Q: Was hit at a traffic light by a woman making an illegal left turn in a no-fault state. Had the right-away- will the insurance rates increase?

A: Every claim you file on your insurance policy has the potential to raise your rates, regardless of fault. A not-at-fault accident will have considerably less impact than an at-fault but still, will have the potential to impact.

There are a lot of factors that come into play when an accident goes on your car insurance policy and how an insurance company ultimately will rate for them. They look at who is at fault for the accident, what kind of accident it was, and how much is paid out. How much an accident will affect your rate will also depend on your age, your credit/insurance score, and what type of vehicle your drive.

Insurance is not an easy market to predict increases in because of how many factors go into determining how much you should pay for your car insurance. For example, a 20-year-old driver and a 40 year-old-driver could be in the exact same type of accident and drive the exact same vehicle, however, the 20-year-old will see a much larger increase than the 40-year-old. The reason for the difference is because of a formula that the insurance companies use to determine who or what is a higher risk and will have the most likelihood of the insurance company having to pay out a claim for them. They then charge the higher risk higher car insurance rates.

Another factor as to if your car insurance rates will increase is if your company offers an accident forgiveness program.

Q: Hello, I was wondering do you ha e to have full coverage insurance to drive thru Canada or can you have liability?? I heard you gotta have a thousand dollars on you to drive thru Canada is this true??

A: Well, not sure where you heard that you have to carry that much cash in Canada, but I am pretty sure that much is not true.  I have yet to be asked how much cash I have on me by the border guards as I am making my way across into Canada. I would be curious as to where you heard this and the rationale behind it.

As for your insurance, you have to have car insurance in Canada just like here in the U.S.. However, you DON’T have to have “full coverage”, you only need the required liability insurance.

In the past you used to need special car insurance cards to be able to drive in Canada, today all you need is your American car insurance cards. If you have any additional questions, best to ask your car insurance agent.

Now, if you were visiting our neighbors to the south (Mexico) that’s a different story. In Mexico, you have to have car insurance sold in Mexico. Your American car insurance will work for a certain number of miles in Mexico, but if anything happens it is really up to the Mexican authorities whether or not they are going to accept your car insurance, even if your car insurance company says they would cover you.

If they refuse to accept your car insurance, you could do jail time.

Q: My claim number is xxxxxxx claim person Sxxxxx Kxxxxx Her number is xxxxxxxxxx Would you please tell her to get off her indifferent attitude and subrogate the clai,m. Doesn’t she give a damn I faxed her picturesband proof she needs .Her attitude is cavalier and laissey faire

A:  This was posted as a comment on a subrogation article. First of all, why you even think that it was remotely okay to post something like this with all of that information?  That is cyberbullying!!!!!  You are the reason that we filter all of our comments. And this is a warning to anyone else that would do this; your comments will be deleted before they see the light of day if you try to bully anyone at your insurance company, anyone you have a claim against, or anyone that you attack that has posted a comment.  We do not tolerate that here, take your hate somewhere else.

Second, how is posting this information on a auto insurance advice website and telling us to “tell her to get off her indifferent attitude and subrogate the clai,m” going to get you anywhere with your claim.  We don’t know who this person is and we are not your insurance company. If you have a problem take it up with her manager.

A: Hi, I cancelled the insurance during 8th month for a 12th month policy.The insurance company charged me for full 12 months and have a debt collection agency collect the money. They havent added any cancelation charge which would be 10% of remaining 4 months charge.
Does the cancellation charge be remaining 4 months payment ??. I cancelled the policy on December 10th 2 days prior to the next months due date.

Q: You need to talk to your agent or car insurance company about this.  This sounds like a North Carolina short rate issue, but I don’t know without having more information.  With North Carolina short rate though, I do believe it’s not 10% of the remaining months of the policy term, that it’s 10% of what the total premium was. Some companies do have a cancellation penalty, which this could be also.

Also I would need to see your billing history to be able to give a good answer. Some payment plans you are paying exactly a month ahead, some you are paying two months ahead, and some you are paying two week behind and two weeks ahead. If you have changed you payment due date this could screw up what time period your payments are paying for. Also, if you have made any changes to your policy you could owe back earned premium that they are charging you for.

So, the best thing to do is to have your insurance company explain exactly what you are charged for or even ask for them to send you a written billing breakdown with a running balance to show you what you paid for and any changes.

Q: i was parked and a driver with insurance (underwriter=insurance policy)bumped my car..he said he lodged a claim which must cover damages to my vehicle..2nd day now, i have not heard from his insurance to get my vehicle assessed and fixed…his name is :-Mxxxxx Sxxxx Bxxxxxx..please give me info ..as he said you will be deALING WITH THE CLAIM??

A: Three things here:

1) Underwriter does not equal insurance policy. Underwriters can be found in many different fields. They are the people that decide if they want to give you a mortgage, provide a loan to you, and in insurance if you are something they want to insure.

2) We are not an insurance company; we do not have policy holder information nor do we have a claims department to file claims. We are simply a website that provides car insurance advice and a place where you can get car insurance quotes for different car insurance companies.

3) Never trust that another person is going to file a claim for damages to your vehicle. If you have not heard from their insurance company, contact them yourself and file the claim.  If you didn’t get their car insurance information and you haven’t heard from their insurance company, file a police report.