Effect of auto insurance claims on insurance rates

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As a driver you know that there will come a day when you get might into an accident. It happens to everyone, and then we must file the dreaded paperwork called an auto insurance claim. A necessary evil, and auto insurance claim isn’t really a bad thing, it is there to help you in your time or vehicle crisis to recover the costs of your cars damage and your/others medical bills.

There would have been no point in your long search to find good auto insurance if you were never going to use the insurance in the first place. Knowing you must file this auto insurance claim, you probably want to know how it will affect your premium rates. Will they go through the roof, leaving you unable to afford them anymore? Here is some information for you on how an auto insurance claim will affect your rate.

Like you, insurance companies want to save their money for themselves. If you make it a habit to file a claim for every small amount of damage your car may receive, (such as someone hitting your car with a shopping cart at Wal-Mart, or someone steals your car) your insurance company will begin to think of you as a nuisance.

They will have to spend too much money on lawyers and processing forms and in the end your rates will go up a lot and it will actually cost you more to report the small damage then it would have cost you to pay for the repair bill yourself in the first place. In an ideal relationship with an insurance company, you will only file a claim if the amount is in the thousands; in a situation where you just don’t have the option not too. The more accidents you get into; the more your rates will increase, so do yourself a favour and drive safely, make sure that if there is an accident it wasn’t your fault, in other words, avoid getting into a collision. Keep your eyes on the road and avoid distractions.

As well be aware, if you develop the habit of filing report after report, you will develop a ‘pattern’. Once you have developed a pattern, the insurance companies will red flag you as being possibly fraudulent. Although you may not be fraudulent and may actually just be extremely accident prone, there are many people out there that do in fact abuse insurance claims. They will purposely get into an accident so they can file a claim and make money.

Insurance companies are tired of losing a lot of money every year from this, so they will red flag you and drag you to court and this will result in thousands and thousands in lawyer fees not to mention it will consume a lot of your time, all the while your vehicle is not being fixed and your medical bills are piling up. This is not to mention the amount of stress you will go through and how bad you will look, basically being accused of being a con-artist.

So in conclusion fellow drivers, filling an auto insurance claim can be necessary, but do it only when you have no choice. Do not file if the cost is low enough for you to handle yourself or it will lead to much higher premiums and possibly a lot of trouble down the road. So drive safe and avoid trouble!