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11 minute read Published on Jul 22, 2026 by BrokerLink Communications
If you’ve slid into a ditch, hit a deer, clipped a curb or struck a pole, you probably have the same question most drivers do afterward: Is my car insurance going to go up? The short answer is usually yes, if you file a claim. However, it still depends on several factors, like where you live and if you were actually at fault.
In most cases across Canada, car insurance companies treat single-vehicle accidents as at-fault accidents because there is no other driver to share responsibility. It can stay on your record and affect your premium for several years.
In Ontario, for example, an at-fault accident typically stays on your record for about six years. But other provinces may use different timeframes and rating systems. Read on to learn more about how a single-vehicle collision can affect your auto insurance and what you can do about it.
A single-vehicle collision is any accident where only your vehicle is physically involved. Some common examples include:
You slide off the road in snow or rain
You hit a curb, median, guardrail, tree, pole or parked object
You strike debris in the roadway
You hit an animal
However, this does not mean:
No one else caused it
No one else can be responsible
It will always be rated exactly the same
“Single-vehicle” just describes what actually happened, not who’s to blame. From an insurance perspective, single-vehicle collisions are grouped together because there is no other identified driver to assign fault to.
That generally makes fault assessment simpler for insurers, but not always fair in every scenario. That’s why you can have two single-vehicle accidents that look similar on the surface but are treated very differently once the details are reviewed.
Whether your insurance company pays for the damage depends on the type of coverage you have, not just the type of accident.
Collision coverage applies even if you’re at fault. That’s why it’s the coverage most people rely on after a single-vehicle crash. It covers damage to your vehicle when you hit:
Another vehicle
An object
The ground
A structure
A tree, pole or barrier
Even when a collision claim is covered, you’ll still need to pay your deductible before insurance pays the rest. Without collision coverage, there’s nothing on your policy that will pay for the damage to your car after a collision. That means you’re covering the repairs yourself.
Comprehensive coverage covers your non-collision losses, such as:
Theft
Fire
Vandalism
Falling objects
Weather damage
Hitting an animal
If the accident involved a deer, it’s often considered a comprehensive claim, not a collision. That can actually work in your favour when it comes to how the claim is rated and whether your rates go up.
If your car is leased or financed, you’re usually required to carry both collision and comprehensive. Without those coverages and with only basic liability, you’ll likely be paying for repairs yourself after a single-vehicle crash.
Fault is what determines whether a claim affects your rates, how long it stays on your record and whether things like accident forgiveness even apply. But after a single-car accident, most people don’t care about insurance theory. They just want to know one thing: Who is the insurer going to say was responsible?
When only one vehicle is involved, insurance providers usually assume the driver was responsible. Not because they think you were reckless, but because there’s no second party to share responsibility with. If your car went off the road or hit something that wasn’t moving, insurers usually treat that as a driver-caused accident, unless you can show that something else caused it.
Fault can move partially or fully off you if you can show things like:
Someone cut you off and you swerved
A truck dropped something in front of you and you hit it right away
The road wasn’t plowed and you slid
You hit a large pothole and lost control
A sign was missing or hidden
A “phantom” vehicle that forced you off the road
Your car failed because of a defect or recall
In those cases, fault can shift, but only with proof like dashcam footage, witnesses or reports. Without that, the accident usually stays on your record as at fault.
Another driver can be legally responsible even if you never touched their car. For example:
A driver cuts into your lane and you swerve
A vehicle pushes you into a barrier without contact
A truck loses cargo and you react suddenly
A car with no headlights appears at night and you swerve
These types of situations can shift fault to the other driver, but only if you can prove that another vehicle caused the chain of events.
What happens next depends on where you live. The insurer or public insurance authority reviews what happened and decides who was responsible for the collision by using the province or territory’s fault determination rules or guidelines. The adjusters look at:
What physically happened
Whether any traffic laws were broken
What evidence is available
Whether another vehicle or an external factor was involved
They rely on things like police reports, statements from the drivers, photos or dashcam footage and any witness accounts. If there’s no clear evidence that another person or factor caused the crash, the insurer usually assigns fault to the driver of the only vehicle involved. Where things differ is not so much in how fault is decided, but in how that decision affects your insurance afterward.
In provinces with private insurance like Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia, fault is used directly in underwriting and pricing. An at-fault accident can lead to a surcharge, affect your eligibility for accident forgiveness and influence your premium for several years.
In provinces with public insurance like British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, fault is still assigned, but the impact usually shows up through a driver rating, points system or safety scale instead of a traditional surcharge. An at-fault crash moves your rating in the wrong direction, which then affects what you pay. If you’re unsure how this works in your province, a local broker can walk you through it.
When people think about a “one-car accident,” they often picture one very specific thing. Maybe sliding into a ditch or hitting a deer or a pole. In reality, there are many ways a single-vehicle crash can happen and not all of them are treated the same by insurers. Here's what you should know:
This is usually treated as an at-fault accident. Even if the conditions were bad, the assumption is that you were still responsible for driving in those conditions.
Hitting a deer or another animal is often handled under comprehensive coverage instead of collision. That can be helpful, because comprehensive claims don’t always affect your insurance premium the same way an at-fault collision does.
If you hit a curb, pole, guardrail or tree, that’s a collision claim and it’s usually treated as at fault. Even something as minor as scraping a curb while parking still may count as a collision in insurance terms.
