How Long Does an Accident Affect Your Car Insurance?

If you just had an accident, or you're a new driver trying to figure out what one would cost you, the confusing part is that people use "stays on your record" to mean three different things. Once you separate them, the timeline makes a lot more sense.

Three different clocks

Your insurance rate clock. This is the one that matters for your wallet. Insurers look back a set number of years when they price your policy, called a lookback window. Most use three to five years for a standard at-fault accident. Each company picks its own window, so it is not a law and it is not the same everywhere.

Your claims history clock. Insurers share claims through a database called CLUE, run by LexisNexis. Claims stay there for seven years. A new insurer can see an accident from six years ago even if it no longer changes your price, and switching companies does not erase it.

Your driving record clock. This is the record kept by your state's DMV. How long an accident or ticket shows up depends on your state, and it can be shorter or longer than the other two. Serious violations like a DUI usually stay on far longer than a regular accident.

How much does an accident raise your rate?

It depends on your state, your company, and how serious the accident was, but recent studies put the average increase for one at-fault accident at somewhere around 40 to 50 percent. As an example, on a policy that costs 1,500 dollars a year, that would add roughly 660 dollars a year. Add it up over three to five years and one accident can cost thousands of dollars, even though the claim payout itself was a one-time event.

Two things make the number swing a lot:

• How bad it was. A minor fender bender with a small payout is usually treated as a shorter, smaller hit than a crash with injuries or a large claim, which can affect your rate for five years or longer.
• Which company you ask. Two insurers can price the exact same accident very differently, because each one uses its own formula. One might add 30 percent and another 60 percent for the same driver.

What "fading" looks like

The increase doesn't usually disappear all at once. You will typically see the biggest jump at the first renewal after the accident, then a smaller surcharge at each renewal after that, until the accident ages out of the lookback window. If you have no new tickets or claims, your rate keeps sliding back toward where it was.

We built this exact fade into Coverage Roulette, so you can watch a surcharge shrink year by year, and see what happens when a second claim lands before the first one has aged out.

Not at fault? It can still show up

A not-at-fault accident still appears in your claims history. Whether it raises your rate depends on where you live. California, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts have rules against surcharging drivers for accidents that were not their fault (Massachusetts only allows a surcharge if you were more than 50 percent at fault). In most other states, a not-at-fault claim can still raise your rate a little, commonly in the range of 7 to 12 percent. In no-fault states, where your own insurance pays for your injuries no matter who caused the crash, a rate increase after an accident is more likely even when it was not your fault.

Two accidents means two clocks

Each accident starts its own countdown. They do not merge into one longer window. If you have two accidents inside five years, you pay for both until each one leaves the lookback window on its own schedule. That is why a second claim so soon after the first one hurts more than twice as much as it seems like it should.

What accident forgiveness does and does not do

Some policies include accident forgiveness, which stops your rate from going up after a first at-fault accident. It does not erase the accident. It still shows in your claims history and on your driving record, and it usually only applies once, so read the fine print on what qualifies before you count on it.

How to lower the hit

• Shop around after an accident. Because each company has its own lookback window and its own formula, comparing quotes is the fastest way to shrink the damage. A company with a shorter window may stop charging you for the accident sooner.
• Keep everything else clean. No new tickets, no new claims. Every clean year makes the surcharge smaller.
• Ask about discounts again. Good student, safe driving programs, and bundling can still offset part of the increase.
• Think before you file small claims. If the damage is close to your deductible, filing can cost you more in higher rates than you get back in the payout. Our post on [whether you should file that claim](/blog/should-you-file-that-claim) walks through the math.

Longer clocks for bigger violations

A DUI or reckless driving conviction is a different category. It commonly affects rates for five to ten years in most states, and it can also mean an SR-22 filing, which is a form your insurer files with the state to prove you carry the required coverage.

The bottom line

For a normal at-fault accident, plan on paying more for about three to five years, with the biggest jump first and smaller drops after that. The accident stays visible in your claims history for seven years, but that is not the same thing as paying for it for seven years. The best moves are the boring ones: stay clean, compare quotes, and think hard before filing a claim you could cover yourself.