Any experience in auto insurance increase following claims

[ski_mom]

I'm dreading our next insurance bill. We currently have a 16 and 17 year old driver. This past summer our 17 year old had a wreck and we had a pretty large claim involving her car and another car that she hit. Luckily no one was injured, but her car was totaled (a $6,500 car) and the car she hit was a 67 Chevy or something like that, so it cost quit a bit to get the owner back to his original condition.

She had her wreck on a Saturday and we had just received our renewal on the Monday before that, so we've been able to just have those rates for the past 6 months.

We should be receiving another renewal shortly for the next 6 month period and I'm starting to get nervous about what the new rates may be.

To make matters worse, our 16 year old had an incident this past weekend. It only involved her and her car, but we took it to the auto body shop today and we got a $5,000 estimate. I'm very nervous to turn it into insurance, but I really don't want to pay the entire amount out of pocket either.

Her car is a 2010 Cobalt and we only paid about $7,000 for it this past summer. I guess it wouldn't be totaled, but I doubt the insurance company will love paying $5,000 to fix up a $7,000 car.

Before this, I've had virtually no experience with filing claims (luckily).

Anyway, I don't know that there's anything we can do, but just wondered what experience others have had and if it turned out ok.

I really don't want the insurance company cancelling us or anything!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Sorry this happened. It sounds like your kids need to go back to being supervised when they drive or lose their licenses for a while. I hope they are at least helping to pay the deductible.

My husband had a accident several years ago with our SUV, which the insurance company deemed totaled because it would cost more than it was worth to repair. Our insurance (USAA) did not increase, but we were warned it would if we had another accident. We didn't!

I can't imagine two expensive accidents involving teenaged drivers is not going to adversely affect your premiums.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Be prepared, they may just drop you

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I dont have any experience with that, but I also have two 17 yr oid drivers so I'm interested in hearing the responses. I'm also curious, if you'd care to share, how much your rates went up in the first place once you added them (and their cars) on your policy? Cause ours went from $1200/yr to $6100/yr to add them and another nine year old car to ours. I know my SIL pays $8000/yr after one of her daughters had two accidents and I thought that was insane - until I got our bill, then I realized it wasn't so far fetched. (Fortunately we were able to switch companies and get our bill down to half, with the same coverage.) Given the circumstances and seeing my rates here (not sure where you live, MA is known to be expensive) you might consider paying out of pocket for the second accident if that's a possibility.

 

[Pooh2]

Our son had an accident (age age 19) and paid the deductible and difference in the insurance costs the next year. (This was discussed before allowing him to get his license, he messes up, he pays.)
Our independant agent shopped around and got us a better deal with a different company the following year.

All I can say, is This Too Shall Pass! I know it's a very stressful time.

 

[ski_mom]

I dont have any experience with that, but I also have two 17 yr oid drivers so I'm interested in hearing the responses. I'm also curious, if you'd care to share, how much your rates went up in the first place once you added them (and their cars) on your policy? Cause ours went from $1200/yr to $6100/yr to add them and another nine year old car to ours. I know my SIL pays $8000/yr after one of her daughters had two accidents and I thought that was insane - until I got our bill, then I realized it wasn't so far fetched. (Fortunately we were able to switch companies and get our bill down to half, with the same coverage.) Given the circumstances and seeing my rates here (not sure where you live, MA is known to be expensive) you might consider paying out of pocket for the second accident if that's a possibility.

I just looked it up and before we had either daughter on our policy, DH and I basically paid $1200 per year. Now, with both girls on there and they do each have their own (relatively cheap) car, we pay about $4,800 per year, so it looks to me like they are each about $150/month to insure with their cars.

That is before any increase due to the claim(s).

We could pay for the second accident out of pocket. If we do that though, I wonder if there is any reason not to drop to liability only coverage on their vehicles? If we dropped to liability only coverage on their cars, it would save about $800 per year (again this is before any claims).

I wish there were a magic ball I could look into and see what our increase would be if we file a claim vs what it would be if we don't file a claim. That's assuming they don't drop us.

