<p>I just received a notice that my car insurance will increase (by 6.54%) and part of the reason why involves an accident I was in, nearly 2 years ago, where I was NOT at fault.</p>
<p>It states: “The actual reason or reasons for the increase are: Loss of Premier driver discount and incidents below - D3, at fault, lost control and Me, not-at-fault, collision”</p>
<p>To explain - D3 was in an incredibly minor incident where she brushed side view mirrors with a parked car on a narrow street where two cars couldn’t safely pass, a truck was coming her way, and there was no break in the parked cars. We wiped off the damage to our car (neither car had mirrors that were hinged) but there was a minor claim to the other car. Hence, “loss of control”. Geez. </p>
<p>My accident involved another vehicle that ran a stop sign and hit the back of my car. Because of Maryland’s partial no-fault laws, our insurance company (USAA) paid for my minor medical claim. I never thought that by seeing a chiropractor a few times I would essentially be billed for it two years later!</p>
<p>P.S. I have a “Right to Protest” to the Maryland Insurance Administration but their website says:</p>
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<p>They have given proper notice, but I don’t know if it’s legal in Maryland to increase for a collision where you were not at fault. I know it’s illegal in Florida from a quick google search.</p>
<p>I would be curious to know how much it would cost to be insured by another carrier for comparison. Then at least you have an idea if with the increase it is still a decent option.</p>
<p>Insurance cos consider any accident or claim a problem. That’s why never want to report a minor incident, robbery, home damage etc etc. You might get one free one but the next will either cause them to cancel you are a large increase. To wit a few years ago a severe windstorm caused a tree to fall on my garage totalling it. Ins paid and was very nice. A couple years later an even bigger windstorm another tree breaks off and put a limb in my house. Ins co pays less happily. Cancels soon after despite no fault by us. We had to pay double to find new insurer with less coverage.</p>
<p>I wonder why we pay them. I hold back in reporting claims also and it just makes me wonder why I don’t just put the money in a special bank account rather than paying for insurance (when legally possible).</p>
<p>One of the most important unpublicized benefits of liability insurance is paying for attys and liability costs if you’re in an accident. These are big costs for most and a big reason why self insuring is out of reach off most. With regard to collision coverage, it can be useful to choose a higher deductible and save the money that would otherwise be used for the premium in an account as you state.</p>
<p>I just emailed the state insurance agency asking them if it was legal and they said I had to sign and return the “right to protest” so they could open an investigation. Why couldn’t they just tell me if it was legal or not? Are there shades of gray somehow?</p>
<p>Maryland also publishes a comparison of auto rates, for each county in any of 12 different scenarios, for more than 60 insurance companies. The last publication was in February 2013. USAA General Indemnity comes out much lower than USAA Casualty Insurance. Which one do I have? I do not know! I’ve looked all over my statements and the web site and I can’t tell. I’ll have to call them and ask, how embarrassing.</p>
<p>Isn’t it clear what insurance you have by the card that you keep in your car?
We’ve changed auto ins a couple times over the past 30 years. Usually local companies, I think it makes a difference if you are ever going to use your policy to have a local agent you can meet with.
If only our medical insurance worked like that.</p>
<p>dunno about MD, but in California, ‘fault’ is a minor detail, particularly since there are so many un- and under-insured. ANY claim that is paid out on my behalf by my insurance company goes against my insurance rates.</p>
<p>Perhaps its an issue with ‘no-fault’ insurance?</p>
<p>The two things auto insurance companies hate more than anything else are: chiropractors and trial lawyers. If the auto insurance company knows you are seeing either, they will dump you or raise your rates as soon as they can get away with it. If you just phone your insurance carrier to alert them you potentially may have a claim, even if you never file for a claim, they will treat it as a negative or a loss, claiming they had expenses for setting up a file for the possible insurance claim you phoned in about, even if nothing comes of it.</p>
<p>Recently, our auto insurance increased just because they wanted to. Actually, I think it was to cover general losses due to past hurricanes and we don’t even live in a hurricane area. I decided to shop around and found that Geico quoted significantly lower than others. Before we switched, I gave our independent agent a shot and they found a company that was close to Geico’s price, plus by combining our homeowners policy, we cut about 40% off that policy. </p>
<p>Just one more vote that it pays to shop around every few years.</p>