The insurance reduction
Successful completion provides a 10% reduction, for three years, in the base rate of your current automobile liability, no-fault, and collision premiums. That is the statement DMV’s
course-advertising regulation
allows. You must be the principal operator of the insured vehicle.
The DMV PIRP page
also says an approved course reduces the base rate of your auto and motorcycle insurance premiums by 10% each year for three years. If more than one person named on the policy finishes, only the principal operator receives the 10%. Youthful drivers and drivers in the assigned risk pool receive it when they are the principal operator. Ask your insurer whether a driver who already has a driver-education reduction can also receive this one.
You keep the insurance benefit by taking the course once every 36 months. Repeating it sooner does not raise the reduction above 10% a year. The course does not prevent a general premium increase or an increase from a violation or a crash. This page does not estimate dollars saved.
Enroll in the 6-hour New York course
The sponsor mails a completion certificate by regular mail within 14 business days. DMV says an email copy is not valid and will not be accepted by your insurance company. Present the certificate yourself. Within 90 days, the liability and collision reduction starts immediately, retroactive to the day you finished. After 90 days, the insurer may start the discount on the day you present it.
The point reduction
“Point reduction” means the points DMV counts toward a suspension are reduced. It does not mean the points leave your record. DMV subtracts 4 points for the suspension calculation if you have 11 or more points. After the sponsor reports completion, DMV reduces active points by up to 4. The total cannot go below zero.
- Only points from violations in the 18 months before you finish are eligible.
- You can use a PIRP course for point reduction once in 18 months, even if you do not use the point benefit.
- Eleven points in 24 months can lead to a suspension. The 18-month window and the 24-month window are not the same clock.
- Your insurer’s point system is separate. This course does not change those points.
- It does not stop a mandatory suspension or revocation, including DWI, DWAI, or three speeding violations within 18 months.
- It does not affect a suspension or revocation that is already in place, or a violation hearing that is already scheduled.
- It does not prevent or reduce a driver responsibility assessment. DMV charges that assessment at 6 or more points in 18 months.
- Most violations remain on the record for up to 4 years. Drug or alcohol convictions remain for 10 or 15 years, depending on the violation.
Enroll in the 6-hour New York course
How the internet course works
New York requires this course to be advertised as 6 hours long. DMV’s
I-PIRP page
says the internet course includes 320 minutes of instruction, the same length it gives for the classroom course. You may split it across as many sessions as you need. You must finish within 30 days of the day you register. Part 141 requires timers so that instruction time is actually completed.
You need a computer and an internet connection. The sponsor must tell you about any other equipment when you register. DMV says an I-PIRP course can include quizzes, random tests, or a final exam, that the course normally expects about 70% of content questions correct, and that you normally get two tries at a question. The exact test rules are in the sponsor’s terms. Read them before you pay. If you do not meet the completion rules, you do not get the point or insurance credit.
Use your name exactly as it is on your New York license. If you do not have a New York DMV client ID, the completion cannot be applied to your license record. DMV also warns that taking a certificate without personally finishing the course is a crime.
The sponsor notifies DMV within 10 weeks. DMV then posts the point reduction. If it is still missing more than 10 weeks after you finish, contact the sponsor. You can order your own driving record to confirm the entry.
Enroll in the 6-hour New York course
The sponsor and the fee
DMV lists American Safety, 111 Washington Avenue, Suite 606, Albany, NY 12210, 1-800-800-7121, as an internet and alternate-delivery sponsor. The identity checks listed for that sponsor are keystroke analysis and personal and content questions. American Safety’s course is approved by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles for point and insurance reduction.
American Safety Institute’s course page
lists the course at $23.95 plus a DMV fee. This site does not set the price. The checkout page shows the amount due before you pay. DMV says sponsor fees vary and that you should compare them. Other sponsors are on the
approved-provider list.
American Safety Institute says it reports New York PIRP completions to DMV electronically and that you still send proof to your insurer. That matches DMV’s split: the sponsor tells DMV, and you tell the insurance company.
Enroll in the 6-hour New York course
What this course is not
Enroll in the 6-hour New York course
Guides
