Also 17 and Hit a Car, But Different Effect on Insurance Rate

Hitting a car at 17 doesn’t mean an automatic insurance rate increase.

Question: I was in a little fender bender in October of this year. I was in bumper to bumper traffic and I accidently bumped the car in front of me. There were minor scratches and I placed my finger across them and it was almost as if they smeared off but there were about 3 minor scratches. We didn’t make a police report the women just called her insurance company and claimed. I’m 17 years old and I’ve only had my license since June of this year. Btw I have no tickets and I’ve never been in an accident. What will happen to my insurance? Will it increase rapidly?

Answer: Okay, this is a great question to get right now because it is pretty similar to the last question we answered. HOWEVER, the difference here is the amount of damage that was caused and the fact that a police report was NOT filed.  One, there will be no record on your DMV report, so that will not affect your insurance rates. Two, the damage is so minor that even if it does come up on a C.L.U.E report for you, the amount of damage puts it under the threshold that insurance companies usually use to decide whether or not it will affect your rates.

So most likely you will not see your insurance rates go up, but each insurance company is different so you won’t know for sure until your next renewal.