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Can a not-at-fault accident raise your premium?
Where the law bars surcharges for crashes you did not cause, where it does not, and the other reasons a renewal can rise after someone else hits you.
It depends on where you live and on how the crash was coded. Several states bar an insurer from raising your price because of an accident you did not cause, and in those states a correctly coded not-at-fault crash should not carry a surcharge. Everywhere, though, a renewal can still rise after someone else hits you, for reasons that have nothing to do with fault: a general rate increase, a lost claim-free discount, or a fault finding that went against you or was never settled.
So the useful question is not only "may they?" but "which of those four things happened?" This article separates them, shows what a few state laws actually say, and lays out how to get a mistaken fault code or claims-history entry corrected.
Four reasons the renewal went up after someone hit you
When a renewal arrives higher after a crash that was not your fault, one or more of these is usually responsible.
- A general rate increase. The company raised base rates for everyone in your rating class. This would have happened without the crash, and it is the most common explanation. Our guide on why your premium went up at renewal with no claims covers the pattern.
- A discount tied to claim history. Many companies give a better price to customers with no claims in a set number of years. Even a claim that did not count against you as a surcharge can end that discount, depending on how the discount is defined in the company's filed rules.
- A surcharge for accident involvement. Some rating plans treat an accident with a paid claim as chargeable unless the file shows the insured was not responsible. In states that bar surcharging for not-at-fault crashes this is limited, and in states that do not, the plan's own definition of "at fault" decides.
- A fault code that is wrong, partial or still open. If the insurer's file lists you as partly or fully responsible, or has not closed the fault question, the crash may be treated as chargeable.
The first two are pricing decisions that apply to many customers at once. The last two are specific to your file, and those are the ones you can challenge.
How insurers record a claim and a fault decision
A claim and a fault determination are two separate records.
A claim is a request that the insurer pay for a loss, or a payment made. If another driver ran a red light and you use your own collision coverage to get your car fixed quickly, you have a collision claim on your policy, even though the other driver's insurer should ultimately pay. The claim exists because the money moved through your policy.
A fault determination is the insurer's conclusion about who caused the crash, often expressed as a percentage when both drivers share blame (see comparative negligence). Companies do this for their own claim handling and also to decide whether the accident is "chargeable" under their rating rules. It is an internal judgment, not a court's finding, and it can differ from what the other driver's insurer concludes. Our guide on how fault is determined in a car accident explains what evidence goes into it.
Claims-history databases are built around the first record. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's entry for LexisNexis C.L.U.E. says the database collects and reports up to seven years of auto insurance claims, and the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner's CLUE page describes entries as policy and vehicle details, date of loss, type of loss and amount paid. Whether any particular report also carries an at-fault indicator depends on the reporting product, so pull your own report and read it. Our article on How a claim reaches your CLUE report and your renewal price follows a claim through these systems.
The practical consequence: a not-at-fault crash that you claimed on your own policy can show up as a paid collision claim whether or not it was your fault. Another insurer reading that entry sees a claim, not a verdict. What you want is for the fault code in your own insurer's file to read correctly and for any recovery from the other side to be recorded.
What some states do
State rules are not uniform, and most are narrower than people assume. Here are examples from statutes and a regulator, as of November 2026. They are illustrations, not a complete list; check your own state's insurance code or ask your department of insurance.
| State | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | An insurer may not raise the premium "as a result of an accident not caused or significantly contributed to by the actions of the insured," must tell you the reason for any accident-based increase, and can be ordered to refund and pay a civil penalty | A.R.S. 20-263 |
| Virginia | No premium increase or safe-driver points unless the accident was caused wholly or partly by the named insured, a household resident or a customary operator; written notice and a right to appeal to the Commissioner within 60 days | Va. Code 38.2-1905 |
| New York | Surcharges are allowed only for at-fault accidents involving bodily injury or property loss over $2,000, or for certain violations, and the amount paid does not change the surcharge | NY DFS consumer FAQ |
| California | Under the Good Driver Discount rules a driver counts as "principally at fault" only at 51% or more of the legal cause, above a $1,000 damage threshold or with injury; listed situations are presumed not at fault, such as a lawfully parked car or a hit-and-run | 10 CCR 2632.13 |
| Pennsylvania | No surcharge, rate penalty or point assignment where the insurer was reimbursed for at least 60% of the paid claim through subrogation, settlement or judgment against the person responsible | 75 Pa.C.S. 1799.3(b) |
Read the verbs carefully. Arizona and Virginia prohibit an increase when the insured did not cause the accident (Virginia says "wholly or partially" causes still count; Arizona says "significantly contributed"). New York's rule is about when a surcharge may be applied at all. California defines how fault is measured for a particular discount and rating factor. Pennsylvania's rule turns on money coming back. Each state draws the line in a different place, so a crash that cannot be surcharged in one state might be in another.
