In a way they go up because they can. If you look at it from their point of view. It is an event which they can point to and justify and say &quot;sorry, this is our policy&quot; and just raise the rates.<p>Now of course if they charge too high, then you could go to a competitor. But there is this CLUE database (I just learned about in a sibling comment here) which apparently is shared among insurers and depending on what is there (or what is not there! -- such as, it was really just an accident) you get labeled and dropped. So even a competitor might decide it is safe to stay away from you.