Any experience in auto insurance increase following claims

[UCFGrad01]

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

Not true. An insurer can't charge premium for someone that's already paying premium. If they drive your cars, it's best to leave everyone on the same policy. Plus you have multi car discounts and your years of driving experience working to counteract their inexperience, which does help some with the rates.

I have to ask, if he caused $5000 damage to your car, what did he hit? If he caused damage to another vehicle or property, do yourself a favor and don't hide this from the insurance company. You're leaving yourself with quite a liability. And as someone else suggested, don't underinsure yourself trying to save money.

Ask if there are any discounts the kids can get...student, driving courses, etc. They may have lost eligibility after their accidents, but it doesn't hurt to ask. And my totally unsolicited two cents, this may also be a really good learning opportunity for your young drivers who will someday be in charge of their own bills and insurance. Showing them the financial consequences of having an accident and even having them work to contribute toward the premium may go a long way the next time they get behind the wheel. Accidents are accidents, but I can tell you I drive a lot differently in a parking lot after having an accident I was partially responsible for.

 

[MillauFr]

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

When I had an older car I dropped both the collision and comprehensive. They are not going to pay you much anyway so why pay for the coverage. Having a clean insurance record with no claims is more important that collecting a few thousand dollars making a claim.

 

[ZachnElli]

Not true. An insurer can't charge premium for someone that's already paying premium. If they drive your cars, it's best to leave everyone on the same policy. Plus you have multi car discounts and your years of driving experience working to counteract their inexperience, which does help some with the rates.

I have to ask, if he caused $5000 damage to your car, what did he hit? If he caused damage to another vehicle or property, do yourself a favor and don't hide this from the insurance company. You're leaving yourself with quite a liability. And as someone else suggested, don't underinsure yourself trying to save money.

Ask if there are any discounts the kids can get...student, driving courses, etc. They may have lost eligibility after their accidents, but it doesn't hurt to ask. And my totally unsolicited two cents, this may also be a really good learning opportunity for your young drivers who will someday be in charge of their own bills and insurance. Showing them the financial consequences of having an accident and even having them work to contribute toward the premium may go a long way the next time they get behind the wheel. Accidents are accidents, but I can tell you I drive a lot differently in a parking lot after having an accident I was partially responsible for.

Actually, insurance companies can and will charge for all drivers in the household. I've worked in 2 independent offices and a State Farm office and they all did it. Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, Metlife, etc. they all charged if they ran a household driver report and it came back with more drivers. This can vary by state laws, one state's laws can be very different from the next.
Op'r, it is very hard to predict what will happen to your rates. I've seen teen rates triple, but I've also seen them go up by just a little. I will say, in my experience, Cobalts, were very expensive to insure with a teen driver. They are considered sport cars, I don't know why. If you can get rid of it and get something else (is it totaled?), that could help your rates. Call before you buy and get rates on cars you are looking at, always! If you file the other claim and you do get dropped, Progressive will insure anybody with a license. Sometimes when you get dropped, it's hard to find new insurance.

 

[danygirl]

When I had an older car I dropped both the collision and comprehensive. They are not going to pay you much anyway so why pay for the coverage. Having a clean insurance record with no claims is more important that collecting a few thousand dollars making a claim.

You missed the point. Comprehensive costs me about $10 per year. I have had two cars stolen and replaced or repaired 5 windshields. You don't need collision on an older car but the very low price of zero deductible comprehensive makes it an excellent value. Because I had the comprehensive I was able to use my rental car reimbursement coverage while they hunted for my car. That was $30/day for 30 days, plus they paid for the car when it was found totaled. This coverage is $10 per year.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Insurance agent here.....

Not true. An insurer can't charge premium for someone that's already paying premium. If they drive your cars, it's best to leave everyone on the same policy. Plus you have multi car discounts and your years of driving experience working to counteract their inexperience, which does help some with the rates.

Yes, they can. Most carriers require all licensed drivers in a household are listed on the policy. Some will let you "non-rate" the driver if they are insured elsewhere.

Ask if there are any discounts the kids can get...student, driving courses, etc. They may have lost eligibility after their accidents, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

It is a good idea to be proactive with making sure the kids have all eligible discounts added to their policy. Many times people don't turn in the required documentation to get the discounts so make sure this is in order. It is possible certain discounts already applied will be lost. Your agent should be able to tell you this information ahead of time so you know it will at least go up by "x" amount due to an accident free discount being removed etc.

