I was at fault in a car accident 2/07 - how many more years will my car insurance be high?

Question

The insurance lady told me that it could take as many as 5 years, but I thought that it was three years?

Answer 1

In NY state a company can add a surcharge to your insurance for each renewal after the accident until the accident is 39 months old.  After that they can't surcharge but some companies look at all accidents and violations for the last 5 years in determining your pricing tier, so the accident could follow you for a total of 5 years.

Answer 2

Well, it varies by state.  Usually it's at least three full policy years.

Answer 3

The rule of thumb is 3 years for any high risk or non standard company and 5 years for any preferred or standard company.

In the preferred or standard, they usually will quit surcharging after 3 yrs but will not add safe driver credits and discounts back in until 5yrs.

Answer 4

In 3 years the points will no longer be on your license but your driving record never goes away and your insurance will always look at that. I think if you have no claims or tickets in the last 4 years, you can get a discount, but there's nothing you can do but shop around because they can pretty much charge you whatever they want. If you get enough points they can even refuse to insure you!