What Limits How Often Can You Take A Defensive Driving Course?
If you have ever wondered how often you can take a defensive driving course, the answer really depends on your reasons for wanting to take one. The most common reasons for people to take defensive driving courses are that they have either been ordered to do so by judges or that by doing so they will qualify for reductions in their auto insurance premiums. There are no definite limits on how often you can take a defensive driving course, but your insurance company is unlikely to lower your premiums each time you complete one.
State Limitations
The insurance companies in several states limit how often you can take a defensive driving course to a single course very three years in order to qualify for an insurance premium reduction. And in many courts, those sentenced to attending defensive driving courses usually require the sentenced person to attend only once, but some offenders with a history of driving violations are required to attend once or twice a year. The schools or organizations offering them will not limit how often you can attend a defensive driving course, but they may make a recommendation depending on your driving history or age.
While in some states successfully completing a defensive driving course will expunge points from a person’s driving record, those states will also limit how often you can take a defensive driving course for that purpose. Limiting people to one course every two years is common, but if during that time the individual is found to be at fault in another accident, the expunged points may be reinstated with the possibility of further points being added.
Do You Really Want To Keep Paying?
Even though there may be no limit on how often you can take a defensive driving course, you will have to pay for each course repetition as if it were the first time you had taken it. Regardless of whether you are taking the course voluntarily or at the court’s direction, the cost is your responsibility. You may find it easier to take an online defensive driving course which is approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state, so that a certificate of completion will fulfill your obligation to the court. As with brick-and-mortar classes, there is no limit to how often you can take a defensive driving course online.
The advantage of an online course is that you can complete it at your convenience, without having to rearrange your other activities. How often you can take a defensive driving course is not really what you should be asking; how often will you need to take it in order to successfully pass the final exam is really the issue!
