Quote:
Originally Posted by turanuk
Yeah I checked - looks like I do 500/500. Can you elaborate on the misconception?
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It varies from company to company (depending on their underwriting guidelines) but also from state to state (depending on certain thresholds for what they consider a chargeable accident).
If we're talking about comprehensive claims, they generally don't have an effect on your rates (since it's an incident that you didn't really have control over, contrasting to an at-fault accident that resulted from driver error), unless you make a ton of huge comprehensive claims over $1,000.
If we're talking about collision claims, it depends on the payout of the company. Again, it varies from state to state, but as an example, in California, accidents with payouts below $750 are non-chargeable accidents, meaning they'll show up on your record but likely won't have any effect since the damage was minimal. (I'm pretty certain that amount is based on what the insurance company paid, as opposed to the total amount of damage, so it doesn't include your deductible.) And for 2012 onward, California even changed the threshold to $1,000. Different states have different rules, but they are usually set amounts where a company has a surcharge for that accident. I remember North Carolina having three thresholds ($0-1800, $1801-2999, then $3000+) to determine what effect it has. But with some companies, as an insurance agent when quoting new business, you can document the accident, but they ask for the exact payout. But it's usually not a sliding scale, it's typically just it being one thing if it's less than one amount, or another thing if it's greater than that amount.