Does Car Insurance Go Up After an Accident? Rules by Province

Someone rear-ends you at a red light, and your insurer pays to fix your car. Will your premium go up at renewal? In most of Canada it won’t, because car insurance there goes up only after an accident you caused. In seven provinces, either the rules ban insurers from counting a crash you didn’t cause, or the public insurer doesn’t charge for one. Quebec is the main exception. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island only stop insurers from refusing or cancelling your policy over a crash you didn’t cause, and have no published rule on the price.

The rest of the answer changes from province to province: how much fault it takes, how much more you pay and for how many years. Here it is province by province, from the regulations themselves and the rate scales the public insurers publish.

Does car insurance go up after an accident in your province?

Only after an accident you’re found at fault for, in seven provinces. Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador forbid insurers to use a not-at-fault accident to set your premium. The public insurers in British Columbia (ICBC), Saskatchewan (SGI) and Manitoba (MPI) charge only for crashes you caused. We found no such rule in Quebec, where private insurers can count either kind.

New Brunswick (opens in a new tab) and Prince Edward Island (opens in a new tab) each have a rule on not-at-fault claims, but it only stops an insurer from refusing to issue or renew your policy, or cancelling it, over one. Neither says anything about the price. Prince Edward Island’s regulator says only that at-fault accidents “may affect your rates”.

Does insurance go up if you’re not at fault?

In most provinces, no. Ontario’s rule also protects drivers who were partly at fault. Since September 1, 2010, an insurer can’t use a past claim to price your policy if you were 25% or less at fault. Alberta’s applies to every type of coverage, so hail and theft claims can’t count either. Quebec is where a claim you didn’t cause can still count against you.

Ontario’s rule sits in section 16 of its auto insurance regulation (opens in a new tab): “No element of a risk classification system shall use past claims arising out of accidents occurring on or after September 1, 2010 for which an insured person was 25 per cent or less at fault.” So the protection goes further than “not at fault”. A driver found 25% at fault is covered too. At 50%, the claim can count.

Alberta’s Superintendent of Insurance (opens in a new tab) bars not-at-fault claims “as a rating variable for all automobile insurance coverages”, and its list of not-at-fault claims includes accident benefits, comprehensive claims and a collision you weren’t responsible for at all. Nova Scotia’s regulation (opens in a new tab) and Newfoundland and Labrador’s regulation (opens in a new tab) say the same in fewer words.

The public insurers reach the same result through how their scales work. ICBC says that when you weren’t responsible, “your claim will not impact your insurance premiums” (opens in a new tab). SGI takes safety points only for collisions you’re responsible for. MPI moves you down its scale for at-fault claims, though its page says you move up a level for each year of safe driving “without any vehicle claims”. If you’ve had a claim you didn’t cause, ask MPI whether you still move up that year.

Quebec: a claim you didn’t cause can still count

Quebec splits car insurance in two. The SAAQ, the public insurer, covers injuries in a crash whatever the fault (opens in a new tab). Your car is covered by a private insurer, and every claim that insurer pays goes into the Fichier central des sinistres automobiles (FCSA), a claims file the Groupement des assureurs automobiles (opens in a new tab) (GAA) runs for the Autorité des marchés financiers. Each entry records your share of fault as 0%, 50% or 100%, and the file keeps six years of history.

Infoassurance (opens in a new tab), the insurers’ information centre, says the accidents you’ve been involved in and the claims you’ve made are both used to set your premium. It doesn’t say only the ones you caused. We found no law or regulator rule in Quebec that stops an insurer from counting a 0% claim. In 2021, Quebec Superior Court authorized a class action (in French) (opens in a new tab) against about ten insurers, including Desjardins, Intact and Belair. The suit argues that raising premiums or cutting discounts over not-at-fault accidents is illegal. We haven’t found a ruling on it yet.

When you’re not responsible, though, your own insurer pays for your car under the direct compensation agreement, and you don’t pay a deductible (opens in a new tab).

How is fault decided after a car accident?

Your insurer decides, not the police or the other driver. In Ontario and Quebec it applies a standard set of rules that describe common crashes, and in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba the public insurer assesses it. Fault comes in fixed shares, and your share decides whether the claim counts against you.

