Accident Forgiveness and Car Insurance

Accidents happen, and car insurance companies understand that. For this reason, many companies choose to offer accident forgiveness to good drivers who hold auto insurance policies with their companies.

Continue reading to learn about what accident forgiveness is, and how you can add it to your policy.

What Is Accident Forgiveness?

In order to understand accident forgiveness, it is important to understand how your involvement in a car accident affects your auto insurance premium.

When you are involved in an accident, your car insurance company will usually add an accident surcharge to your policy. This means that you will be paying more for your car insurance premium.

In some cases, especially if your accident was DUI-related, your car insurance company may change your driver rating to high-risk and even drop your policy.

If you purchase a car insurance policy with accident forgiveness, your car insurance company is essentially agreeing not to charge you an accident surcharge if you get into a car accident.

Typically, accident forgiveness applies to:

• All drivers and cars on your policy.
• Only one accident on the policy.

You should keep in mind that accident forgiveness does not mean that your car insurance provider completely forgets about an accident. It only means they will not charge you an accident surcharge.

The accident can and will still be used towards your driver rating, and it can still be considered when the insurance company decides whether to continue/renew your policy.

Purchasing Accident Forgiveness

Many of the larger national car insurance companies offer accident forgiveness.

Accident forgiveness is considered a product and most car insurance companies will charge you for it as part of your premium. Some companies will automatically add accident forgiveness to exceptionally low-risk drivers. In either case, accident forgiveness is not available to all drivers.

High-risk drivers will typically not have accident forgiveness available to them, as the coverage is usually reserved for those who are rated as good drivers.

Prices may vary for accident forgiveness. If you have a clean driving record and are shopping for car insurance, have accident forgiveness factored into your quotes to get a better idea of what it will cost you.

Should I Get Accident Forgiveness?

Accident surcharges can be very high, causing a sharp increase to your car insurance rates, which is a contrast to the relatively low cost of accident forgiveness. For several people, this fact makes accident forgiveness well worth the price.

Because accident forgiveness is typically only available to good drivers, your own confidence in your driving may deter you from purchasing accident forgiveness. If you feel that your risk of getting into an accident is very low, you may decide that having this extra charge on your premium is an unnecessary expense. However, it's important to consider that an accident can happen at any time.

The relatively small addition to your premium could save you a lot of money over time in car insurance rate increases.