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.

Yes it is! I hate having to explain that logic to clients.

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"

Just like the poster I quoted above, they are a charge to you. I understand you don't pay a deductible and you didn't have an accident. But it is in your risk profile and over the course of time your rates are likely higher because of that windshield claim you filed. (and yes, it is a claim, a comprehensive one) Not to say filing windshield claims isn't a good idea, because sometimes it is.


To the OP: Do you have a local agent? One that isn't available at a 1-800 number? If so I would give them a call and ask them about the discounts that might be falling off from the accident. Then once your renewal comes, call them back and review changes you might be able to make to offset the increase. (i.e. raising deductibles, changing coverage for older vehicles etc.)

In regards to your second incident, I would highly recommend NOT filing the claim since two claims for youthful drivers in such a short period is a bad picture to the insurance company. Only their car was involved and it was $5000 in damage? Is some of this cosmetic that can wait to be repaired? You are correct that the vehicle could be totaled if the value is only $7000 since they work on percentages. Once damages reach a certain percentage then it get's totaled. Unless you know your agent very well, don't disclose this information to your insurance company until you are ready to file a claim. Some carriers will file a claim even if you call just to ask questions (I used to work for one). Weigh out your options carefully for this situation and make the decision that is best for your family and finances. Just keep in mind that filing the claim could result in some long term financial consequences that outweigh the immediate $$ you would get.

Good luck!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

A few people have mentioned the Good Student Discount. We got it for both our teens, and I was a little surprised it was only something ilke $40 per child. Now $80 is $80 and I'm certainly not going to throw it away, but given the cost of $6,200 for the policy, it wasn't something I was jumping for joy about, either, lol (IIR the Driver's Ed discount was more substantial.)

I also wanted to mention something about the underlying tone here. The OP never mentioned (that I saw) whether her DDs help(ed) pay for their cars, or for their insurance, etc, probably because it wasn't really relevent to her question. Same for me. In my case, my kids bought their car with their own money and are paying for their portion of insurance (and gas, repairs, etc). Before they were allowed to drive anything in our household or get their own vehicle, rules were made crystal clear and we constantly discuss safety and implications, etc. Just last week when it became rainy and slick, we re-watched a youtube video on hydroplaning and such, because DS has two friends who've already had accidents because of it.

So we do as much as we can to see that they have as good a start as they possibly can, and consequences if our rules are broken, but despite all of that, we know there is always the possibility there may be an accident simply because they are inexperienced and traffic can be heavy where we live, etc. I mean, some people choose maybe not to let teens have a car or whatever, but my DH and I believe it's part of their growing up, as it was for us, and we know there is only one way they're going to get experience and that is to drive. They drive themselves to school, work and sports, and they help a lot with my elderly mother who has doctors appointments and such. We're pretty proud of how they've conducted themselves since they've been driving, actually. But it still doesn't ensure they will never have an accident. (Just getting a weird vibe here so wanted to clarify.)

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

With Progressive... a few years ago, my car got hit. Considering I was sitting still when it happened and she just ran over me sitting there, it was clearly her fault. It had moderately expensive damage. The other driver's insurance paid 100% of the bill + rental car allowance while mine was in the shop.

After all was said and done, Progressive raised MY rates because of this accident. It wasn't until the next billing cycle did I see a pretty sharp increase in my rates. I called them and asked them why it jumped so high. They were like, "well you've been in an accident". I promptly changed insurance companies.

As an added bonus of bad luck when I traded my car off, it was flagged on the Carfax thing as having been in an accident and they dock money off the value for that.

 

[ericstac]

Just wondering, when you change insurance companies doesn't the new company jack your rates high anyway for past claims?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Just wondering, when you change insurance companies doesn't the new company jack your rates high anyway for past claims?

Geico did not do that to me, or at least they said they didn't. They said it would not be factored into my rates at all. The price was also in line with what I was paying before.

 

[ericstac]

Geico did not do that to me, or at least they said they didn't. They said it would not be factored into my rates at all. The price was also in line with what I was paying before.

