How much will car accident affect insurance rates?

[nixnux]

Hi ladies,
I got into a minor fender bender in the parking lot of a grocery store. I was backing up so slowly I still had my break on. Needless to say, I still put a dent in her little truck. The back side rear well has a dent. She doesn't really want to go through insurance so we agreed to get a quote first and if it's reasonable I would just pay the body shop directly. The problem is is that my husband and I have just spent a better part of our savings on various things. I don't really want to shell out $1500 when my deductible is only $500.

Does anyone know how this accident will affect the price of my monthly car insurance? I haven't had an accident in almost 15 years.

Thanks Ladies.

[astra]

I'm sure it depends on your insurance company. But we had a very minor fender bender in busy traffic last year. when we got the quote, realized it was cheaper for us to go through the insurance. We had no increase with our policy!

[Fuamami]

I slid on the ice and had a head-on collision with another car. It was my fault, I was even ticketed for it, and our insurance didn't go up. However, when my dh rear-ended someone a few months later, it did go up. Apparently two accidents was too many

[CarrieMF]

I did the slid on ice thing too. Our insurance didn't go up. Yours most likely won't if it's the first claim in many years. chances are you'll be going through insurance. The damage to my car was $1200, no clue what it was for her vehicle but it would have been similar & possibly more due to the type of vehicle she had.

[mamadonna]

I imagine each insurance company is different and different states have different regulations as well, but my husband just recently had an accident for which he was at fault and we learned that there are several factors that will determine the impact on our premiums at our next renewal.

1) Who was at fault.
2) Whether a ticket was issued.
3) The total cost of the damages.
4) The driver's rating before the accident.

In my husband's case, he was at fault, although no ticket was issued because it happened in a parking lot. The total amount of damages was over the (ridiculously low--something like $750) limit, so, even though he had an excellent driving rating, our insurance will go up (~$65/6 months).

The agent told us that we weren't really being penalized for the accident since we'd been with them so long and he didn't receive a ticket, we were just losing a fraction of our discount

[PajamaMama]

Don't assume that you are at fault and that you need to pay for her car repair. Accidents in parking lots are generally considered no-fault...you should definitely talk to your insurance agent. You may only be liable for damage to YOUR car.

[mamadonna]

Originally Posted by PajamaMama

Don't assume that you are at fault and that you need to pay for her car repair. Accidents in parking lots are generally considered no-fault...you should definitely talk to your insurance agent. You may only be liable for damage to YOUR car.

In our case (parking lot accident), the insurance company determined for their purposes that my husband was more than 50% at fault based on the circumstances of the accident. They sent us a form we could have used to dispute that finding, but, well, he was at fault. There wasn't really anything we could have disputed.

[nixnux]

Thanks ladies. I heard back from the woman and the quote was over a $1000 and she'd be without her truck for 4 or 5 days. So, I had to make a claim. They told me I'd have a point added to my insurance and because the damage was over $750 it would affect my rates. They couldn't give me a quote yet though for the difference. The good news is that we don't have to pay anything out of pocket for the accident. I thought that we'd have to pay the deductible but because there wasn't any damage to my vehicle we don't have to pay out anything. Well, except the raise in my insurance rates . Thanks for all your responses.