The Filing Ended. The Good Driver Clock Runs on Different Dates.
The day the SR-22 comes off feels like a finish line. For pricing, it is one marker among several. The Good Driver Discount is set out in the Insurance Code with its own test and its own look-back periods, and none of them mention the filing. Working out your dates is a fifteen-minute job with your driver record.
The test, in the statute's terms
Under Insurance Code 1861.025, a driver qualifies when all of these are true:
- Licensed for the previous three years.
- In the previous three years, not more than one violation point. A principally-at-fault accident causing only property damage counts as one point.
- In the previous three years, not more than one dismissal for completing traffic school.
- In the previous three years, no principally-at-fault accident causing injury or death.
- No DUI conviction in the previous ten years.
Insurance Code 1861.02(b) then requires a Good Driver Discount policy to be priced at least 20 percent below what that driver would otherwise pay for the same coverage.
Why the dates do not line up with the filing
The SR-22 period is counted from the DMV action behind it. The Good Driver test is counted from the dates of the violations, accidents and convictions themselves. Those are different calendars, so the two can finish years apart.
| What produced the filing | Good Driver date to look for |
|---|---|
| A DUI conviction | Ten years from the conviction. This usually lands long after a three-year filing ends. |
| An at-fault accident with injury | Three years from the accident, if nothing else on the list applies. |
| Violation points | The date your count in the trailing three years drops to one point or fewer. |
| A suspension with no points and no at-fault accident | Check each entry; the suspension alone is not one of the listed tests. |
Working out your own date
- Print your driver record. The DMV says it reports DUI convictions for 10 years, most 2-point violations for 10 years, other convictions for 3 years, and collisions for 3 years.
- List every entry with its violation, conviction or accident date.
- For each, add three years (or ten for a DUI conviction) and note the latest resulting date that still matters for the test.
- Add the license test: three years licensed before the policy date.
- Put a requote on the calendar for that date, and ask each carrier in writing whether you qualify for the Good Driver Discount on it.
What the end of the filing does change
Even before Good Driver status, the end of the filing can widen the field of carriers willing to quote, which is reason enough to requote at the end. Ending it properly matters; see removing the SR-22 for the order. The policy stays; only the filing goes.
Two cautions
- A new violation during or after the filing resets your own arithmetic, not the statute's. Recount from the new date.
- Qualifying is the driver's status. On a household policy, other listed drivers' records also shape the household's price.
- The record an insurer reads may be a fresh pull on the quote date, so the dates you worked out above are the ones that count, not the date you last checked.
When your date arrives, requote here and say that you expect to qualify, so it is checked rather than assumed.
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Does the Good Driver Discount start when my SR-22 ends?
Not automatically. Insurance Code 1861.025 measures points and at-fault injury accidents over three years and DUI convictions over ten, counted from those events, not from the filing.
How big is the Good Driver Discount?
Insurance Code 1861.02(b) requires a Good Driver Discount policy to be priced at least 20 percent below the rate the driver would otherwise be charged for the same coverage.
Does an SR-22 by itself disqualify me?
The filing is not one of the listed tests. The violations, accidents or convictions behind it are what the test looks at.
Can traffic school help?
The statute allows not more than one traffic-school dismissal in the previous three years. Whether a given citation is eligible for traffic school is a court question.