If you've ever backed into a mailbox or clipped a curb and decided to fix the damage yourself, you're not alone.
August 30, 2026
A new BestMoney survey of over 1,000 U.S. drivers found that among people who have been in a car accident, 60% paid for the damage out of pocket instead of filing a claim. The number one reason: they were worried filing a claim would raise their rates.
Car insurance companies weigh a driver's claims history when calculating premiums, and just one claim can follow a driver for years as a higher rate. In some situations, skipping the claim genuinely is the better financial call, but experts urge drivers to weigh the pros and cons before deciding to forgo one.
Not filing a claim just to protect your premium isn't always in your best financial interest. From my experience working with auto accident claims, I've found that many drivers think a single claim will actually affect their rates. But paying from your own pocket can put you at a much greater financial risk than just a premium increase in instances when another driver is obviously responsible for an accident, or if there are serious damages or injuries involved.
About half of drivers (49.2%) said their premium went up in some amount at their last renewal, while only 11.8% said it decreased, which helps explain the rate-hike anxiety behind the out-of-pocket pattern.
The second most common reason for paying out of pocket, cited by 192 respondents (21.3% of those who've been in an accident), was more mechanical: their deductible was close to or higher than the repair cost anyway. If your deductible is $1,000 and the damage is $800, filing a claim doesn't save you any money — and a claim on your record can still affect your premium for three to five years, per Greene.
"A claim typically affects your insurance rate for three to five years, but it varies by insurer and state. While there isn't a fixed dollar value for filing a claim, if the cost of repairs is only slightly above your deductible, it may be worth paying out of pocket. When an accident causes damages to exceed the amount of your deductible, or when injuries are involved or potential liability is an issue, it's almost always a good idea to make a claim." Greene says.
Here's the smart move buried in this data: know your deductible before you need it. If it's set so high that you'd never actually use it for a fender bender, you're paying for coverage you can't access. Drivers who haven't compared rates recently can compare car insurance quotes to see whether a different deductible-premium combination fits their situation better.
The survey also asked what changes drivers made in the past year specifically to lower their car insurance premium. Roughly half made no changes at all, but of the ones who did:
Change made | % of drivers |
Lowered coverage to the state's legal minimum | 28.3% |
Raised deductible to an amount hard to afford | 23.7% |
Dropped comprehensive and/or collision coverage | 15.1% |
Let policy lapse for a period of time | 13.7% |
Among these, one of the most alarming is that nearly a quarter of drivers raised their deductible to an amount they admit they couldn't comfortably pay — the exact setup that produces the out-of-pocket-payment pattern above. A policy that looks cheaper on paper but doesn't actually protect the driver when something happens.
The good news: when premiums do rise, most people respond the right way. Asked what they'd do first if their premium jumped $50 a month at renewal, 52.2% said they'd shop around for a cheaper policy with another insurer — exactly the right instinct. But that instinct isn't even across age groups:
Age group | Would shop around | Would cut spending | Would just absorb it |
18–29 | 59.8% | 20.7% | 13.4% |
30–44 | 51.9% | 25.2% | 11.3% |
45–60 | 46.7% | 35.6% | 9.3% |
60+ | 56.4% | 5.0% | 25.2% |
Drivers 45–60 are the most likely to cut household spending to cover a rate hike rather than shop around — while drivers 60 and older are both fairly likely to shop around and, if they don't, the most likely of any age group to simply absorb the cost.
Nearly half of drivers (46.8%) say the cost of owning or insuring their car has caused them to delay some kind of maintenance in the past year: 30.7% delayed routine maintenance, like oil changes and fluids, and 27.6% delayed something safety-related, like brakes, tires, or responding to an engine warning light.
The survey also found a clear gender split in which expenses get cut:
Delayed routine maintenance | Delayed safety-related repair | |
Men | 36.4% | 24.6% |
Women | 26.3% | 30.6% |
While delaying maintenance is never preferable, it helps to know the relative risk: an oil change slipping a month is probably safe. A brake issue slipping a month is not, and it's worth prioritizing — even if it means adjusting the insurance budget elsewhere to free up cash.
Survey respondents were split on whether long-term loyalty gets rewarded with better rates or quietly punished: 33.6% think insurers reward loyalty, 26.0% think insurers penalize it, and 30.2% think loyalty isn't really a factor either way. While some insurers do offer loyalty discounts, staying with one insurer for an extended period isn't always in a driver's best interest — it's worth shopping around for new quotes at least once a year, and especially after a claim.
Credit-based pricing gets an even more skeptical response. In most states, insurers are legally allowed to factor a driver's credit score into their premium — only California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts ban the practice for auto insurance, according to CNBC. About a third of survey respondents (33.2%) called it very unfair, and another 22.9% called it somewhat unfair but understandable. Meanwhile, 15.1% of people didn't even know their credit score could affect their car insurance price at all.