Swerving to avoid another car and ending up in the ditch or into a barrier would not put you at fault, as long as you can prove that’s what really happened. Dashcam footage, witnesses or a police report are what usually make that kind of claim work. Basically, what it comes down to is if your car hits something and there’s no proof that someone else caused it, you’re probably at fault.
Insurance providers don’t just look at whether you were at fault. They also look at how much the claim costs and how often you make claims. A $1,500 bumper repair isn’t viewed the same way as a $25,000 write-off. Also, one claim isn’t viewed the same way as three or four claims over a short period of time.
Further, a single large claim might raise your insurance premium, but several smaller ones can sometimes raise it even more because they suggest a pattern of risk.
Sometimes a one-car accident isn’t just about repairing your car:
If you damage a fence, a building, a guardrail or city property, your liability coverage may come into play
If you or a passenger is injured, accident benefits or liability coverage may be involved
If someone is seriously hurt, there can even be legal action
That’s why even a single-vehicle accident can turn into a much bigger insurance situation than people expect. It all depends on what was damaged and who was affected.
One of the first follow-up questions people have after a single-vehicle accident is how long it’s going to follow them around. But there isn’t one single “record,” and there isn’t one single rule across Canada.
Depending on your province, it will typically be anywhere from six to 10 years. For example, both Ontario and Alberta commonly use six years, while British Columbia uses the past 10 years. Next, let's take a look at how Ontario differs from the other provinces:
Ontario treats very small at-fault accidents a little differently. Under Regulation 664 in the Insurance Act, when the damage is under $2,000 (including property damage), no one is injured and no insurer pays for the repairs, insurers can’t use that accident to raise your premium. However, this is only for the first minor accident in a three-year period. Ontario is currently the only province with a rule like this. Everywhere else, any leniency around small accidents is up to the insurer.
Often yes, especially if:
You are found at fault
You do not have accident forgiveness
The claim is large
You have prior claims or tickets
The impact is usually strongest in the first few years and fades if your driving record stays clean. How much of a surcharge you’ll receive will depend on the insurance company. If the collision also comes with a traffic ticket, that can add to the increase. The ticket and the accident are both factored in if you’re convicted.
Even if none of those apply, once you have an at-fault accident, insurers usually see you as a higher risk, which can mean a higher premium. That doesn’t always mean you’ll see a jump in premiums right away, but it can show up at your next renewal.
You should always call your insurance after a minor accident, including a single-vehicle accident. In fact, most policies require you to report an accident within a set timeframe, even if you weren’t at fault. You’re also required in many provinces to report the accident to the police if the damage exceeds a certain dollar amount or if anyone is injured.
Accident forgiveness coverage usually only protects against your premiums increasing after your first at-fault accident, depending on eligibility and wording. It often only applies if you had a clean driving record beforehand. It will also only help if you had it on your policy before the accident happened.
Paying out of pocket can sometimes make sense. This is especially true for small vehicle repairs, where the long-term cost of a premium increase could be more than the repair itself.
Several smaller claims over a short period can affect your auto insurance rates more than one large one because they suggest a pattern rather than a one-time event.
Some provinces, like British Columbia and Manitoba, are more forgiving about minor accidents. If the damage is small and you agree to repay or buy back the claim, it may help lessen the long-term impact on your premium.
Most single-vehicle accidents don’t happen because someone is trying to do something risky. They happen because of things like the weather changing faster than expected or a driver who’s a little more tired or distracted than they realize. In fact, most single-vehicle collisions occur because of things like distraction, speed or driving while impaired or even tired. Here are some tips to help you avoid a future single-vehicle collision:
Slow down when conditions change. Ice, rain, fog, gravel, construction zones and poorly lit rural roads all require a different speed than a dry, empty highway.
Give yourself more space than you think you need. Extra following distance gives you time to react to debris, wildlife or a car doing something unpredictable.
Watch the edges of the road and not just what’s directly ahead. That’s where wildlife, cyclists, broken pavement and stalled vehicles usually appear first.
Only drive if you’re well rested and sober, as fatigue and alcohol can both affect reaction time.
Keep your car in good shape. Regular vehicle maintenance can help prevent single-vehicle collisions caused by things like worn tires, weak brakes and burned-out headlights.
Once a claim is on your record, you can’t erase it. But you’re not stuck with higher car insurance premiums forever, either. Here are some tips from the experts at BrokerLink to help you lower your premiums:
Enroll in usage-based insurance or telematics if available
Take a recognized driver training course (for new drivers)
Bundle home and auto insurance
Raise your deductible
Maintain a clean record afterward
Work with a local broker
Here at BrokerLink, we often see drivers surprised by how much a small claim affects their long-term costs. One of the most common regrets is filing a $1,500 claim that leads to $5,000 in higher premiums over time. That doesn’t mean you should never file. It just means you should make the decision with full information. That’s what brokers are for.
Before you file a claim, change vehicles or assume your rate will skyrocket, reach out to a licensed BrokerLink broker who can look at your actual policy and record. We can walk through your options, explain what applies in your province and help you choose the path that costs you the least over time. Connect with us today by phone, email or in person at any one of our locations throughout Canada.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only. Auto insurance rules, rating practices and underwriting vary by province, insurer, policy wording and individual circumstances. Always confirm coverage and rating impact with your insurer or broker before making decisions.
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