Ontario’s Fault Determination Rules (opens in a new tab) are a regulation. Your insurer has to use them, and has to decide “without reference to” the weather, the road, visibility or what pedestrians did. When two rules point different ways, one saying 100% and the other 0%, you’re treated as 50% at fault. Most of the rules land on 0%, 50% or 100%. A ticket doesn’t settle it either. Ontario’s regulator, FSRA (opens in a new tab), says being charged “does not necessarily mean you will be found at-fault for insurance purposes.”

Quebec insurers use the direct compensation agreement, which sets out the usual crash scenarios based on the Highway Safety Code. Only your own insurer can change what it recorded in your FCSA file.

ICBC can split responsibility 50/50 when it can’t be determined (opens in a new tab). Alberta’s premium regulation (opens in a new tab) defines an at-fault claim as one where the driver is “wholly or partially” at fault.

How much does car insurance go up after an at-fault accident?

Private insurers don’t publish a set increase. Co-operators (opens in a new tab), for one, says how much it goes up “depends on the situation”. Saskatchewan and Manitoba do publish their scales, so there you can work it out. In the example below, one crash adds several hundred dollars over five years.

Insurance is already the third-biggest cost of owning a car in Canada, after the car itself and fuel.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba, worked out

SGI’s Safe Driver Recognition (opens in a new tab) scale gives you a point for each year without an incident. Each point from +1 to +10 is worth 2% off your plate insurance, every level from +10 to +20 gets 20%, and the scale tops out at 25% at +25. Being responsible for a collision costs 6 points if SGI pays $700 or more (opens in a new tab) and 4 if it pays less. At 50% responsible, it’s 3 or 2. Below zero you lose the discount and pay $50 a point, up to $1,000.

MPI’s Driver Safety Rating (opens in a new tab) runs from -20 to +20. Each at-fault claim in the past year takes you down five levels, and each year without a claim, conviction or suspension moves you up one. For policies from April 1, 2026, the discount on your vehicle (opens in a new tab) runs from 0% to 53%, and the premium on your licence from $25 to $3,010.

Here’s what one at-fault crash costs a driver at +10 on both scales, on an example premium of $1,200 before discounts. “Extra” is what they pay compared with the same driver with no crash, who would have kept moving up the scale.

In Saskatchewan the gap closes after six clean years, because every level from +10 to +20 earns the same 20%. In Manitoba it lasts longer. You fall six levels behind the driver you would have been, five for the crash and one for the level they gained that year, and in this example the crash costs about $1,790 in all, over the 14 years it takes your premium to catch up. In Saskatchewan, a newer driver pays more right away. At +2, a crash that costs SGI $700 or more drops you to -4, which means no discount and a $200 penalty.

Ontario: it depends on your insurer

FSRA (opens in a new tab) says that if you’re found 50% or more at fault, “there is a good chance your premium will go up the next time you renew your policy.” How much depends on your insurer’s own rating rules, which it files with FSRA. Many insurers sell accident forgiveness as an add-on. Co-operators’ version forgives your first at-fault accident if you’ve been accident-free and licensed for six years, and you can’t buy it after the accident.

Alberta: one at-fault crash takes you out of the rate cap

Alberta capped 2026 increases at 7.5% (opens in a new tab) for good drivers, and one condition for counting as a good driver is no at-fault accident in the last six years. One at-fault crash puts you outside the cap. The Care-First system (opens in a new tab) that starts on January 1, 2027, keeps this: “At-fault drivers will continue to be held accountable through higher premiums.”

British Columbia: priced on your crash history

ICBC prices each driver on driving experience and at-fault crashes (opens in a new tab), with up to 40 years of experience counted for Basic discounts. If you’re more than 25% responsible, your premium “will likely go up” at renewal, on Basic and optional coverage. ICBC doesn’t publish a figure per crash. It does forgive one crash once you have 20 years of driving experience, at least 10 of them in BC, and no crash in the last 10.

How long does an accident stay on your insurance?

Six years is the most common limit, but only some provinces set one. In the rest, the regulations name no period and your insurer decides how far back it looks.

