It’s pretty common knowledge that if you’re involved in a car accident, your car insurance premium will go up no matter what.
This seems really stupid to me because this is what you pay insurance companies for, and then when you actually use them, they charge you more. I can just see those insurance reps sitting behind their desk and going “How dare you use your car insurance to cover you in an accident! Let me charge you more because you actually made us work.”
Our New Car Insurance Premium
Anyway, I knew in October when I crashed the car that it was going to rais
e our insurance premiums. I honestly didn’t expect much—I mean, I’ve been driving for about twelve years now, this is my first accident, nobody else was involved (unless you count my house), and I’m a certified defensive driver.
So imagine my shock when I received our new premium. We were paying $745 every six months to insure both our cars.
In full disclosure, it cost the insurance company $4,900 to have the car repaired.
Our new insurance bill was $1029 every six months—a 40% increase! I flipped out.
Of course, being a (not-so) Newlywed on a Budget, you bet your butt I called the insurance company the very next day. Even by lowering my annual mileage because I now ride my bike to work, I could still only lower our premium by $30.
So I had to go on a search for a different insurance company. I think a lot of people are scared about calling their insurance company because they picture it as an extremely tedious task with lots of wait times and too many numbers.
With the exact same coverage, I was able to get a new insurance premium of $792, a savings of practically $200 over six months, or $400 for the year.
And all because I didn’t stay with the same insurance company.
So the lesson of this story is don’t crash your car into your house, but if you do, don’t settle for an absurdly high insurance premium.
Make sure to shop around to find low auto insurance rates, like Youi Insurance,
Has your car insurance ever gone up because of an accident?
15 comments
Car insurance is really so important to drivers, and understanding what goes on in the policy is must.
I’ve always heard that car accidents can make your insurance climb. However, it occurs to me that I am not sure how high my rates would or could climb. Would something like a car accident have a fixed rate of how high my rates would climb?
I think it is interesting that your rates went up even though nobody but your house was involved in the accident. I also appreciate what you said about dealing with insurance agents. Things can be really easy because they want your money, and you should work to get the most out of your money as well. Thanks for sharing.
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We are really lucky that our insurance (through USAA) has accident forgiveness for one accident per year. We found that out after I hit a parked car at the Frankfurt airport. Even though it was totally my fault and they paid everything to fix the other guy’s car, they didn’t raise our premium at all.
I was in one really bad accident two years ago, it wasn’t my fault, but it did affect my insurance for one year. After that year past, they put it back down to the previous levels. I agree with you, insurance ridiculous, but you have to have it!
Ugh. Few things in life make me as ragey as insurance. Just thinking about it makes me feel yucky!
You hit the nail on the head when you said that people don’t like calling the insurance company. I always have to build myself up before dialing the numbers. But! The few times I’ve called, it actually hasn’t been that bad. In fact, when I sold both my cars (on separate occasions) they refunded my insurance from the day of the sale (even though both times I called a few months later – oops!) and were totally nice about it.*
That is a HUGE increase!! Glad you called them on it! That is unreal!
I love the list — number 1 is my favorite. But great work on lowering your rate!
Yep, T had a string of 2-3 accidents in about a year, so you can imagine what that did. All really small ones, but quantity counts!
Make sure to tell your life story to the insurance co, as well. They give discounts for everything, it seems. Have a bachelors or masters degree, discount. Own your own home (even if you insure it with someone else), discount. Married, discount. Move to a different zipcode, discount (if your new zip is safer…).
I’m sure I will be dealing with this in the near future even though my BROTHER wrecked my car and the insurance company declared it totaled despite the fact that another repairmen said he could do the work for HALF of what they said it would cost. And if/when it does happen, you can bet your ass I’ll be switching companies!
oh that sucks big time! I can’t imagine being in that situation…I once crashed a friend’s car, and she didn’t want to go through insurance because of course her premiums would go up. I completely understood, and it was totally my fault so I paid for it. (I don’t remember how much it was, but I was a college student and it HURT at the time). I guess your brother can’t exactly buy you a new car though…oy vey
I got in my first accident almost two weeks ago. I was rear-ended. It looks like I’ll need only $549 worth of repairs – I just need a new bumper cover. I definitely want the other drivers insurance to cover it and even though my car is old, I still want it fixed in case I choose to sell it later this year. My insurance guy has been out on vacation, but I’m definitely hoping I won’t have to see any increase in my premium. I’m getting a steal right now because I bundled my home insurance with my car.
Yeah we also got a discount because I am purchasing rental insurance through them. In your case, I would also want their insurance to cover it–it doesn’t matter how old your car is! i don’t know about your premiums though…i would be curious to find out.