That is promising news. Thx

I've been with My ins co since I turned 16 and have never shopped around but feel like that was a bad mistake. I want to call around to get some prices but have been concerned about a very large theft claim on my house a couple years ago and more recently a 20k+ vehicle accident about a month ago with my brother being the driver of my car when he borrowed it.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Just wondering, when you change insurance companies doesn't the new company jack your rates high anyway for past claims?

Every insurance company factors in your accident and violation history when providing insurance. They then give you a price based on the information provided. It may or may not be lower than your current rates.

Now, if someone fails to disclose something like an accident, thinking the insurance company won't know. Then yes it's possible that the rate quoted will be "jacked up" to account for the correct information. Insurance companies know more about you than you would probably think.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

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

Nope, that's why I have Allstate. Other major companies wanted to charge me just because I had a 15 year old in the home at one time.
Perhaps that is true with your company.

Our car insurance continues to go down, as we all have excellent driving records with no accidents, just one windshield replaced years ago.

I have $500 deductible, full coverage on a late model high end Passat, dh has a CRV, older no collision. We pay $108 a month.

As a teen driver ds use to pay $60 on his car with minimum overage same address. It dropped to $40 as he turned 26 with no accidents or citations.
He was allowed by Allstate to drive our cars as long as he had his own policy or was on ours.
But, I never wanted liability of another driver; even our child in our vehicles.

Our teen non-driver does not affect our rates. As I said, I won't allow a child to drive at 16, and they will have a permit a long time as a 17 yr old. I believe this has been the reason our children have not had a citation or accident. They have been about 18 when they had full privileges.

There are far too many fatal accidents in just our local area on the news almost monthly with teen drivers. In the last month alone there were a few.

 

[angierae]

Every insurance company factors in your accident and violation history when providing insurance. They then give you a price based on the information provided. It may or may not be lower than your current rates.

Now, if someone fails to disclose something like an accident, thinking the insurance company won't know. Then yes it's possible that the rate quoted will be "jacked up" to account for the correct information. Insurance companies know more about you than you would probably think.

When I had my accident (totaled my car), State Farm doubled my rates when I came up for renewal. When we switched me to Progressive, they asked if I had any recent accidents. I told them I'd had an accident a few months prior. They asked if I was ticketed. I said no. They said "Then we don't care."

(Granted, I live in Michigan, which is a no-fault state, and our insurance is weird and expensive anyway.)

Adding DD18 to my policy made it go from $80 a month to $160 a month, but when we added her car (no collision insurance) it actually went DOWN to $140 because putting basic insurance on her 14 year old car cost less than the discount we got for having a multi-car policy.)

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

(Granted, I live in Michigan, which is a no-fault state, and our insurance is weird and expensive anyway.)

No fault states are so complicated. We are a partial no fault state but clients tell me all the time "it shouldn't matter whose fault the accident was because we're no fault". Unfortunately for them, that's not at all what it means. I even had a police officer tell my client that at the scene of an accident.

I don't know anything about Michigan insurance but I do sell Progressive and as a company, they do care about accident and ticket history and it does factor into rates. That isn't to say they don't have varying procedures between states.

 

[usd2bmd]

My daughter is 18 and has had her license a little less than a year. We have three late model cars all with full coverage we pay $1800/year. Our insurance went up $40/month when we added my daughter and her car to the policy and considering the horror stories I have heard I am quite happy with what we're paying.

 

[angierae]

No fault states are so complicated. We are a partial no fault state but clients tell me all the time "it shouldn't matter whose fault the accident was because we're no fault". Unfortunately for them, that's not at all what it means. I even had a police officer tell my client that at the scene of an accident.

I don't know anything about Michigan insurance but I do sell Progressive and as a company, they do care about accident and ticket history and it does factor into rates. That isn't to say they don't have varying procedures between states.

Well, all I know is that my rate with Progressive was less than I was paying State Farm before the accident, so they certainly weren't punishing me on the level that State Farm was, unless it was only going to be $40 a month before I'd gotten into that accident

 

[Chelley00]

Our DS17 had a serious accident that was labeled as his fault (overcorrected swerving to miss an animal - hit a tree) and our insurance rates didn't go up at all thanks to accident forgiveness.

Whether or not your insurance goes up is going to be entirely dependent on your insurance company, you history with them, the nature of the accident etc. The same company raised our friend's rates after their daughter had an accident.