California requires all drivers to carry car insurance with bodily injury coverage for car accident victims. Under the state’s pure comparative negligence laws, a car accident victim may file a claim to recover their damages against the at-fault party’s liability insurance. If you were the driver who caused the accident, this leaves you liable for property damage and injury expenses through a claim the accident victim files against your auto insurance. Unfortunately, this process often increases your insurance costs.
What Factors Might Affect My Auto Insurance Costs?
After an accident claim, an insurance company evaluates a driver’s insurance costs by considering the following factors:
- Your driving record
- The total number of past claims you’ve filed
- The payout amounts of previous claims
- Whether your insurance provider has an accident forgiveness policy for a first accident
Rate changes vary according to each insurance provider’s risk assessment policy. If you were the at-fault party, you may see an increase in your auto insurance cost by 30% to 70%, depending on your percentage of fault and the insurance company’s rate change policy.
What If I Wasn’t at Fault for the Accident?
An insurance company carefully considers fault after an accident in Van Nuys. Under California Code CIV 1714, the insurance company assigns a percentage of fault to each involved driver. The insurance company still pays out on a claim if a driver contributed to the cause of the accident, but subtracts their percentage of fault from the payout on a claim. If you were in an accident but were not at fault, then your percentage of fault is zero, which will not increase your insurance premium cost. In most cases, a driver isn’t at fault under the following accident circumstances:
- When rear-ended by another driver
- If your vehicle is hit by a hit-and-run driver through no fault of your own
- If an impaired driver caused your accident
- If the other driver ran through a stop sign or red light and hit your vehicle when you had the right of way
In most cases, the insurance company examines the police report of the accident to determine each driver’s percentage of fault. Your rates only increase if you were at fault, or partly at fault, for the crash.
What Is Proposition 103 In California?
Under Proposition 103, enacted in 1988, California insurers cannot raise your insurance costs after an accident that wasn’t your fault. As long as you were less than 51% at fault, an insurer cannot raise your rates. However, because California is a pure comparative negligence state, fault is assigned to accident victims even if they were not primarily responsible. This means even a 20% fault for an accident could trigger a rate increase.
What Is the Minimum Insurance Requirement for California Drivers?
If you are facing a rate increase due to an accident, you may consider whether or not you can decrease your coverage. This may be possible if you’ve added additional insurance, such as collision or comprehensive coverage, but you cannot reduce a minimum coverage policy. All registered drivers in California must carry the following insurance:
- $30,000 in bodily injury coverage per person
- $60,000 total bodily injury coverage per accident
- $15,000 in property damage coverage per accident
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is automatically added to every insurance policy in California, but a driver may decline this valuable coverage by signing a written waiver.
