What is Accident Forgiveness

So you’ve heard this term being thrown around. What does it actually mean? In this article we will look at what accident forgiveness means and why insurance companies are all jumping into the bandwagon. We will explore the fallacies surrounding it and why for the most part, it is just something the insurance companies are using to sell your more insurance coverage.

For the most part accident forgiveness means that the insurance company will overlook your recent accident(s) and offer you a insurance rate that is at par with your rate that was offered to your before your accident. In effect it would mean that your new insurer will allow you the lower rates based on your previous good behavior and not take into account the accident that you had most recently. For the most part this type of offer only works if you have had a current accident but maintained a good driving record before that. If you have had a bad driving record then there won’t be much difference if you choose a normal policy or one with “accident forgiveness”.

The main reason that insurance companies advertise “accident forgiveness” is to get potential customers to call up. If you really are a customer that has only had one big accident recently but with an otherwise good driving record then you will benefit from this. Drivers like these are few and far in between. The other normal drivers that call up with a driving record to match the number of accidents they have will give the insurance company an opportunity to sell products to them. For the most part, one of the most important aspects of selling car insurance is just to get the customer on the phone or on the website.

Sometimes “Accident Forgiveness” isn’t something that is only used for marketing. Sometimes you will find that older and more established insurers will even extend this privilege even for current customers. The best example of this is when a customer has a good driving record but has recently been involved in a rather serious accident which required the insurance company to pay out a large claim. Most insurance companies will increase the customer’s premium due to the claim. Some of the better insurance companies will simply you with the accident forgiveness for free in the form of a premium that doesn’t increase. The funny thing is most people won’t even know that the insurance company has done them a favor. There won’t be any formal letter saying you have been granted this privilege.

If you have a good driving history but are involved in an accident which required a claim from your current insurer then you can certainly ask for an accident forgiveness privilege. There is nothing to be shy about. Just ask for it and you will more than likely receive it. Sometimes insurers will give you a condition that you have to first meet in order to get the accident insurance privilege. More likely than not if they put a condition on then it will be that you have attend and pass a defensive driving course. This will in effect help to reduce the risk points that you have accumulated because of the accident and help to push the risk profile of your policy lower.

Accident forgiveness is a great thing. It allows you to mess up once and get away with it in terms of your car insurance rates. The thing is, you can only expect to receive it once. If you continue having accidents and damaging your driving record then no insurance company in their right mind will offer you this privilege.