We have this conversation every damn time this is brought up in this sub.

Insurance doesn't look at your DMV points and assign some numeric value to them and adjust your rates as such (when i was a kid, everyone always said 1 point = 100 dollars a year, which just isn't true).

Insurance looks at your abstract, which is your driving history, and combines that with a whole host of other data, and then a computer spits out what your risk is, and you rates get set from there. That number constantly changes.

Some years your insurance, particularly if you are older and have a clean history and are a good customer, won't even pull your abstract for a renewal.

Your insurance company is well aware "unsafe operation" is a speeding ticket or other minor infraction you pleaded down to, or the cop cut you a break on, and will factor it in as such. As you mentioned, the fine for it is considerably higher than just paying the fine you would have otherwise, so all you did was pay a few hundred bucks to avoid a few points that don't matter to most people.

Now yes, if your job cares about DMV points, take the plea. If you have a CDL you probably want to take the plea. If you are bumping up against surcharges or something, yeah, take the plea.

But you can only take the plea twice in 5 years. So for most folks, its generally better to keep that in your back pocket in case you get pinched with a 20+ over or something a bit more costly and impactful to your insurance.

Edit: Moreover, everyone you care about knowing (a cop who runs your license, a judge if you get another ticket, whomever pulls your abstract) knows that you were probably speeding or something else silly, which is how you got that ticket, and may very well be able to see the original charge. So its not going to help you get out of a future ticket because someone will say, "hey, his record is clean, i'll cut him a break". If anything its more likely to get you the next ticket, as they will view it as, "well they already got a break 6 months ago, and here they are speeding\whatever again"

Edit2: also its not necessarily 395 dollars. It varies by town. The law is when taken as a plea, the fine is the fine of the original ticket + an additional fee set by the court (I think up to 250 bucks, and you can bet the town charges the max), and court costs (haven't had a ticket in a very long time, but i believe court costs are like 40 bucks in most places).

So yeah, for a low speeding ticket that was otherwise 100 bucks, it may very well be ~400 bucks, but it could be more depending on what the original fine is for.