Not Fair !!

[Vettecor]

I have been driving for 45 years. No tickets in the last 20 plus years. First accident in 18 years. In 1995 a taxi hit ME.

A few months ago my neighbor had his car in the street and I backed out of driveway, not seeing the car. I hit the car causing $700.00 damage which my insurance paid.

Now my insurance company has DOUBLED my rates.

I have been with this company for 6 years and NEVER had a claim, NEVER had a ticket.

This is NOT fair !!!

I have been a loyal customer and have recommending this company to my friends and relatives.

This should NOT be allowed that a company can double your rates just because a person has an accident causing only $700.00 damage.

Any suggestions on what I should do ?

Thanks

 

[b61mack]

Go to a local insurance agency, and have them shop for a new company for you.

 

[Josh]

Odds are you can shop it and find a better rate elsewhere.

 

[russelltw]

You may want to check to see if there are other reasons why the rates went up. It could be a rate increase across the board in addition to your accident increase. Also make sure that the total paid out is truly $700. Was the total damage to both your car and their car $700?
I agree it seems like a minor accident to cause the rate to double. I would guess there may be more going on than you know. You may have lost a discount (moved another policy away to another company), company dropped the discount, aged into another bracket in their rating system, etc. Call your agent, then shop around.
Good luck.
R

 

[Vettecor]

Thanks everybody for your replies.

There was no damage to my car. I have a 20 year old Thunderbird.

Every year my car insurance goes up. Just a couple of dollars and when I called them in the past to ask why my insurance went up with no tickets or accidents, I was told EVERYBODYS insurance went up. !!

 

[b61mack]

What insurance company are you with?

 

[FL P&C Broker]

What company do you have?

 

[djs]

I don't write in FL, so I don't really know the answer to this, but I would assume that there is something else that shows up on your driving history.

Talk to your agent/carrier, they will tell you why it doubled.

My experience in this is redlight camera tickets that you don't know about, but that is only a guess.

Also, if you only had liability only and a clean driving record, you probably had a very low premium, probably discounted significantly for claims free, good driver, etc, etc. Some of these discounts will simply drop off because of the claim. This is why sometimes its more prudent financially to pay small claims out of pocket, rather than through the carrier.

Dan

 

[russelltw]

Vettecor,
Remember increases in your premium are caused by your driving record and/or the claims of those with your company. You can have no claims and clean record and your rate could increase. You are pooling those premium dollars to share your risk with others. That rate increase could be paying for the $250,000 liability claim some person had on the other side of the state.

I understand the fustration, but it's important to remember why you have it. If you cause an accident and your liability claim is $75,000; the insurance company can't raise your rate by $75,000. That's the part about spreading risk with other people. Since cars and health care are more expensive, you will likely continue to see rates increase over time.

Good luck and I hope you find out if there was something else effecting the rate increase.

 

[GreenSky]

BTW, I completely agree that a $700 claim shouldn't even impact an otherwise perfect driving record. But that's the way things are.

In my case, I received my 1st ticket in over 10 years about 2 years ago. Had I not gone to traffic school my auto insurance would have increased about 25% and this would last 3 years.

Makes no sense to me that without a pattern of issues that my insurance should be impacted. So off to an 8 hour online traffic school I went. (And I couldn't just click "next" as it was all timed).

When I sold auto insurance back in the 70's tickets had no bearing on the rating. If a person had several he/she would be non-renewed, but there was no provision to increase the price. However, the 1st at fault accident over $500 (I think) added 40% to the rate for 3 years (single car, 20% for multiple car).

I'm so glad I no longer write P&C.

Rick