I hit an elk at night back in January & messed my car up pretty bad. I had to file a comprehensive claim to get it repaired. It all came out to about 10k in repairs after all was said & done. My insurance covered it all & I had no deductible. I had just renewed my insurance that month so there was no change in payments during this cycle, but I’m guessing if there is going to be an increase it would be during the next renewal period which is next month. I will ultimately have an answer on wether or not the claim made my payments increase or not within the next month, but I wanted to ask here so I could at least have an idea of what to expect. I live in NC, if that info is in any way useful.
Posted by mTG52002
1 Comment
The insurance company probably subrogated to the Elk. Their premium will take the increase.
Just joking.
More seriously, it depends on your state laws, your carrier, and your tenure with that carrier. Some states have a statute that premiums cannot be increased when the accident is deemed not at fault. Specific carriers, even if the statute doesn’t exist will not penalize you either. Tenure is also a factor because most carriers I have worked with recognize when someone has paid them thousands of dollars for years without incident and cover everything out of good faith. Lots of possibilities.
Fun fact: Hitting an animal is mostly considered not at fault depending on the circumstances. However, if you swerve to miss the animal and hit a tree instead the incident becomes an at fault accident because you made a choice that caused the crash. Hitting an animal while driving falls under comprehensive while hitting the tree will probably fall under collision. Really interesting nuance IMO.
Anyway, the only thing to really do is wait and see the renewal and assess at that point what the damage is. I would also expect to have to pay that deductible. That leads me to believe the claim has remained open for some reason and is probably still owed. But anyway, I hope this adds some helpful information to your situation.
I’d say they have assessed this as not at fault so it’s a good place to be. The renewal will tell you more.