ive seen a lot of posts and i actually mean a TON of posts on this subject... and i know this is information from GEICO... but most companies follow the same underwriting and rating structure... on how they assign Insurance Points and/or Surcharges. Each insurance company has to file their rules/rating/guidelines with each State Insurance Board. if they break the rules.. they wil have to answer to the insurance board and sometimes have to pay fines.. or can lose their license to sell insurance in the particular state the incident has occured.

here is something that i found in my training manual for when i was working at GEICO, it can also be found at www.GEICO.com [they have lots of useful info even if u arent their policyholder]:

"How will this accident affect my insurance bill?" is a question policyholders ask us over and over. For years, many insurance consumers have mistakenly assumed that any claim, no matter how minor, would automatically result in a premium increase.

The truth is that being involved in an accident does not guarantee a higher insurance bill. GEICO carefully considers many factors before making any decision about changing your premium as the result of an accident, including:


The cause of the accident — In general, GEICO will not increase your policy premium as the result of an accident for which you are not at-fault. GEICO investigates each claim completely to determine the cause of each accident.*
The severity of the accident — An accident that results in a minimal payout and does not involve injuries often will not result in a premium increase.*
Accident forgiveness eligibility — In most states, many customers who haven't had an at-fault accident in the previous five years of being insured with GEICO may qualify for accident forgiveness. GEICO will not increase your premium as the result of your first at-fault accident after qualifying for this benefit.*
Claim history — In many states, multiple losses in succession may cause your premium to increase.
Once a claim is resolved, GEICO considers all of the information about the accident to determine what, if any, premium change is necessary. Your claim adjuster will not have any specific information regarding changes to your insurance bill; for details on how your policy may be affected by a particular accident, please contact GEICO Customer Service.

Please note: ******************************************************
Guidelines vary according to state law ******** ,meaning.. in each state a different dollar amount $$$$ threshold may apply... and negligence factor [% at fault...]


hopefully this is useful!

 

if u get into an accident, your insurance rates are gonnna go higher and you will have to pay more for a very long time.

 

if the accident is not your fault.. your rates dont go up lol

 

Not necessarily true...
Depending on the company, even if you are at fault, your rates may not necessarily go up. If you have a clean record, and are on good terms with the company, a single at-fault accident may not effect your rates at all.
On the other hand, if you are in numerous accidents, even if you are not at fault, (i.e. you are an "accident magnet"), your rates may still go up (usually one or two won't have an effect, but if people continually hit you for some reason, your company may still raise your rates, depending on how easily they can subrogate the money from the company covering the at-fault insured).

I've been writing computer software for insurance companies for quite a while now... I've picked up a few things over the years ;)