Toronto, Ontario — Nearly two-thirds of American drivers would rather pay out of pocket and forgo auto insurance if they were to have an accident, according to a survey of 2,000 American consumers conducted by LendingTree. Of those who have filed a claim after an accident, 24 percent regret doing so.
According to LendingTree’s survey, 39 percent of insured drivers say they did not purchase their auto insurance after an accident or incident. Of those drivers, 59 percent said they did not purchase insurance because the damage was minimal; 42 percent said they did not want an increase in their insurance premium, and 44 percent said they did not purchase insurance because their deductible was higher than the cost of repairs.
Seventy-six percent of respondents said their out-of-pocket deductible was less than $1,000 and 65 percent spent less than $1,000 on repairs.
In addition, LendingTree finds that 57 percent of drivers who paid for repairs out of pocket did not report the incident to their insurer.
24 percent of insured drivers who had an accident and reported damage later regretted doing so. The main reasons for this were the significantly higher insurance premiums (59 percent of respondents), the loss of value of the vehicle (36 percent of respondents), a high deductible (33 percent) and the loss of the no-claims bonus (five percent).
The survey results also show that almost two-thirds of drivers would prefer to pay for minor repairs out of their own pocket in the event of a collision or accident. Men are slightly more likely to avoid insurance (77 percent agree with this statement); 68 percent of women would prefer to repair minor damage without insurance. Of these drivers, 49 percent have already repaired damage that their insurance would have covered.
LendingTree also notes that young drivers are more likely to not buy insurance. 43 percent of millennials ages 28 to 43 have canceled their insurance after an accident or incident, while only 29 percent of baby boomers ages 60 to 78 can say the same.
Click here to view all of LendingTree’s insights.
