Reader’s Question:

I was driving my way to work. As I was sitting at a red light, someone just rear-ended me. It wasn’t my fault, but my car insurance premiums in Arizona just went up. What happened here?

Tracy

Gilbert, AZ

That’s quite tough, Tracy.

Chances are, your auto insurance company in Arizona might be penalizing you for an accident or traffic violation that happened to you even months before that recent incident. For someone who has a spotless driving record, it is very unlikely that the auto insurance premiums will increase after any accident that is not your fault. But even a single traffic violation or any fender-bender in the past will surely yield an auto insurance increase. Every company would vary with regards to length of time between accidents in classifying you as “accident prone”.
Determining who’s at fault in any driving mishap is always by the traffic authorities. Whoever gets the ticket during any incident is always the one at fault and you can never turn that around even if you think you had no fault. With what happened to you though, even if you were rear-ended while you were minding your own business, your auto insurance company will still base premiums on risk factors. Try to recall if you’ve had any speeding ticket or other traffic violations prior to this accident you just had. If you had one, then your auto insurance company might have deemed you to be an at-risk driver. The increase then is not necessarily because of the most recent accident. Auto insurance rates are correlated to your overall propensity toward accidents.