The Pennsylvania text above comes from a legal-reference site's copy of the statute, last modified in 2016, so confirm it against the current code. Another subsection of the same section bars a surcharge for the insurer paying a first-party medical claim, and the statute lets the Insurance Department adjust its dollar floor for small claims over time. Also keep in mind that rules on surcharging are separate from rules on cancellation and non-renewal; Virginia's separate statute, for example, limits non-renewal after accidents you did not cause. See how much one at-fault accident raises your rate in different states for a wider comparison, and the state pages for Arizona, Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and California.
When fault is disputed or still open
The hardest case is the one where nobody has decided. Two drivers tell different stories, the police report is silent, and each insurer is waiting for the other.
During that period, your own insurer's file may carry a provisional fault code. If the plan charges for any accident not yet cleared, a surcharge can be applied at renewal and corrected later. Three things protect you.
First, ask what code the claim currently carries. A short written request, "Please tell me how my claim number is coded for fault and whether it is being treated as chargeable for rating," usually gets a straight answer.
Second, give the adjuster your evidence in writing: photos, the police report number, witness names, dashcam video, and the other driver's statement if you have one. Our guide on dashcam footage and scene evidence: what to capture and keep covers what helps.
Third, know your state's procedure. In California, the regulation says an insurer must investigate before it decides a driver was principally at fault, and the notice of the result must go to the insured. In Virginia, the statute requires written notice and gives you 60 days to appeal to the Commissioner. In Arizona, the director can order a refund. For disputes about the fault decision itself, our article on how to contest your insurer's decision that you were at fault walks through the steps.
Comprehensive, glass and other claims that are not crashes
Not every claim in your history is an accident with another vehicle. Hail, a deer, a rock chip, vandalism and theft are paid under comprehensive coverage and are generally treated differently from collision claims.
Rules vary. New York's Department of Financial Services lists the surcharge grounds as at-fault accidents (above the $2,000 threshold for property losses) and certain violations; a windstorm claim is not on that list. Virginia's non-renewal statute, section 38.2-2212, says an insurer may not refuse to renew solely because of claims under comprehensive or towing coverage, but may modify those coverages at renewal on the basis of such claims if it gives written notice at least 45 days before renewal. A rating plan or a coverage change is a different thing from a surcharge, so check which one you were hit with.
Even where a comprehensive claim is not surcharged, it still lands in your claims history. A new insurer will see it when you shop, and it can feed claim-free discounts. When a small glass or hail claim is borderline, our tool Should I file a claim? calculator and the guide on claims just above your deductible: the true cost of filing show how to weigh it.
How subrogation recovery can clear your record
When the other driver is responsible, your insurer can pay you first and pursue the other driver's company for reimbursement. That process is called subrogation. It matters twice: it recovers your deductible, and in some states it affects whether your claim counts against you.
The sample policy language is helpful. The Louisiana personal automobile policy that National General's forms catalog lists as form 11428 (October 2015) says that when the company pays a loss and the person paid can recover damages from someone else, it is subrogated to that right, though its right "is subordinate to the insured's right to full recovery of damages." It also sets out how a recovered deductible is reimbursed to the insured, reduced proportionally if the recovery is partial. Your own policy will have a "Our right to recover payment" section; read it.
In Pennsylvania, a recovery of at least 60% of the paid claim bars the surcharge outright, as shown in the table above. Even where no statute says so, a documented recovery is evidence that the other driver was responsible, and it is reasonable to ask the insurer to recode the claim and re-rate your policy once the money comes back. Do not wait for it to happen automatically.
Our article on subrogation: when your insurer sues the at-fault driver explains how recovery works in practice, and do you pay a deductible if the accident was not your fault? covers the deductible side.
A worked example with the numbers defined
These figures are invented to show how a mistake compounds; they are not typical prices.
Say you paid $1,400 for a year of coverage. Another driver rear-ends you at a light, your insurer pays $6,200 for the repair under collision, and you pay a $500 deductible. At renewal the insurer raises base rates for your class by 9%.
