Will my insurance rates go up? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Doctordestiny · 12-09-2010, 10:04 AM

My wife had a big accident early in 2010 and now I've had a minor accident. I've reported it to the police and was going to call my insurance company today.

If I report this to my insurance company and do not go through insurance, can they still raise my rates because they know of the accident? I'd figure they'd only raise rates if I put in a claim but not if I pay for it myself????

Damage to my vehicle is under $1,000 but I don't know the damage to the other vehicle. The accident was my fault.

GrrlGoalie33 · 12-09-2010, 10:06 AM

Insurance is usually based on accidents reported, not claimed. If you do report it, I would expect your rates to go up.

Knalus · 12-09-2010, 10:09 AM

Yep, it's the report, not how nice you are to your insurance company about using their service. They don't give you brownie points for that, even though it would be nice if they did.

CaptainCrunch · 12-09-2010, 10:09 AM

If you can buy your way out of it without filling in an accident report your insurance won't be increased.

sa226 · 12-09-2010, 10:11 AM

You weren't by chance attempting time travel in the snow when this happened were you?

If you are willing to pay for it yourself then why report it to insurance?

Do all accidents have to be reported to your insurance company?

I would think that your rates will go up if you report it, just for the risk factor alone.

The thing that goes against you is that it was deemed your fault. It gets you every time.

Doctordestiny · 12-09-2010, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sa226

If you are willing to pay for it yourself then why report it to insurance?

Do all accidents have to be reported to your insurance company?

I won't report it if I choose to pay myself, but I need to decide if that's beneficial to me.

Okay, if that's the case (Knalus's post), anyone know how much my rates may go up? The cost of this accident may be less than $3,000. When the wife wrote off the Camry the cost to the insurance company was around $11,000. The two accidents were less than a year apart. First accident for either of us. Good driving records, no demerit points for either.

macker · 12-09-2010, 10:28 AM

$3,000 and under in damages you should pay it out yourself. If you put through a claim under $3,000 you are basically financing your accident over the next 6 years that this will stay on your record and impact your premiums. You should expect yearly increases in your premiums of 20%-30% x 6 years if the claim is put through and or the accident reported to your insurance company. You have a small window of time from when a minor accident happens and the third party reports the loss to their insurance company as once they do this your company is also notified. Basically need to start convincing them to not report the minor accident moments after it happens. The above is all based on the accident or claim being your fault.

macker · 12-09-2010, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctordestiny

I won't report it if I choose to pay myself, but I need to decide if that's beneficial to me.

Okay, if that's the case (Knalus's post), anyone know how much my rates may go up? The cost of this accident may be less than $3,000. When the wife wrote off the Camry the cost to the insurance company was around $11,000. The two accidents were less than a year apart. First accident for either of us. Good driving records, no demerit points for either.

Check your policy to see if you have the SEF#39 or accident waiver coverage. This will give you one free at-fault accident. It sounds like based on your driving record you are eligible for it and it is only about $25-$50 per year to have it on your policy so hopefully you do!

Doctordestiny · 12-09-2010, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macker

Check your policy to see if you have the SEF#39 or accident waiver coverage. This will give you one free at-fault accident. It sounds like based on your driving record you are eligible for it and it is only about $25-$50 per year to have it on your policy so hopefully you do!

You sound like you know this stuff. It doesn't appear that I have the SEF 39. We have an SEF 44 and 27 on vehicle 1 and 44, 43R and 23A on vehicle 2. It says SEF 27 is on the car that just had the accident and it says it's limited to $60,000 but that doesn't apply.

I guess I'm out of luck on SEF39. My certificate of insurance doesn't mention accident waiver coverage.

Bill Bumface · 12-09-2010, 12:46 PM

If it's $3K in damage you're screwed. No body shop will touch a car with over $1000 in damage without a Police Report. It's the law. You can thank all the hit and runners that made this necessary.

Rathji · 12-09-2010, 12:55 PM

I recently had my door taken off by some reject in a truck who apparently had his eyes closed while he was driving, but it was determined to be my fault as far as insurance goes.

