by Guest » Thu Jan 10, 2008 05:47 pm
When you make a claim on your auto insurance policy, the insurance company begins to consider you as potentially risky. Hence, a claim does, in normal circumstances, increase your auto policy premiums.
Why does a claim increase your policy premiums?
When you make a claim after an accident, your insurer may have to pay for:
- Medical treatment for you and your passengers (if any)
- Repair damage to your car or any other property
- Your lost wages and any other damages
Are there other factors that affect auto policy premiums?
Claims alone don't trigger increase in insurance rates, there are also few other factors that may influence your insurance premium. Some of the factors may be directly related to you and some may not be.
Here are few other common reasons why your premiums might go up:
Here are few other common reasons why your premiums might go up:
- Receiving a traffic ticket: Your receiving a ticket, may not pose any threat to the insurer, but that definitely makes you a risk. Tickets for traffic violations reflect carelessness in your driving and hence insurance companies see you as higher risk which means higher rates for you.
- Too many claims paid by the insurance company: You may not have been the claimant, but the insurance company might have paid a lot of money over claims made by other policy holders. In such a case too, your premiums might go up. You may not have anything to do with this, but since there had been too many claims made by other policyholders, the insurance company may decide to increase the rates of every policy holder in their company.
- Adding a new driver to your policy: Each time you add a new driver to your existing policy, your rates will go up. Irrespective of what age the driver is, or the driving record, your auto rates will go up. If the new driver is a teenager or someone with a not so good driving record, companies make greater increase in rates.
Does a claim for PIP coverage in no-fault state affect premiums?
Claiming Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or First Party Benefits in a no-fault state does not increase your auto insurance rates. If you make a claim, your PIP coverage will compensate up to the coverage limit after which the additional medical bills can be transferred to your health insurance.
One thing to remember here is to not make your health insurance a primary means. If you do make it primary, then in case of any medical bills, your health insurance will kick in before PIP, even in an auto accident.
One thing to remember here is to not make your health insurance a primary means. If you do make it primary, then in case of any medical bills, your health insurance will kick in before PIP, even in an auto accident.
How can you avoid an increase in premium rates?
The best way to prevent an increase in premiums would be to avoid accidents and traffic tickets. But some companies offer policyholders an accident forgiveness program. These programs are designed such that you (policyholder) can be forgiven for minor accidents up to a certain number of times and your insurance rates will not increase. However, there are limitations to the number of times or the frequency of accidents beyond which your rates will go up.
Insurers have excluded major accidents from the program and if you have a claim for a major accident, you may be disqualified for the program for as long as it reflects on your policy. Again, tickets for Driving under Influence (DUI) may also prevent you from qualifying for such a program. So, if you want to qualify for this program you need to have a good driving history with no claims for a major accident.
Insurers have excluded major accidents from the program and if you have a claim for a major accident, you may be disqualified for the program for as long as it reflects on your policy. Again, tickets for Driving under Influence (DUI) may also prevent you from qualifying for such a program. So, if you want to qualify for this program you need to have a good driving history with no claims for a major accident.
I live in Pennsylvania, which is under a 'No Fault' system. What happened was me, along with 3 friends were involved in a car accident;my friend was the driver. A car hit us from the side, hitting the front of our car, and we had the green light. The driver of the other car was technically at fault, and now the real problem I'm facing is this: We all went to the ER to get checked on, the bill comes to us, my friend tells me he's claimed us all into his insurance for medical coverage, BUT his insurance tells him that because it's a no-fault law, we are each suppose to claim the accident ourselves to our own insurance/parents insurance...which doesn't make sense to me at all. His company is Allstate, and I've talked to the representative and did my research. According to the representative, if I claim with my dad's auto insurance, the bill will be taken care of and his premium will not rise, but where's the logic? Why would my dad have to claim me if it had nothing to do with me when the responsibility is on my friend? Plus, he(dad) called his company and they told him his premium would rise. So now i am stuck, and unsure of what to do. The bill itself is $800.00 and there is no reason why I should pay out of my own pocket or increase my dads premium because of this. Can anyone provide any help as to what I should do..? Why isn't the driver allowed to claim all of us in his medical coverage? Why do we each need to claim this separately to our own coverage when the driver is to be responsible? thanks for any comments
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:17 am Post Subject:
Depends on your insurer, but I don't think it should affect the premium rates.
