The Accident Your Old Company Handled, Seen by Your New One

An accident is usually decided once, by the company that paid for it. Then you shop, and a different company has to decide the same question for its own rating: was this driver principally at fault? California does not leave that second decision open-ended. 10 CCR 2632.13(f) lists how a "subsequent insurer" may get there.

Why the question comes up when you switch

The Good Driver test in Insurance Code section 1861.025 looks back three years, and a principally-at-fault accident inside that window either adds a point (property damage only) or disqualifies you (injury or death). Your old company made its own determination at the time, and it had to send you that result in writing. Your new company was not there, so it needs a lawful route to the same answer.

The five routes the regulation allows

1. Ask the insurer that covered you. Contact the earlier company and confirm its determination.
2. Use qualifying exchange data. Obtain and rely on claims-exchange data that contains the specific fields the regulation lists.
3. Record facts you confirm. Write down the facts that show principal fault after you have confirmed them.
4. Gather enough information. Obtain sufficient information to make the determination itself.
5. Take your declaration. Accept your declaration under penalty of perjury, which is enough unless independent information contradicts it.

What the exchange report can and cannot do

Claims-exchange databases are where many companies first learn about your past claims; our page on your loss history report explains what they hold. Under subsection (h), a subsequent insurer may use exchange data, but generally not as the only basis for an at-fault finding, apart from the qualifying data in route two. When it does rely on such data, it must tell you the source and give you contact information so you can check it.

The data has rules at the other end too. The company that handled the accident may not report a principally-at-fault finding to an exchange unless it followed the regulation's test and notice procedure, and if the finding is changed, the modification has to be reported within 20 days.

Your declaration carries weight in both directions

Route five is a real option: your sworn account is sufficient on its own unless there is contrary independent information. It comes with obligations. The insurer may ask reasonable follow-up questions and you are expected to answer them, and a misrepresentation can lead to cancellation. Insurance Code section 661 lists material misrepresentation of prior claims among the grounds on which a policy can be cancelled.

How to prepare before you switch

• Find the written notice your old insurer sent about fault. If it said you were not principally at fault, keep it with your policy papers.
• Check your loss history report for accuracy before you apply.
• Answer accident questions on the application fully and precisely: dates, what happened, who was cited.

When the paperwork is in order, the comparison is fair. Request a quote with the accident described as it was decided.