How much does my car insurance go up after an accident?

While cars today are certainly becoming safer, accidents will happen—and they can impact your car insurance rates.  

Your insurance rates can increase after an accident, especially if you’re found at-fault, unless you have an accident forgiveness waiver. As to how much, well, it depends. Let’s get into it. 

When you’re involved in an accident, your insurance company will determine your level of fault. It can be anywhere from 0% (not-at-fault) to 100% (at-fault), and anything in-between means you have partial responsibility for the incident. Fault is usually assigned as 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0%.  

Being 100% at-fault means you’re fully responsible for the accident. This could happen if you ran a red light, rear-ended someone at a stop sign, merged into an adjacent lane without checking your blind spots, and so on.  

*Note: If the police assess your level of fault at the scene of an accident, this only determines whether you’ve violated the Highway Safety Act. It has no bearing on your insurance company’s decision. 

Ontario’s Fault Determination rules are set out in the Insurance Act and provide the principles for assigning fault in automobile collisions. There are over 40 scenarios outlined to help determine fault in virtually every possible accident. 

Fault determined by insurance adjusters can be disputed. If you disagree with your insurer’s decision, you can challenge it through a dispute resolution process that’s defined in the Insurance Act. This may involve arbitration, mediation, or a hearing before what’s known as the “License Appeal Tribunal. “Technology plays a big role in fault determination, so any evidence you have supporting your claim—such as dashcam footage or video from another recording device—can significantly strengthen case.  

Unless you are assigned 25% or less fault, you will have to pay your deductible on DC-PD coverage. (DC-PD coverage is coverage that activates for not at-fault accidents to cover property damage to your vehicle, loss of use, and any contents inside your car. It is typically included in most standard auto plans.) 

Luckily, most drivers usually have a $0 deductible on DC-PD coverage. If the damages are covered under collision insurance instead, and you have that coverage, you’ll be responsible for the deductible amount specified in your policy.  

With coverages that have a deductible, your percentage of fault will determine the portion of your deductible you’ll be required to pay. For example, if you’re assigned 50% fault in an accident, your collision coverage will apply to half of the claim and your DC-PD will cover the remainder. If your collision coverage deductible was $500, you’d be required to pay 50% or $250 of that. 

Sound a little complicated? Sometimes, it can be. If you need to make a claim after an accident, an insurance broker can walk you through the process, explain your coverages, and help you understand what’s required. They can also advocate on your behalf to ensure you receive a fair and just settlement. 

Any percentage of fault—from 1% to 100%—can impact your insurance rates. For example, if you were changing into the right lane without checking your blind spot, and a car merging had done the same, both of you might be assigned some level of fault and your rates may be impacted. This is true regardless of the payout or total claim cost.  

It’s tough to say exactly how much your insurance rates will increase after an accident. Insurance companies all have their own specific criteria and will look at factors such as the type of accident, your existing rates and history, and more. With virtually all insurers, having three or more at-fault claims will land you in the high-risk category and you could wind up paying double or triple your pre-accident rate. In some instances, being labelled high-risk will mean your current provider will no longer insure you and you’ll have to find coverage from another carrier. 

To give you an idea of how much rates may change after an at-fault accident, let’s look at some comparisons. Take Mr. James Worth, our entirely fictional driver profile of a 40-year-old married man who drives a 2020 Nissan Kicks to work each day. He lives in Whitby, Ontario, has been licensed since 2000, and up until this very experiment he’s had a clean record. Let’s see how his rates change when we quote him with a clean record, as having one at-fault accident, two, and then three.

As you can see, some insurance companies in our list would no longer offer a premium to Mr. Worth after his third at-fault accident, and some wouldn’t even after his second. As our fictious driver racks up the accidents, he becomes less and less insurable. If he were to be involved in yet another at-fault (whether 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%) accident after the third, he might find his only options are through high-risk markets.

More commonly known as accident forgiveness or sometimes accident protection, OPCF39 is an insurance add-on that protects you from a rate increase following your first at-fault collision. 

This endorsement works only one time, and after that it cannot be used again. If you had this endorsement and got into an accident where you were at-fault, either entirely or mostly, your premiums wouldn’t increase if you stayed with the same insurer. Note that your rates are only immune from rising if you were 100% not-at-fault, so this endorsement could help even in the case you were assigned so little as 25% fault. 

If you change insurers, this collision would still be on your record for up to six years, so your rates could rise. Having just one at-fault collision on your driving record can significantly impact your rates and may remove any claims-free discount you have, so accident forgiveness can be a good safety net—even if you’re a good driver.  

Getting into any kind of accident is discouraging, but having your rates increase following one or more at-fault accidents can be detrimental. It can even push you into the high-risk market, which can mean double or triple your current rates. 

If your rates have gone up after an accident or you’re curious about OPCF39, give us a call here at Mitch Insurance. We can help find you affordable insurance and discuss additional coverage to protect your driving record.