What is better to take fine and points or course?

fredmila

I got caught in a speed camera trap. They are now offering me to choose a 'course' costing £90 and 4 hours of my time (more likely 6 hours with travel) or pay a fine of £60 and three points.
The course fee and time will cost me a fair amount in terms of my time. I have no endorsements in my license that count for insurance or losing the license, so my car insurance is cheap (£300 at present).
The question is, if I take the fine and points, will it end up costing me more in increased insurance cost in the next few years? Has anybody worked out by how much the insurance cost increases with 3 point on the license?
Has anybody taken any of these courses, do they just make you even angrier by being patronised like a school kid?

Thanks

Trebor16

The course is the option as it is not a conviction and when you get to the question on the websites where it asks if you have any convictions you can honestly answer no. Some insurers are including the speed awareness course in the drop down menu with all the convictions, but to get to the menu, you have to answer "yes" to having convictions. Which if you have done the course is not a conviction.

Happychappy

Just put up with the course, bite your tongue and come out of it with a clean licence, better than points for four years and declared for insurance purposes for five years, as well as the insurance industry making money out of you

At the end of the day you were speeding so your fault and you got caught so regardless of whichever camp of flog all speeders and hang em, or it's all a government scam, the course and no points is really a no brainer ?

buscape

Course all day long. You keep a clean licence then.

I think being patronised for 4 hours would be preferable to having 3 points on my licence personally.

neilmcl

Happychappy wrote: »

the course and no points is really a no brainer ?

It's not quite as simple as that. What if the OP is self-employed and by attending a course, during working hours, could prove costly and possibly more so than taking the fine. OP, it's difficult to coment in you circumstances on which is better as you haven't given us an indication of how costly you think it's going to be.

Norman_Castle

Has anybody taken any of these courses, do they just make you even angrier by being patronised like a school kid?

That depends on your attitude towards speeding.

RICK..._2

I don't even know why you'd need to ask this, it's a no brainer.

I've done the course and I wasn't patronised. If anything it just bored the life out of me. You can only do the course once per three years I think.

Rolandtheroadie

I took points and it made no difference to my insurance.
Better than that, when I sent away my licence to get my photo changed, it came back clean.

27col

I did the course and found it to be quite illuminating and in no way patronising. Unfortunately I managed to get picked up again where I thought limit was 40 and I was doing 35, so I got both points, and did the course in a period of 3 months. My own fault entirely.
I am still kicking myself about my lack of awareness in spite of having done the Driver Awareness Course.

rising_from_the_ashes

Course ... it feels like a lifetime for the points to come off!

So for 4 hours ..... absolute no brainer

nickj_2

i took the points , i don't think it made any difference to my insurance