• British Columbia: 10 years from 2027. Until then ICBC looks back to March 1, 2017 (opens in a new tab).
• Nova Scotia: 6 years at most, by regulation (opens in a new tab).
• Quebec: 6 years in the FCSA file. The GAA (opens in a new tab) says a driver with several claims in the last three years may pay more.
• Alberta: an at-fault claim can affect whether an insurer sells you collision coverage for 6 years at most, and the 2026 good-driver cap looks back 6 years too.
• Saskatchewan: you earn back a point each clean year. If you’re below zero, three clean years in a row put you back at zero.
• Manitoba: you move back up one level a year.
• Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island: no period in the rules we read. Ask your insurer how far back it looks.

What else can raise your premium after a crash?

The claim isn’t the only thing that can follow you. A ticket from the same crash can cost you on its own, and in Ontario an accident can land on the car owner’s record, even when someone else was driving.

Tickets from the same crash

• Manitoba: convictions move you down MPI’s scale too. Speeding less than 50 km/h over the limit costs 2 levels, careless driving or using a hand-held phone costs 5, and impaired driving or leaving the scene costs 10.
• Saskatchewan: if the collision points leave you at zero or above, the ticket from the same crash costs no extra points. If they take you below zero, it does.
• British Columbia: serious convictions bring a separate Driver Risk Premium (opens in a new tab), billed even if you don’t own a car. Two minor offences, or one serious one, also raise ICBC’s optional collision and extended liability premiums.
• Quebec: demerit points raise the insurance contribution on your licence (opens in a new tab) for two years. With no points, a regular Class 5 licence costs $50.23 for 2026.

If someone else was driving your car

It depends on the province. In Ontario, FSRA says (opens in a new tab) that if you lend your car and the driver is found 50% or more at fault, “their accident will go on your record.” ICBC goes the other way: “Crashes follow the driver,” so a friend’s crash in your car goes on the friend’s record. But if that friend is listed on your policy, their crash history can count toward your premium, and a crash by an unlisted driver can cost you unless you bought ICBC’s Unlisted Driver Protection. SGI says a collision caused by someone else driving your vehicle doesn’t change your position on its scale.

Can you pay for a small accident yourself to keep it off your record?

In some provinces, yes, and each has its own conditions. Ontario lets you pay for a minor accident of up to $5,000 yourself so your insurer can’t use it to set your premium. Nova Scotia and BC have a way to pay the claim back so it doesn’t count, and Manitoba may let you.

• Ontario: since July 1, 2026 (opens in a new tab), an amendment (opens in a new tab) has raised the limit from $2,000 to $5,000. The accident can’t be used if damage to each car was $5,000 or less, nobody was hurt, no insurer paid anything, and the at-fault driver paid for all of it. The rule no longer applies if you’ve had more than one minor accident in the past three years and were at fault in any of them.
• Nova Scotia: if the at-fault driver makes a voluntary payment to the other driver’s insurer, the regulation (opens in a new tab) treats the accident as not at fault.
• British Columbia: ICBC says it “might make financial sense” (opens in a new tab) to repay the cost of the damage, so the crash won’t affect your future premium.
• Manitoba: you may be able to buy back a claim of $5,000 or less from the past five years if you were at least 50% at fault, though not every claim qualifies. A claim you buy back still shows on your driver’s abstract, but it no longer counts against your Driver Safety Rating.

To know whether it’s worth it, compare the bill with what the claim would add to your premium. In the Manitoba example above, the crash costs $866 over five years. Buying back a $600 claim would pay for itself, and a $2,000 one wouldn’t, even counting the years after that. Do it early. For a claim from a past year, MPI adjusts your premium only for the current policy year.

Cash for the repair you’d rather pay yourself

Every one of those options needs money on hand when the bill comes in, and so does a deductible. That’s what an emergency fund is for, and Lodavo gives you a reason to keep adding to it.

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Before you talk to your insurer

Find out your share of fault and which rule it came from, then ask how long the claim will count and what it will add at renewal. If the damage is small, ask whether paying it yourself keeps it off your record in your province. Those answers tell you whether to pay it, claim it or buy it back.

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This is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Your policy and your insurer’s rating rules decide what you pay, so check both before you decide whether to claim.

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