On the job accident affecting insurance?

[kobe]

My brother was in a minor accident while at work. Hi works at a car rental company and while on the job driving one of the rental cars to fill up on gas he was in a minor accident, just a fender bender. He recently bought a new car as well right around the same time as the accident. I can't remember if it was before or after the accident. His insurance company has now increased his payments which seems wrong to me since he should be covered by his workplace. I'm not sure why his personal car insurance would increase if he is already insured thru his work. The head office of his work even sent a letter showing he is insured thru the car rental company but now when he shops around for insurance all the companies can see he was in an accident and cant get anything better. I believe these are all the facts. I am writing kind of from the top of my head so I hope I'm not missing anything too relevent but that's pretty much the brief story. Not sure what to do here. Any advice would be appreciated...

[fastar1]

Did his employer cause the accident, or did he?

[PLau]

If he was operating the vehicle and was charged for an at-fault accident, it will be on his record and whats what insurance companies look at.

[Aleks Hara]

Since he was the one behind the wheel, it will definetly go on his record. One of the insurance companies I work with might not rate him for the accident if the pay out was less than $1000 and if everything else is good - no other claims, tickets, non-pay cancellations etc...

[Platinum Cycle]

If he can demonstrate that this claim (which I assume is an at fault loss otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion) is being surcharged on another policy (i.e. the auto policy for his employer) his current insurer may not take it into account and surcharge your brothers policy. I suspect however this may be a bit of a long shot but it's worth a try. This tactic is usually more successful when it's argued the opposite way i.e. if you drive my personal car, get into an at fault accident, rather than my premiums going up if I can prove your policy is surcharging my insurer may give me, the owner of the car, a break.

I hope whoever your brother is insured with has a very sympathetic Underwriting Dept.

[nobbie48]

Is the increase due to a claim or a charge? IIRC an insurance company can't double dip, charging two parties for the same claim. They can hammer two parties though by hitting one for the claim and the other for having a violation on their record.
Is the new car part of the increase due to a vehicle rating?
I don't think it matters if a person is driving on the job. A ticket is a ticket and a claim is a claim.

[smergy]

regardless of who pays for this claim, if it is deemed an at fault accident, it is part of your driving record regardless of your insurer.

[kobe]

Ok I guess that makes sense. I just assumed if your driving is part of the job you are insured differently. For example with taxi drivers. My bro obviously doesnt drive as often as taxi drivers, but working for a car rental company part of the job requires him to drive their cars. I might be reaching here but wouldnt that mean on average if they get in an at fault accident at work then their personal rates would go up as well? I just assumed taxi drivers are insured separately by their employer compared to when they drive a personal vehicle and used that same logic in my bro's situation.

The car rental company did give my bro a letter saying he is insured under so and so with policy number etc and basically saying that while at work he is insured under that policy. the employer is backing up my bro saying that his personal insurance shouldnt be effected.

To make things worse the insurance he currently has states he has "accident forgiveness" for 1 at fault accident, so I dont understand how they can still raise the rates. I don't know the fine print or "x" dollar amount but I assume there is always fine print with these types of statements. My bro is going to talk to the insurance company again and see what happens.