Also do you have a comp. coverage?
Because this damage won't by covered by collision coverage, since there was no collision that caused the damage so I think only comprehensive coverage would pay for the damage.
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:57 am Post Subject:
i was driving and a cat ran out infront of me.
i turned to miss it
Maybe you'll have figured out that a cat is not worth $1500 in body damage in the future. In the meantime, comprehensive claims do not have as much effect on premiums as collision claims do. If you don't have comprehensive ("other than collision") coverage on your policy, then you have nothing to worry about . . . except coming up with the money to pay for the repairs.
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:06 pm Post Subject: PIP Claim in FL
A year ago my sister was driving my car and she got into an accident. The accident was in no way her fault the other person ran a stop sign. The other driver was indeed covered by full insurance. My sister got a lawyer to persue the accident and her injuries. About a year after the accident I went to get a different insurance through a new company when I found out I had a PIP claim on my driving record stopping me from getting insurance and also raising my premiums at every place I checked to about 400$ a month. When the settlement was all said and done I reviewed the papers the lawyer gave my sister and noticed that the first initial medical bills from when she wrecked the car and had to go to the hospital the lawyer for some reason billed my insurance company. The rest of the medical bills went towards the other drivers insurance and was paid.
Not only was I not in the car at all but I got the screwed end of it with no car a PIP on my driving record making my car insurance premiums go up, but my sister ended up with the full settlement and nothing on her driving record and is able to afford insurance that is less then 400 a month.
I do not know what to do to fix this is there anyone out there that can help me. My email is breathingintune@hotmail.com
thank you.
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 04:53 pm Post Subject:
Did your sister’s insurance company claim PIP against your carrier? That is the only way that PIP can go up. Was your sister listed as a driver of the vehicle under your policy?
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 04:09 am Post Subject: car acccident
hey i had a wreck 2 month ago and i had just 3rd party libility on my insurance. it was my fault. total both car and my freind file a claim on me feor 3000. and it say also another bodily was injure. will my insurance pay for all the claim file agaisnt me?
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 09:17 am Post Subject:
will my insurance pay for all the claim file agaisnt me?
Your liability insurance pays up to whatever limit you have paid for. For example, in California, most policies have a minimum limit of liability (as required by law) of $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident (a special category of "low cost auto insurance" available in most parts of the state has lower limits). If the total claims for any one person exceeds $15,000, and/or the total claims exceed $30,000 for one accident, then your minimum liability policy would leave you responsible for the excess portion of the claim(s).
Without more information, we can only give you general answers such as this.
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:44 pm Post Subject: hi
can i still drive if the person i hit sue me because i did not have insurance
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 04:27 pm Post Subject:
Sure. But your state probably has a law that allows your driver license to be revoked for not having insurance and being involved in a collision. Is there a reason you still don't have insurance?
Some people say, "It's too expensive," If that's true, then they should not be driving to begin with, because that's more expensive than the insurance.
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 05:34 pm Post Subject:
Here you can get FREE Insurance Quotes, Compare Plans & Save Big !!! Here you can Save $500 a year on CAR INSURANCE. Try it here !!!
[Link removed as per TOU]
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 05:39 pm Post Subject: Atlas FREE Car Insurance Quote !!!
Any question is treated carefully by the experts. Here you can get FREE Insurance Quotes, Compare Plans & Save Big !!! Here you can Save $500 a year on CAR INSURANCE. Try it here !!!
[Link removed as per TOU]
Add your comment