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How To Prevent Your Car Insurance From Increasing

How To Prevent Your Car Insurance From Increasing

How To Prevent Your Car Insurance From Increasing

If it’s time for you to renew your car insurance, you may be dismayed to see that you are required to pay higher premiums for an additional period of coverage. Your insurance rates can increase for a variety of complex reasons that can be hard to accept, let alone understand.

There are many factors that insurance companies use to calculate how much you have to pay for car insurance. But some factors have a much bigger impact than others.

The factors that have the biggest impact on your insurance rates are as follows:

Your deductible – the lower your deductible, the higher your car insurance premiums and vice versa;
Your vehicle – the make, model, and year of your vehicle will have a big influence on your insurance rates. In general, the more your vehicle is worth, the more you have to pay to insure it;
How much you drive – the more you drive, the more likely you are to be involved in an accident. Consequently, the more miles you drive each year the higher your car insurance rates;
Your driving record – speeding tickets, DUI, and other serious driving offenses can increase your insurance rates significantly; and
Other factors – other factors such as your age, gender, and marital status can influence your car insurance rates. For instance, young drivers, especially men, pay more than older drivers. Furthermore, married individuals pay less than single individuals.

How A Motor Vehicle Accident May Increase Your Insurance Premiums

A recent study showed that if you file a car accident claim of $200 or more, you can generally expect your car insurance to go up by between 25% and 75%, with the average being 40%. Considering that the average car insurance policy is about $1700 per year, you can expect your increase to be about $600 to $700.

The amount of the insurance increase will depend on the type of claim. For instance, if the claim involves a bodily injury, you will probably see an increase of 50% or more. On the other hand, for a comprehensive claim involving a collision with a deer or damage caused by flying gravel or falling objects, you may not see any increase at all.

Additionally, you will probably only see an increase in your rates if you are found to be at fault for the accident. If the accident was someone else’s fault, you probably won’t see an increase in your insurance rates, unless you have a lot of accidents on your record.

Other factors to consider when estimating how much your insurance may go up after an accident include:

Your insurance carrier – the actual insurance carrier you are with makes a big difference in whether or not you expect your rates to increase and by how much; and
The state where the accident occurred – for instance, if the accident occurred in California rather than Maryland, there will be a very large difference in the amount your rates will increase. California sees an average increase of 60% after an accident, while in Maryland the average increase is only around 20%.

Things You Can Do To Keep Your Car Insurance From Increasing

Accident forgiveness – this is offered by all the major insurance carriers. The idea is that if you meet certain criteria, the company will disregard your first accident. So, if you are found to be at fault for a first accident, they will not increase your rates after that one first accident.

Increase your deductible – as mentioned above, there is an inverse relationship between insurance premiums and deductibles. The higher your deductible, the lower your premiums and vice versa. So, if your premiums increase, you can ask your insurance agent to increase your deductible to counteract the increase in your premiums. This is not always available, but when it is, it’s something that you should at least consider.

Avoid filing small claims – if you already have an at-fault accident on your record, and then file a number of smaller claims, you will only become more of a risk in the eyes of the insurance company. The riskier your profile, the higher your rates will go. So, if you don’t have to, don’t file the smaller claims.

Shop around – as mentioned above there is a major difference between insurance carriers. When you are initially looking for car insurance is really when you should factor in how much your rates may increase after an accident. Shop around for insurance that offers the best rates, as well as the best possibility to avoid large rate increases.

Improve your credit score – typically if you have a credit score higher than 600, you will see lower premiums. Increasing your credit score is not something you can do right away, but something you can achieve over time that will help you limit your insurance rates.

Let time pass – after an at-fault accident, drive safely and carefully for the next 3 to 5 years, and as your risk profile goes down, so will your insurance premiums.

For more information and to find out how we can assist you with preventing your car insurance from increasing, call eAccidents today at 844-400-0123 to arrange a free consultation, or send us a message via our contact page.

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