Question: If I get a ticket in another state is it reported to my home state?

Answer: In most cases, yes. Not only is it reported but your insurance company will also have access to the records.

Forty three states and the District of Columbia belong to what is known as the Driver’s License Compact. The theme of this compact is “One Driver, One License, One Record.” Most, but not all members of the compact treat the violation as if it happened in your home state. That means that points will be assessed and in the case of serious violations such as DUI or vehicular manslaughter, your license will be suspended or revoked.

As I said, most but not all states treat violations as if they happened in the home state. Some states may consider some reported traffic violations as minor and not assign points. Other states may not only treat the violation as more serious but may apply more points to your record than the reporting state would have. New York treats tickets received in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario as a New York violation. All states have agreed to suspend your license if you fail to pay the ticket or appear in court in the state that issued the ticket

Even though they don’t officially belong to the compact, states like Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin may still report traffic tickets to the home state and accept reports of tickets from other states.

From my own experience as a former driver license examiner for the State of Florida, when someone moves to Florida and wants to transfer their license, the first thing the examiner does is to check the applicant’s driving record in their old state. The states communicate with each other.

As a driving school instructor, I’ve had quite a few students in my classes who received their tickets in other states and wanted to remove the points from their Florida driving record.

Insurance companies don’t belong to the compact and it doesn’t matter to them where you got the ticket or whether your home state considers it as a serious violation or not. If there’s a violation on your driving record from any state, they can raise your rates. Your driving record is public information that anyone can access and the insurance companies use that information when setting your rates. The only way to prevent that is if your home state has a law like the one in Florida that prevents them from raising your rates if you qualify to attend traffic school.