[OneGuyInCA]

Well many of you guys read about the first accident my wife and I was involved in where my Passat was completely totalled! It was obviously not my fault.

X-LINK to Passat Accident:
http://www.clubb5.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=63823&highlight=headon

Come to find out as my policy is to be renewed, it shot up by over 20% from about $1800 to $2200 a year to insure my wife and I for a 2001 Audi A6 and 1999 Lexus RX300!! WTF?!? Even though the Passat accident wasn't my fault, they still jack up my premiums??

Not cool! Looks like I'll be making some phone calls come Monday!

THEN.... some of you have read... I was involved in a 2nd accident YESTERDAY with my A6!!! A minor fender-bender but nonetheless... there are damages.

X-LINK to yesterday's accident:
http://www.clubb5.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=83631


----------------- UPDATE --------------------------

Well I just got off the phone with Liberty Mutual. After much bickering and picking... my premiums have now been reduce by $665/yr from $2,207 down to $1,542, a 30.1% reduction in rates. That's even less than what I was paying before at $1,742 at year.

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! :lol: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[RechtsFahren]

'No fault' or not vis-a-vis points on your license and whatever the police had to say, clearly your insurance company thinks you're at least partially responsible.

Are there two insurance companies involved? They often split the cost, say, 20%/80%, which means 'no fault' or not you're 20% blamed and subsequently that goes into calculating your risk and jacks your premium.

See what you can do to explain why the other party is 100% to blame for the accident (e.g. were you hit from behind? then that should be 100% the other party's fault) and why their insurance company should therefore pay 100% of the bill. In that case you can tell your ins. co. there is no reason for them to charge you more.

If you get your insurance co to agree to go fight for the other party to pay 100%, make sure you get a letter from your insurance company that says they paid 0% on this claim. That way you can take that to another insurance company later.

I too was shocked when I learned my premium was going to go up for an accident the police would have said was 0% my fault. The insurance company didn't care what the police or state motor vehicle division had to say about it, they only cared about the % split of payment they worked out with the other insurance co. If they're too lazy to argue with the other insurance co they'll just 'split the difference' and pay some small % of the claim and then stick you with a higher premium.

Let me emphasize the insurance cos don't seem to care about police or state driving records regarding an accident, only what payment split was negotiated for sake of convenience between insurance companies for the claim.

 

[FastLane]

Rechts is right, if you are truely not at fault, they shouldn't be raising the rates for that.

However, just out of curiosity, how much of that 20% increase is the accident and/or claim, and how much is the A6?

My record is clean, no tickets, accidents, etc., and the total premium went up about 60% ($80/month for the house and 2 MY2k or newer (German)cars, up to $132/month) just by adding the A6, even after we took the old car off the policy.

This was including the already existing discount for multiple (2, still) cars, the house, lower miles driven, wall to wall airbags in one car, auto trans, the Quattro and an increase for NOT having the curtain airbags in the A6.

The insurance companies do not like these cars. Especially a turbo in California.

Mark

 

[OneGuyInCA]

The accident with the Passat was clearly 100% NOT my fault. The other party was driving against traffic in my lane which ended up in a head-on collision. As we speak, that case is still on-going with lawyers involved. It's still going through a subrogation process and I can't see how in that case there would be any split. Should be 100%/0%.

The premium for the A6 came in a little over $1200/year which is significantly higher than my previous renewal. This is with all sorts of discounts also: Multiple car, house, low miles driven, wall to wall airbags, anti-locks, auto trans, companion (married), etc, and $1000 deductible.

I should also mention that my insurance is through Prudential which is now Liberty Mutual.

 

[blakwag]

The best thing to do is call your adjuster to make sure it was a non-chargeable accident. If it was indeed non-chargeable, then you can start questioning them about the premium increase.

 

[D.Passat00]

$1800/yr isn't bad. i pay more than that to insure just my '00 1.8t B5, and i have no tickets, no accidents (that were my fault)

 

[IDriveB5]

insurance is the biggest scam ever. this year, they raised my rates for now reason.

 

[Slider]

IDriveB5,

I am not a big fan of insurance companies but when you say your rates went up for no reason, I think you mean that you did not have any accidents or claims on your insurance. However, insurance is a pooled risk arrangement. So that no one person has to pay for the entire repair of his or her car, the cost is spread out to all holders of insurance policies. Even if you had no claims, other policy holders did have claims and they increased the total claims of the pool. You must also consider simple inflationary pressure. The cost of paint, replacement parts and labor tends to rise. Thus, any given repair will tend to cost more today than it did a year ago. These costs increase the amount the insurance company pays for any given claim. Again, since insurance is a pooled risk arrangement, your rates may go up.