- Correct coding (not at fault, no surcharge): $1,400 × 1.09 = $1,526. The $126 increase is the general rate change.
- Wrong coding (treated as at fault, with a 20% surcharge in the plan): $1,526 × 1.20 = $1,831.20. The surcharge adds $305.20 a year.
If the plan surcharges for three years, the mistaken code costs roughly $900, in addition to the deductible you may not have recovered, and it can follow you to other insurers' quotes. The correction is worth a letter.
The two outcomes look almost the same on a renewal notice. That is why the first step is to ask for the premium breakdown: the base-rate change, any discount lost and any surcharge, each as a separate line.
How to get a wrong fault code or record corrected
- Get the numbers. Ask your insurer in writing for the claim number, the fault code and percentage, whether the claim is "chargeable" in its rating plan, and an itemized list of what changed in your renewal premium.
- Send evidence. Provide the police report number, the other driver's insurer and claim number, photos, witness names and any recovery letters.
- Ask for a re-rate. Request in writing that, if the claim is recoded, the policy be re-rated back to the renewal date and the difference refunded or credited.
- Pull your claims-history reports. Ask LexisNexis for your C.L.U.E. report and any other consumer-report provider the insurer uses. The CFPB's C.L.U.E. entry gives the contact options and says the company provides one free report every 12 months. Our guide on Pulling your own records: CLUE, MVR and claim file lists them.
- Use the federal dispute process for the database entry. Under section 1681i of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer reporting agency must reinvestigate a disputed item within 30 days of receiving the dispute, and delete or correct an item that is inaccurate or cannot be verified. If the dispute does not resolve it, you can add a short statement of the dispute to the file. The CFPB says you can dispute with both the reporting company and the insurer that furnished the data.
- Check for an adverse action notice. The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines adverse action to include an increase in any charge for insurance, and a company that raises your price based on a consumer report must say so, name the agency and tell you of your right to a free copy (15 U.S.C. 1681m). See adverse action notices: what an insurer must tell you about a rate.
- Escalate. If the insurer will not correct a mistake, contact your state department of insurance. In Virginia and Arizona the statutes above give the regulator specific roles. A licensed attorney can advise on a fault dispute that also involves an injury claim.
Common questions
Will my rate go up if I am hit while my car is parked?
California's regulation lists a lawfully parked car as a presumption of not at fault. How the claim affects your price elsewhere depends on your insurer's filed rules and your state. Our article on hit while parked: claims when you cannot find the other driver covers the case where the other driver cannot be found.
If the other driver is uninsured and I use my own coverage, is that held against me?
It is a claim on your policy, but it is not your fault, and the same state rules on surcharging apply. Which coverage pays (collision or uninsured motorist property damage, where it exists) can change how the claim is coded, so ask. See uninsured motorist property damage vs collision: which to use.
Does accident forgiveness help if I was not at fault?
Accident forgiveness typically protects against a surcharge for a first at-fault accident. It is not needed for a crash correctly coded as not at fault, and using it up on a miscoded one would be a mistake. Ask how the company codes the claim before you accept that "forgiveness" is what is being applied. See accident forgiveness.
Can a new insurer charge me more because of a crash that was not my fault?
A new insurer sees your claims history and prices it under its own rules, and may or may not distinguish fault. That is a reason to correct a wrong entry now, before you shop, and to ask any new company how it treats not-at-fault claims.
How long does a surcharge last?
It varies by company and state. Our guide on how long accidents and tickets affect your rates explains the different clocks; the safest answer is to read the surcharge terms in your own policy and ask for the filed rating plan.
Key takeaways
- A not-at-fault crash can raise a renewal through a general rate increase, a lost discount, a surcharge or a wrong fault code. Only the last two are specific to your file.
- Several states restrict accident-based increases, including Arizona and Virginia, and each draws the line differently. Check your state's insurance code or ask the department of insurance.
- Ask for the fault code and an itemized premium breakdown in writing. A wrong code can cost hundreds of dollars a year for years.
- A recovery from the at-fault driver's insurer can matter for your record as well as your deductible; in Pennsylvania, a recovery of at least 60% bars the surcharge.
- Use the Fair Credit Reporting Act dispute process, with its 30-day reinvestigation clock, for a wrong claims-history entry, and escalate to the regulator if the insurer will not fix its own file.