic-ticket

https://dds.georgia.gov/points-and-points-reduction