will my insurance go up?

by Guest » Wed Apr 25, 2007 09:09 pm
Guest

I was recently at a festival in my hometown where I parked, along with hundreds of other cars, on the side of the road beside a mountain. I was gone for about 3 hours and when I returned there were rocks all over my SUV. After getting an estimate, there was $6,588.00 worth of damage. I'm assuming that it was an act of God, correct me if I'm wrong. I've never had a claim on my insurance or had any moving violations. Is my insurance premium going to go up now because of this claim?

Total Comments: 9

Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 02:50 am Post Subject:

Being an "Act of God" has nothing to do with it. If you have comprehensive/collision insurance on your vehicle, your loss will be covered, less your deductible. Technically, if the rocks rolled on the ground into your vehicle, you carrier may consider it a collision. If the rocks fell into the top of your vehicle, it should be considered comprehensive (flying object). Your be better off having it considered under your comprehensive coverage.

In any case, this should be treated as a not at-fault claim.

Will your rates go up? Possibility. Really depends on your carrier. Most would not increase rates based on 1 not at-fault "accident" but some may. In any case, for $6k, I'd file a claim as you could always change carriers if they increased your rates. I'd doubt this claim would show up on a CLUE report (used by carriers to find out prior claims history... at least I think it's a CLUE report).

Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 04:28 am Post Subject:

Yeah your rates may or may not go up...like tcope says..it depends on the carrier. Some let the first one go...some look at the amount of the claim that was paid out, others look at if it was at fale or not....your agent will have a better idea if your rate is going to go up since they deal with the company on a regular basis....A 6K claim is def one worth putting in though. If it was only a couple hundred bucks I might say just pay it out of pocket to be safe but that is a hefty bill.

I would put the claim in and see what happens...good news is they will not just increase your rates this second, they would wait until your renewal...and you can always shop around for a better deal....

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 06:49 am Post Subject:

I don't think you can claim from insurance company for any natural disaster. Better you talk to your insurance agent as nique1221 said they may can solve your problem.

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 04:54 pm Post Subject:

You can claim anything that is an "accident". It does not matter if it was caused by "nature" or another person. The term "Act of God" is usually used when denying liability to another person. For example, a storm comes through and the 50mph winds blows my perfectly good tree over onto my neighbors house. I'm not liable as this is an "Act of God". I personally don't like the phrase and it does not explain much. The real point is that I was not negligent in the matter. There was nothing I could have done to prevent this from happening. Therefore, I'm not legally liable for the damage the tree caused. Again, it applies to liability, not a 1st party claim.

Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 08:29 pm Post Subject:

Thanks for the replies. There was never a question as to if the insurance would cover it, as they have already issued a check to cover the damages. However, like nique1221 says, I'll just have to wait and see if I'll be paying more per month to keep my existing policy. Thanks again for the advice.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 01:46 am Post Subject:

tessa I hope they let it go without raising you premium. I am in a situation right now where I have a claim in progress where I am claiming not-at-fault and they still raised my premium....

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 03:41 am Post Subject:

I hit someone's truck from the back while I was driving. It was my fault. Nothing happened to her truck. Not even a scratch, but my car was towed cause it was undrivable. The driver claimed she had a neck pain.
Will my insurance go up if the driver of the other vehicle sues my insurance company?

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 07:25 am Post Subject:

The fact that it's an "at-fault" accident is what determines if your rates will be increase... not that money was paid on an injury claim.

Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 11:45 am Post Subject:

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The fact that it's an "at-fault" accident is what determines if your rates will be increase... not that money was paid on an injury claim.

Well, it's both some times tcope...most companies have a threshold...mine I think is 500 if it's an ''at fault'' AND payment is over 500 then a rate increase is generated....This is more than likely a state deal...as the other company I worked for had the same thing.

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