How an Accident Affects Insurance Payments
A car accident can affect your insurance payments, causing havoc to a strained financial loss due to the crash. Learn more about how having an accident can affect insurance payments in some cases for three or more years.
How Does Having an Accident Affect Insurance Premiums?
Depending on your policy and insurance company, having a car accident can affect how much you pay for insurance. According to Esurance, your rate will not automatically increase. Several variables affect whether or not the rate will increase.
- The severity of the accident: Minor Accidents, such as parking lot mishaps, often do not increase your rate, and your record is usually good.
- Accidents where you were not to blame: If an accident was not your fault, your insurance company may be less likely to increase the premiums.
- Accident forgiving policies: Some insurance policies have an accident forgiveness clause. This means the insurer will forgive an accident in light of a safe driving history.
When Your Rate Increases
More severe accidents usually involve greater payouts by the insurance company. When this happens, the insurer may increase your rate. Even though your record was good in the past, an at-fault accident can indicate that, for some reason, you are no longer driving safely. If this happens, a previously awarded safe driving discount may be revoked, causing your rate to escalate.
How Does California’s Status as a Tort State Affect Payout?
California is referred to as a tort state or a fault state. This means that for your insurance to pay, you must be considered at fault for the accident. In other words, liability for damages is linked to proof of fault.
California is also a pure comparative negligence state. In this regard, the negligence is shared between the parties in an accident. If, for example, one of two drivers is 60 percent at fault for a collision and the other driver is 40 percent at fault, each driver can collect damages linked to the extent of the other person’s negligence.
Rate Increase Duration
The duration of a rate increase is linked to the seriousness of the accident and the amount of damages your carrier needs to pay. If the accident caused significant harm and the damages were high, your rate increase will likely persist for several years. However, in some instances, the rate drops a little each year until it reaches a pre-accident level. A general rule of thumb is that your rate should be lowered in three years if you do not have another accident.
What If Your Car Is Stolen?
When your vehicle is stolen, or someone steals a radio or a set of tires, you will likely see a rate increase. This is paid by the comprehensive portion of your policy, which is considered necessary coverage if you are paying off a loan on the vehicle. If you have moved to an area with a high crime risk, your rate might increase even if no theft was involved.
Fresno Car Accident Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Fresno car accident lawyer. After an accident, insurance issues can seem exhausting on top of dealing with traumatic injuries and the death of someone in your family. Under these circumstances, retaining an injury lawyer removes the burden of dealing with financial problems. Contact me at (559) 377-7676 if you are in Fresno or the immediate area. Otherwise, call (800) 404-5400 from around the United States. I will offer friendly advice that is free of charge.
I’ve assisted many California residents in the northern part of the state in resolving complex and catastrophic issues such as wrongful death and traumatic head injury. If you want to see how it worked out, look at my settlements and verdicts section.
Look to see what former clients thought of my practice. Go to Google, Yelp, and Avvo. The latter site also provides remarks by my peers.
Check out other areas of the AutoAccident.com website to learn more about many legal issues.
I am a member of an exclusive forum of trial attorneys called the Million Dollar Advocates. Induction is limited to those who have resolved cases for $1 million or more.
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