Warner Robins, GA
Insurance points are the premium side of a North Carolina crash. Here is how the Safe Driver Incentive Plan assigns them, how much they cost, when a first accident is forgiven, and why a crash you did not cause adds none.
Also called: Safe Driver Incentive Plan points, insurance points, SDIP surcharge
North Carolina runs two point systems with the same name, and the one most drivers feel is not the one at the DMV. The Safe Driver Incentive Plan, usually shortened to SDIP, is the insurance system: it assigns points to at-fault accidents and to convictions for moving violations, and each point carries a fixed percentage surcharge on the premium for the policy’s experience period. A single at-fault fender-bender can cost more over three years than the repair did.
This page explains the plan as the statute and the Department of Insurance describe it: the three accident tiers, the conviction schedule, the forgiveness rule for a first minor accident, and what the plan means when you are the person who was hit. Joshua E. Palmer, Attorney at Law handles injury claims across North Carolina, and SDIP points are one of the first worries clients raise.
The plan comes from N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-36-65. Subsection (b) requires the North Carolina Rate Bureau to file, for the Commissioner of Insurance to approve, a Safe Driver Incentive Plan that separates drivers with clean records from drivers with at-fault accidents, major moving-violation convictions, minor moving-violation convictions, or a combination, and that sets premium differentials among those classes. The Commissioner may structure the plan as surcharges above and discounts below the base rate, and every insurer writing auto coverage in the state applies it.
The statute also protects the insured’s right to know: under § 58-36-65(d), an insurer that surcharges a policy or removes a safe-driver discount must mail the named insured a notice stating the basis before or with the bill and, on written request, a statement of the added premium. The Department of Insurance publishes the current schedule on its Safe Driver Incentive Plan page.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-36-75 defines the accident tiers by what the crash cost, and every tier begins with the words “at-fault.” A major accident is an at-fault accident that results in bodily injury or death, or in property damage of $3,850 or more. An intermediate accident is an at-fault accident with only property damage of more than $2,300 but less than $3,850. A minor accident is an at-fault accident with only property damage of $2,300 or less. The property-damage figure counts all property, including the insured’s own car.
The Department of Insurance schedule, as published on November 9, 2026, attaches the points and surcharges below, and notes that no points apply for bodily injury if the medical costs were solely diagnostic.
| Accident tier (§ 58-36-75) | SDIP points | Premium surcharge |
|---|---|---|
| Minor: at fault, total property damage of $2,300 or less | 1 | 40% |
| Intermediate: at fault, total property damage over $2,300 and under $3,850 | 2 | 55% |
| Major: at fault, death or bodily injury with medical costs over $1,800, or property damage of $3,850 or more | 3 | 70% |
Tiers from the statute; point values and percentages from the Department of Insurance schedule read on November 9, 2026. The Rate Bureau manual controls and the figures can change; surcharges apply for the experience period, generally the three years before the policy is written or renewed.
Convictions are the other half of the plan. The Department of Insurance schedule groups them by severity, from one point for an ordinary moving violation to twelve for impaired driving. The experience period is generally the three years before the policy is written or renewed; for non-speeding convictions carrying four or more points on or after July 1, 2025, the Department states that it is five years.
| Points | Convictions | Surcharge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Other moving violations; speeding 10 mph or less over a limit under 55 | 40% |
| 2 | Illegal passing; following too closely; wrong side of the road; speeding more than 10 over at a total speed between 55 and 76, or 10 or less over in a 55-plus zone | 55% |
| 4 | Reckless driving; hit-and-run with property damage only; passing a stopped school bus; speeding over 75 (limit under 70) or over 80 (limit 70 or higher); driving under 21 after consuming alcohol or drugs | 90% |
| 8 | Driving while license or registration is revoked or suspended; aggressive driving | 200% |
| 10 | Highway racing or lending a vehicle for it; speeding to elude arrest | 260% |
| 12 | Manslaughter or negligent homicide; prearranged racing; hit-and-run with injury or death; driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more (.04 in a commercial vehicle); driving while impaired | 340% |
Summarized from the Department of Insurance schedule; the Rate Bureau manual controls. A conviction is counted once; an accident is counted whether or not a ticket was issued, so long as the insured was at fault.
Section 58-36-75(a1) forgives a first minor accident. There is no surcharge, no Reinsurance Facility increase, and no points where four things are true: the insured was at fault in a minor accident, meaning property damage of $2,300 or less; the insured was not convicted of a moving violation for it; no licensed driver in the household has a moving-violation conviction or an at-fault accident in the three years before the policy was applied for or renewed; and the insured carried liability insurance with the same company group continuously for the six months before the accident.
The six-month condition is forgiving: if the insured reaches six continuous months with the same company after the accident and the first three conditions are met, the company must remove any surcharge or points, and a company may choose not to charge a newer customer at all when the other conditions hold. An accident in which the insured was not at fault is outside the plan entirely: the tiers in § 58-36-75(a) apply only to at-fault accidents, so being rear-ended adds nothing.
The points are about your own premium, but the fault call behind them matters. An insurer’s decision to assess points is its own reading of who caused the crash, not a court finding. The same facts that keep points off your policy, the crash report, the physical evidence, and the witnesses, are the facts that defeat a contributory negligence defense in an injury claim, because North Carolina bars recovery entirely when the injured person’s own negligence contributed to the crash.
If you were the person hit, your own insurer should not assess points for an accident you did not cause, and if a premium notice says otherwise, § 58-36-65(d) entitles you to the basis in writing. A claim on your own collision or uninsured motorist coverage for a crash someone else caused is not an at-fault accident. The firm’s answer on whether insurance goes up after a not-at-fault accident covers what a premium can and cannot do.
Joshua E. Palmer
Managing Partner · Joshua E. Palmer, Attorney at Law
Attorney Palmer concentrates in personal injury law and trained in North Carolina law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham. These pages explain the North Carolina rules he applies in client cases every week, in plain English, with the statute that sets each one.
Hit by another driver and now facing a premium notice or a fault dispute? Call for a free case review. We will read the crash report with you and tell you where the fault call stands.
Responsible attorney: Joshua E. Palmer, Managing Partner · 106 Moran Dr #5106, Bonaire, GA 31005 · (478) 887-3734. Attorney advertising. This page is general legal information about North Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation; contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.
If an insurer is treating you as the at-fault driver in a crash someone else caused, tell us what happened. Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
Each case is different. Any results, settlement figures, or benefit amounts described on this page depend on the specific facts of that case and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in yours. Statutes and benefit rates cited are current as of November 2026; confirm current law with an attorney before relying on it.
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