Nova_Dust

My insurance was 180 a month back in 2002. And on Dec 2002, I had an accident which involved no other car but myself. In 2003, I was driving my father's car one night and got hit, totally not my fault as told by insurance.

By March 2003, insurance went from 210 to 320 (I am taking out the decimals and round the figures up). That's nearly double of what I had before. I need car to commute so I swallow the painful lesson and kept going at it.

Then in April, got hit in my car while driving on highway. Someone cut me off and hit me sideway. Again, was told no fault. Last week, during the snow storm, I side swip someone but she skid first, so by that, insurance told me it would be her fault so I am at no fault.

Today, I got a letter from BelAIR Direct saying now I am under their coverage, a sister organization of ING Canada Inc. In their opening paragraph, it says and I quote:

I turned to the next page and was wondering what would my new premium be. With every included, it comes to $5428.75 a year which makes it $452.39 a month. Now, with $450, that's another 130 jump from 320 in a year, and 240 in just a little over 15 months. Deductable has raised from 300 to 500. Since Dec 2002, I had no tickets (I am pretty sure, ok, one parking ticket in underground and my friend paid for it and no speeding or anything else), 1 AT FAULT accident which I understand why it has gone up, 2 hit by others which was told NOT AT FAULT, and just this year, due to snow and bad weather condition, I was again, told at no fault.

And it is now 450 a month. Ok, what did I do to deserve such a warm hospitality from BelAIR? So ING has dissed me and dump me to their "sister" company which will charge me an insanely amount of money?

What in the world is going on?

I was not even hoping for a decrease but rather to stay at the same premium and I will be happy enough, and next year or so hopefully they will reduce it back to 210 or something. But I was certainly not hoping THIS! I gotta do something about it. I am calling their Centre first thing tomorrow to discuss it. And also, with my car in the shop (not too much of a damage), this is the worse that can happen while your car is being repaired in the shop - an increase in premium.

I am 28 and will be 29 in May. I think this sucks ***. I was thinking go under my father's insurance and become a secondary driver of my car. I don't mind who's name is appears on the paper (well it says Honda now, but I am buying it back) but if that can reduce my rate, why not? (can it actually?) If I go that route, will that affect my father's insurance?

WELCOME TO CLUB $5000+!

EL_Sport

From reading your description you have had 4 accidents since 2002, so I'm not really all that surprised at your rate (in spite of the fact you were deemed not at fault for the majority of them). That many claims in such a short period of time is why your rates have jumped so high. A similar thing happend to a friend of mine who's car was hit, broken into, etc. several times over a short period time.

kwikb16a2

oh man that sucks, i thought i had it bad, btw theres someone selling a front bumper that you were looking for

imported_gatherer

they are raising your rates not because of at fault accidents but length of your reaction time...

Nova I hate to say it but 4 accidents in 2 years is going to get anyone wondering ... ok so your not at fault but what could you as the driver done to avoid these? personally I dunno I wasn't there..

but I have noticed lots of people following too closely and pacing side by side other cars... both items are things you really never want to do in the winter.. if you were driving beside that car you wouldn't have been sidewiped and for the cut off stuff.. well thats a reaction time and aware of surroundings issue ... I've been cut off many times .. I'm not a perfect driver ... but seeing the dude come up in the rear view mirror and almost like clockwork I can tell what they are going to do ... actually it's kind of fun to predict the move see it happen and be out of the way able to say "yep I thought so" to yourself is pretty cool...

thats why your rates are going up... mainly from a lack of surroundings awareness... see if I claimed my oil patch curbing event... I'd have my rates go up... was it my fault no... it was oil on the ground... was I aware of my surrounds? no way. I lost control due to lack of awareness and yes my rates would rise if I had claimed it....

Nova_Dust

The latest winter accident happened as follow:

Girl in front of me skid, her car turned 90 degrees to the right. I saw that and I pressed break but too much snow caught under the car, so I started sliding. I then turned right, hit the snow bank intentionally wishing the snow would have caught my front and stop my car. I was willing to damage my front from hitting her, but that didn't work. So my driver side hitted her passenger side.

And damn my FG bumper is STRONG! No damage at all.

Anyway, I called today and asked what happened. Pretty much like that you guys have said. Too much claims in such a short period of time. Ya my luck sucks and I don't know why people kept on coming to me... but I found out that Brampton is an high insurance rate area. If I move my address to Richmond Hill area, my rate will go from 450 to 290...

Crazy? You bet. A simple change of address will do the miracle. But I will need to change my DL address as well.

Quick_CX

i just got dropped from certas ....the same day i was on the phone with claims dept...listening to them telling me ok your at zero fault for my accident in jan. but the service dept. tells me i am high risk and they dropped me....now i am either being told we can't cover someone as high risk as me or my qoute are around 7000-10,000 a year for a 94 civic....and i am 19 yr old male....i have 1 15 over ticket and 1 more accident 2 years ago single vechicle due to a blizzard....and POOR driving conditions was not charged or anythig...but either way i am getting screwed

Nova_Dust

Sean, that's ****ing bull**** man... what you gonna do now?

Insurance said that there are a lot of Civic claims and there are a lot of them on the street hence, they are considered high risk vehicles (just like Sunfires). I don't know but Ford just dropped 33% sale over the last year and I guess a lot of people are in fact leaning towards Japanese vehicles. So with more and more Civics on the road, us Civic drivers are actually ****ing each other in our asses... it sounds to me like a huge scam coming from domestic manufacturers to pressure insurance companies on policies against imports so people will stop buying let's say, a Civic and go back or start buying domestics vehicles....

It is like, you have to play dirty to win the competition. I am just guessing, but hell anything is possible I guess.

Today, I had a sudden urge of return my car once the lease is up (March 2004) and go with a ****ing 4 door (not that I dislike sedans) or some old piece of **** car just to lower my insurance a little. But then I think about my gutted car, with factory leather seats sold to a TCC member, intake box and air filter sold, roof lining out, aftermarket front bumper, no hubcaps, and my 1 month old new pair of seats, I say **** this. I am sticking with my Civic and that's that.

One thing, it is too much trouble to put the car back to stock (unless my buddy at dealer will take it like that...) and second, I have invested money and time in this and I am not letting go a fine import and surrender to domestic vehicles. I am gonna drop it this summer, and keep going at it.

CivicGurl

I have had my deductible increased from $200 to $500 due to windshield replacements. I have had to replace my windshield twice in 2 years from ****ing transport trucks throwing rocks at me. Not my fault. The first one was a chip that I went to one of those drive through places and they blew it out. The second one the whole windshield needed to be replaced because it cracked. When my insurance renewal form came, they happily told me that they were increasing my deductible because of my glass claims. It's not like they were my fault. Knock on wood, I haven't had a windshield claim for over a year now. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much. At least they haven't cancelled me (yet) like some of you guys. I just needed to vent.

imported_ITK

that's messed up.... ohh man........ switch companies...I'm sure you can find something cheaper.....I mean $450 a month that's a lot of money.....try this... The Personal you can give them a call @ 1-888-277-6481 find out what they will say...maybe they'll give you a cheaper rate...

imported_gatherer

well duh...

hey everyone it's simple...

you have insurance not because it's there to make claims on but because the government mandates it.

therefore since insurance companies are allowed to drop you they do so based on how much they have to pay out ... they are in the profit making business they have to replace you windshield a few times and your no longer profitable. therfore they drop you...

make a claim and your profitability magin decreases if that drops they will cut their losses and drop you it's that simple....