I admit that it still sucks when your bill is higher and you have been a claim-free driver. I had the same disheartening experience. Still, raising rates does not make insurance a "scam."

 

[NotAPreppie]

It has been my experiences that, regardless of fault, insurance companies believe that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and therefore are an insurance risk.

They believe that you were at fault for their having to pay money simply because you were there.

I know a guy who's car was rear-ended while it was parked in a parking space while he was buying groceries. He wasn't even in the car and he was doing something as mundane as buying groceries (everybody does this, it's not like he was racing or base jumping in his Passat). Anyways, his rates increased 30% after making a claim.

Auto insurance companies, like health insurance and pharmaseutical companies, SUCK!

 

[danteshors]

I got hit by a re-tread off a tractor trailer tire on the interstate and it smashed my front bumber cover and lower valance. I am considering calling my insurance company to fix but I am scared s-less what my premiums would be then! I have never had an accident before regardless of blame. This is their scam, scare people into not filing claims. I have comprehensive coverage and collision. The tire flew up from the street after the SUV in front of me ran it over and it flug it up a bit. It looked like it had a lot of tread left when it hit me.

 

[OneGuyInCA]

What's ironic is that insurance companies want you to buy an insurance policy from them... however they don't want you to use it. As soon as you use it, they jack up your rates faster than you can blink. So for the policy holders like us, we're forced to carry insurance as required by DMV laws, however we are discouraged to use it in any types of accidents for fears that our rates will go up. How twisted is this?!?!? :weirdo: :crazy: :suspicio: :thumbdow: :evil: :roll:

 

[FastLane]

I got hit by a re-tread off a tractor trailer tire on the interstate and it smashed my front bumber cover and lower valance. I am considering calling my insurance company to fix but I am scared s-less what my premiums would be then!

Check into that, because my insurance company makes a distinction between accidents (collision) and comprehensive claims. She told me that you can make 5 comp claims a year and not worry about the premiums, whereas just one accident (if I cause it) can hurt in the wallet.

Of course, the deductibles ($250) add up, but $250 for a new valance or windshield, etc., is such I can certainly pay it without issue.

However, getting hit head-on by someone over the line should NOT count against you. I can see where they might say you should have swerved, etc. but sometimes things happen to fast. In Colorado the law is that the last person who had a chance to avoid a collision is responsible. But, that is not really enforced so much as it does not make sense for people who are victims to foot the bill.

And as for the concept of wrong place wrong time, that is BS as well. It is just another way of passing the buck on to those who are doing things right, like having insurance and not causing accidents.

 

[PassatDoTd]

Subrogation may be the culprit

Hey OneGuy,

I was rear ended in Texas last year by an uninsured driver driving a hearse as his personal vehicle. Caused $3k worth of damage to my Galant. Now my insurance company had to fork over the dough to me for my car because I have uninsured driver coverage. Stick with me on this cause I am going somewhere.

So I paid out my deductible, $500, and they covered the rest. Meanwhile, they went after the guy who hit me and through subrogation got him to sign a 4 year payment plan. So far I have gotten $300 of my $500 back and my insurance didn't hold it against me.

Who paid you so far for your totaled Passat? It sounds like your insurance company gave you money for the loss and are now seeking to get their money back from the driver at fault. If this is the case THAT'S probably why they raised your rates. They so far have put out the money to fix you up so they are out of their pocket.

My agent told me my rates may go up because of the accident even though it wasn't my fault. Since the guy signed those papers though they didn't. They know they'll get their money back so in the end it balances out for them. Now it will balance out for your company too but right now they probably don't know that for sure. If and when they get final payment back your rates should decrease.

Like the others I think you need to have a sit down with your Agent and make him explain in detail why your rates have increased.

In regards to your accident the other day and not reporting it...well if the other driver is cool with it then get an estimate and get the driver to pay you that money. She probably doesn't want it on her insurance any more than you do. If you get your money and all is well then no harm no foul.

Good Luck.

matt

 

[OneGuyInCA]

PassatDoTD:

Yes Prudential/Liberty Mutual cut me a check for $23K. As we speak, they are still going through the subrogaton process and the case is still considered open. Your explanation for my rates going up sounds very plausible. I guess the best thing to do is to call my agent and get an explanation from him. I sure do hope that my rates will go down once Prudential/Liberty Mutal gets their money.

 

[OneGuyInCA]

Well I just got off the phone with Liberty Mutual. After much bickering and picking... my premiums have now been reduce by $665/yr from $2,207 down to $1,542, a 30.1% reduction in rates. That's even less than what I was paying before at $1,742 at year.

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! :lol: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: