Quote Unquote - May 20, 2009

Q) I was involved in an accident and the police officer didn't charge me with anything. This means that my insurance company will not increase my rates because of the claim, right?A) Not necessarily. A police officer does not always place a charge against people involved in an accident. Sometimes, there are circumstances that add to the accident (road conditions, bad weather, etc.) that a police officer will take into consideration and thus decide not to hand out a ticket.However, this does not mean your insurance company will automatically consider you to be "not at fault" in the accident. There is a specific set of rules insurance company adjusters use that govern who is at-fault at the time of an accident. For the province of Ontario, these are "The Fault Determination Rules", as set out under The Insurance Act. You can find these at InsuranceHotline.com.Have a question you'd like answered? Please send us an email at [email protected].Check back every month for new Quote Unquote questions and answers about insurance from readers just like you.