Also, you mentioned you are in MA, we are in Illinois if that makes a difference.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

Ive never added a child to my policy. They had earned their own car and paid for their own insurance. They purchase a car with no collision, that is the costly part of the coverage. Also, they never drove my vehicles for that reason, I don't want the possibility of claims on our policy.

My kids were 17 when they got a permit, and drove six months minimal before getting their license. I do not believe from my experience and statistically a 16 year old is a good defensive driver. All they want is to get from point a to b.
Kids have a difficult time understanding defensive driving and being cautious and alert. An accident is inevitable, thank goodness no one was physically hurt.

On the other hand, I think elderly are just as problematic of drivers. They don't see other drivers often pulling out in front of them, and missing traffic signals.

 

[MillauFr]

All the more reason to get a $5,000 deductible and pay most of these bills out of pocket and not notify your insurance company. You are going to pay one way or the other.

 

[dpswift]

Be prepared, they may just drop you

That is what happened to a friend. I think her husband may have had an accident and then they filed a claim for the windows.

Maybe you should see about the girls getting their own insurance?

 

[kymom99]

Ive never added a child to my policy. They had earned their own car and paid for their own insurance. They purchase a car with no collision, that is the costly part of the coverage. Also, they never drove my vehicles for that reason, I don't want the possibility of claims on our policy.

My kids were 17 when they got a permit, and drove six months minimal before getting their license. I do not believe from my experience and statistically a 16 year old is a good defensive driver. All they want is to get from point a to b.
Kids have a difficult time understanding defensive driving and being cautious and alert. An accident is inevitable, thank goodness no one was physically hurt.

On the other hand, I think elderly are just as problematic of drivers. They don't see other drivers often pulling out in front of them, and missing traffic signals.

Even if they have their own car and policy, if they live in your house your rates are affected.

 

[cvjw]

OP, I feel your pain. I have a 19 year old DS who has had two wrecks - one his fault, one not. Luckily on the one that was his fault, he was driving DH's car, so the claim was filed on DH who had a one time good driving exemption, so the premiums did not go up.

My insurance agent told me that the 1st wreck the premiums don't go up, but the second wreck they increase by 40% (State Farm - 30 year + policies).

I WOULD NOT file the second claim on your insurance, I would pay it. Two expensive claims for two teens so close together, and you may find yourself without insurance.

I would also go to liability only for older cars with teen drivers. We gave DS our older Nissan Maxima when he turned 16 and got him liability only insurance. His premiums for liability only were $550 for 6 months.

When he graduated high school, we bought him a 2014 Mazda 6 and got full coverage on him ($1,000,000) coverage and it is $1150 every 6 months.

Just a note of warning - get as much coverage as you can afford. On DS's first wreck, a motorcyclist ran into him and it was deemed the motorcyclist's fault. He was very injured and spent weeks in the hospital in intensive care.

This man tried for 2 years to make the accident my son's fault. His medical bills were astronomical and could have been financially devastating for us if he had succeeded in shifting the blame. After this, we went to $1,000,000 worth of coverage.

 

[fairydust72]

Im mostly a lurker but I just wanted to say WOW on your premiums. I know it varies greatly by region but is that really what people pay?My insurance went up $60 a month when we added my DD 16. I guess its because of where we live. I am in rural PA and have Liberty Mutual. We dont have collision on her car because we only paid $3000 for it. My insurance is $2700 a year with 2 cars with full coverage and 1 without and 3 drivers-one being a teen. We have a very decent amount of coverage to protect our assets also.Have you price shopped? My sister has twin boys that got their license a few years ago and their own cars. She lives in Central Jersey which is sky high. Her rate was going to double with Allstate who she had for years. She shopped around- sorry cant remember who she would up with right now- but she wound up paying almost the same with new company with her 2 boys added than what she was paying with just her and her husband with the old company.

Also we saved a lot by having my DD take an online driving course. I believe it took 20% off the bill. We had to pay 69.95 for it but saved me quite a bit every month and is applied for 3 years. Also having straight A's gave a discount.