My wife was renewing our policy a month or so later and they increased our rates because they said I had 3 claims/moving violations still on my record. After further questioning, because I was sure I didn't have any, we found out that they had taken 2 of my wifes violations and applied them to me because I was driving the car she used to drive. Once they had everything applied, our insurance actually went down.

Don't know if the 3 violations is is common or just something about our policy, I honestly have never given our car insurance more than about 30 seconds thought over the years.

kipperfan · 12-09-2010, 01:10 PM

Be very careful handling something like this outside of insurance. You could get through paying this guy/gal $2-3K to fix their vehicle and then the very next day, after cashing your cheque, they could call your insurance company, report the accident and claim injury. If this were to happen you'l still have an at-fault claim on your policy and you'll also be out of pocket a good chunk of change.

Doctordestiny · 12-09-2010, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

If it's $3K in damage you're screwed. No body shop will touch a car with over $1000 in damage without a Police Report. It's the law. You can thank all the hit and runners that made this necessary.

I already have my police report and they're getting theirs soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipperfan

Be very careful handling something like this outside of insurance. You could get through paying this guy/gal $2-3K to fix their vehicle and then the very next day, after cashing your cheque, they could call your insurance company, report the accident and claim injury. If this were to happen you'l still have an at-fault claim on your policy and you'll also be out of pocket a good chunk of change.

Already considered that. I've talked to them and we've agreed we'll go outside of insurance. I know the body shop owner and the other owner will take the vehicle in, get it repaired and I'll pay the bill. they aren't reporting this to their insurer and no money will exchange hands between us. Regarding injury, their vehicle was parked and unoccupied.

Thanks for all the useful responses. Keep the discussion up, as this is interesting and useful info.

Bill Bumface · 12-09-2010, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctordestiny

I already have my police report and they're getting theirs soon.

Well then your insurance company knows about it, so you might as well just make a claim.

amorak · 12-09-2010, 02:44 PM

+1 - You're going to be dinged regardless, as they go by reported accidents when they pull your abstract. Might as well claim it since you're going to pay for it.

HOOT · 12-09-2010, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankster

Insurance is usually based on accidents reported, not claimed. If you do report it, I would expect your rates to go up.

Is that an Alberta thing? Any insurance company I have worked for or with would only change rates if the insurance company had to pay, if they don't pay they don't care!

Byrns · 12-09-2010, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOOT

Is that an Alberta thing? Any insurance company I have worked for or with would only change rates if the insurance company had to pay, if they don't pay they don't care!

That's what I've been told as well.

GoinAllTheWay · 12-09-2010, 03:48 PM

NO NO NO and MORE NO!!!

Honestly.....the only time your rates will go up is if you CLAIM an accident, and even then it has to be at fault/partially at fault. I'm assuming most here go through brokers? Talk to them. This is their job. Brokers are not the insurer, their job is to advise and manage your policy.

If you call your insurance company and tell them of an accident that they don't pay out on and your rates go up, you are with the wrong insurer.

Quote:

+1 - You're going to be dinged regardless, as they go by reported accidents when they pull your abstract. Might as well claim it since you're going to pay for it.

Even more no! Your Abstract (Drivers Abstract) has nothing to do with insurance. An accident is not going to show up here. Your claims experience letter would show any claims and those are generated by the insurers.

Reporting an accident to the police does not mean they are going to pick up the phone and call your insurance company. The only reason you need to report a collision to the police is if the damages are over $1k or someone was injured. Yes, you need their sticker for the repair shop to release your repaired vehicle but they don't care where the money is coming from.

Insurance companies are not the complete evil regimes most seem to think they are.

Jonrox · 12-09-2010, 03:57 PM

I had a fender bender awhile ago that I reported to my insurance company. They had an adjuster have a look at it and come up with a repair estimate. I chose to not even repair the car and they didn't touch my rates. They told me as long as I didn't claim, then nothing changed. The accident doesn't show up on any abstracts, claims history... nothing.

amorak · 12-09-2010, 04:02 PM