Drivers also don't feel like their rate is purely about their driving. When asked if anything unrelated to their driving record had unfairly affected their rate, 32.1% pointed to their age and 29.8% pointed to where they live. Age is where the generational gap really shows up:
Age group | Feel age unfairly affected their rate |
18–29 | 43.2% |
30–44 | 33.0% |
45–60 | 34.3% |
60+ | 23.3% |
Many car insurers now offer telematics programs that monitor driving habits in exchange for a discount. Asked if they'd let their insurer track their driving through a smartphone app for a 20% discount, 43.8% said yes overall — but willingness varies sharply by age:
Age group | Would opt into telematics | Positive on AI-run claims |
18–29 | 33.1% | 20.3% |
30–44 | 41.2% | 36.1% |
45–60 | 52.9% | 39.1% |
60+ | 41.0% | 6.8% |
Drivers 45–60 are the most comfortable letting an app monitor their speed and braking for a discount, and are also the most positive about AI reviewing accident photos and calculating a payout with no human involved. Drivers 18–29 are the least enthusiastic about both — if you assumed younger drivers would be the early adopters here because they grew up with the technology, the data suggests otherwise. It's the drivers with the most to gain financially who are leaning in hardest.
On the AI question specifically, most drivers remain skeptical: 44.2% said they'd feel negative about AI making the call with no human involved, versus 28.1% positive and 15.3% who'd be fine with it only if they could appeal to a person.
Among drivers who have actually filed a car insurance claim, 53.3% say they were either denied outright or got a payout lower than expected. Usually because of coverage details or exclusions they didn't fully understand ahead of time. Split by gender, women are more likely to describe an outright denial (20.0% vs. 12.1% of men), while men are more likely to describe a lower-than-expected payout (27.0% vs. 21.1% of women).
"The most typical reason behind denied claims isn't the accident itself, but rather finding out that the policy didn't extend to how the vehicle was being used, the coverage had lapsed, or the claim reporting requirements weren't followed. It's important to understand exactly what your policy covers so you aren't surprised after an accident or another claim," says Greene.
Not understanding the policy details is the strongest argument in this whole survey for reading through what comprehensive, collision, and liability coverage actually excludes before a claim is on the table, not after. It's also a good reason to revisit a policy at renewal rather than let it auto-renew untouched. Drivers who want to see what a policy with clearer, better-understood terms would cost can compare car insurance options.
The survey's full respondent-level data (each response tied to age, gender, region, and income) supports genuine cross-tabs, not just topline splits. The clearest patterns by segment, drawn from the sections above:
Segment | Pattern |
Age | 18–29 is the least willing to adopt telematics or AI claims, and the most likely to feel their age unfairly raised their rate (43.2%, vs. 23.3% for 60+). |
Age | 45–60 is the most willing to cut household spending rather than shop around after a rate hike, and the most open to telematics and AI claims. |
Gender | Men delay routine maintenance more (36.4% vs. 26.3%); women delay safety-related repairs more (30.6% vs. 24.6%). |
Gender | Women report outright claim denials more often (20.0% vs. 12.1%); men report lower-than-expected payouts more often (27.0% vs. 21.1%). |
Skipping a claim is often the right call, but not always: many drivers who cause minor accidents pay out of pocket rather than file a claim, mainly out of fear that a claim will raise their premium for years, and the math often backs that instinct up.
That same rate anxiety can backfire: some drivers raise their deductible to a level they couldn't actually afford, or delay safety-related maintenance to save money — both choices that create bigger risks down the line.
There's a real trust gap between drivers and insurers: many drivers don't understand how factors like credit score, age, or loyalty affect their rates, and an even larger number don't know what their policy actually covers.
The consistent advice from experts is this: read your policy closely, choose a deductible you could comfortably afford out of pocket if you had a claim, and shop around at renewal rather than assuming loyalty or a clean record will keep rates low.
Often, yes — a claim can affect your rate for three to five years, depending on the insurer and state. Whether it's worth it depends on the size of the damage relative to your deductible, and whether another driver is clearly at fault.
It can be the smarter move if the repair cost is close to your deductible, since filing wouldn't save you much and could still raise your premium. It's a different calculation when damages exceed your deductible by a wide margin, or when injuries or liability are involved — in those cases, filing is usually the better call.
Typically three to five years, though the exact length varies by insurer and state.
Most denials and reduced payouts trace back to coverage details the policyholder didn't fully understand — how the vehicle was being used, a lapse in coverage, or a missed reporting requirement — rather than the accident itself.
Only if you could comfortably pay that deductible out of pocket if you actually needed to file a claim. Raising it to an amount you couldn't afford just shifts risk onto yourself without meaningfully protecting you.
In most states, yes. Only California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts prohibit insurers from factoring credit-based scores into auto insurance pricing.
This BestMoney survey was conducted online in July 2026, among U.S. adults. A total of 1,057 respondents took the survey; per-question sample sizes range from 897 to 1,055 due to skip logic (not every question applied to every respondent, and a small number of respondents dropped off partway through).
Demographic composition of respondents: 51.8% female, 48.1% male; 11.4% ages 18–29, 34.1% ages 30–44, 30.2% ages 45–60, and 24.1% ages 60+.
Elizabeth Rivelli is a business finance and insurance expert at BestMoney.com with over five years of experience covering car, home, life, and health insurance. She has contributed to major outlets such as Investopedia, Forbes, CNN Underscored, U.S. News & World Report, and Bankrate. Elizabeth also partners with insurance companies to provide readers with practical insights into industry trends.