 

[HM]

Ours went up a lot when we added two drivers (18 and 16) and a new car at the same time a few years ago. Then we added another new car the next year. Then a year later my son (19,nearly 20) totalled his car. We expected the bill to soar because of that, but it didn't. DD got a credit for another year of safe driving, we got a replacement car that might have had a better rating, so it didn't really change much.

You might be lucky too.


To the previous poster, we do pay a lot of car insurance because we always buy new cars and cover them completely. We pay twice a year for four cars and four drivers. Cars are 2003, 2007, 2012, 2013) Currently around $1800 each time.

 

[Disneychix]

OP: Why don't you call your insurance company and be proactive and maybe make a deal or shop around? Do you have a local agency that you work with?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

OP: Why don't you call your insurance company and be proactive and maybe make a deal or shop around? Do you have a local agency that you work with?

NO!!!

Do not notify your insurance company about an accident if you are not going to make a claim. They are not going to make any kind of "deal" with you (not even sure what you mean by this anyway).

 

[Darcy03231]

DS #2 had a minor fender bender and his portion of the insurance doubled.

DD #1 totaled her car (her fault, she rear-ended another driver because she wasn't paying attention to what was in front of her, and her portion of the insurance premium went up 75%.

 

[Iowajes]

I was told that my rates will most likely go up because I was IN an accident.
As in, I was sitting nicely in my car at a red light and someone ran into me.

They won't actually raise my rates directly because of this, but when they run all their risk calculators, they see I was involved in an accident, and my "risk" goes up.

THAT is annoying.

 

[danygirl]

Do NOT go to liability only - get liability plus COMPREHENSIVE. Comp is cheap - years ago a claims adjuster explained to me that you pay very little for comp so it is best to have a zero deductible on comprehensive even if you have a big deductible on everything else

Comprehensive pays when
You hit an animal
You get a windshield crack
Your car gets vandalized
Your car gets stolen

And your premiums are not effected but most of these things

 

[Disneychix]

NO!!!

Do not notify your insurance company about an accident if you are not going to make a claim. They are not going to make any kind of "deal" with you (not even sure what you mean by this anyway).

I didn't say to notify them about the 2nd accident, I was recommending being pro-active instead of waiting around for 6 months wondering what the premium will go up to and then being stuck and pressed for time in trying to find the money or another insurance company.

I have an actual insurance office, local, personal. If I was worried about this I would absolutely have gone in there to speak with him about what I could do, i.e get my kids on their own insurance, raise deductibles, etc.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

That is what happened to a friend. I think her husband may have had an accident and then they filed a claim for the windows.

Maybe you should see about the girls getting their own insurance?

Even if they have their own car and policy, if they live in your house your rates are affected.

Fortunately, where we live, windows are no charge against the insurance. They come out and repair or replace without us having to pay the deductible and no hit to our insurance. "Safety first"

Our DS has decided to become independent, rather than dependent student. He changed all his license, bought another vehicle. To remove him from our insurance, we had to send in proof of new insurance policy, the vin for the new vehicle (proof we hadn't had it prior) and then a bill in his name at the new residence.

We went through the same thing 20 years ago when MIL changed her insurance company. Even though my DH had never been insured under their policy, he had lived at the address. We had to send in proof of our insurance.

Dealing with big name companies both times.

The big thing I have learned from these forums, before you give the keys and car over..you have to have a plan in place "if you get in an accident..." PP mentioned that their children had to pay it all. Sounds harsh, but they have a plan.
DD's friend was given the vehicle and parents said they would pay the insurance. 2 months later, child is trying to pay gas (fuel inefficient vehicle), work, study and surprise a $200 monthly insurance bill. He said he would have chosen a better vehicle or non if that had been told to him when he began driving.
Our plan was that we would take care of them until age 23 or married. But if you wreck the vehicle, don't plan on it being repaired immediately.

OP, my advise is to sit down with both your drivers and discuss the plan from this point forward.