TT99 convictions and car insurance

Commonly known as a “totting up ban”, a TT99 conviction is given for the accumulation of 12 or more penalty points on your licence within a 3-year period.

Being issued with a TT99 conviction is likely to raise the cost of your car insurance. In such cases, it’s often worth looking at dedicated convicted driver cover to ensure you're getting the best possible deal, potentially from a specialist insurer.

A TT99 conviction is given after receiving a number of different convictions that contribute to the appropriate amount of penalty points. These convictions can come from one repeated type of offence, a combination of different offences or in some cases one severe offence. Contributing offences include:

• SP notices, which are administered for speeding offences and can range from 3 to 6 penalty points, unless you take a speed awareness course: (https://www.moneyexpert.com/car-insurance/speed-awareness-courses/)
• TS notices, administered for traffic signal offences such as failure to obey a traffic signal or stop sign. These mainly carry a punishment of 3 penalty points.
• CD and DD notices, administered for careless or dangerous driving offences. These can carry serious punishments up to 11 penalty points.
• IN notices, which are administered for insurance offences, and carry a 6 point punishment.

The amount of time you will be disqualified from driving with a TT99 conviction is based upon your driving history. As a driver who has held their licence for more than 2 years you will be disqualified for:

• 6 months – If you get 12 penalty points or more within three years
• 12 months – If you get a second disqualification within three years
• 2 years – If you get a third disqualification

On top of this disqualification, your conviction will remain on your licence for 4 years from the time of the conviction, and you'll need to declare it to your insurer for 5 years after the conviction.

While the disqualification periods are the same for new drivers, fewer penalty points are required for first disqualification. If you've held your licence for less than 2 years, you'll only need to accrue 6 penalty points before being disqualified for 6 months.

A TT99 conviction will raise your insurance premiums, as all driving convictions generally do. This is because drivers who've received a driving ban are considered a greater risk to insurers. Also some insurers won't insure drivers with a previous TT99 conviction so the pool of potential insurers is reduced.