Even without tickets or claims, your insurance can go up a lot at renewal due to other factors your insurer considers when determining your premium, such as the increasing cost of repairs, especially for newer vehicles. 

Some of the other factors insurers look at when calculating price will be specific to you and your vehicle. So, in addition to your personal driving record, your insurer might also consider:

• Your car's year, make, and model
• Your location or postal code
• How often you drive
• How you're using your vehicle
• Your coverage
• Your deductible

But there are also legal and economic factors that insurers need to take into account when determining pricing. These factors impact the cost of premiums on every policy, and can include:

• Higher repair and replacement costs
• The impact of inflation on the overall cost of claims
• An increase in costs related to injuries
• Automotive supply chain issues
• Legislative and regulatory changes

So, while claims and tickets will affect your premium at renewal, there are several other things insurers must assess that can also increase your premium costs. Read more about how car insurance premiums are calculated.

Your insurance will usually be the one to make the payout in this situation, because car insurance is mainly tied to the vehicle insured. So, if your friend crashes your car, you'll generally make a claim through your policy, not theirs—and even though you weren't the one behind the wheel, this claim can impact your premium at renewal.

Note the "usually" and "generally", though: Things get messy if the situation falls within an exception, such as:

• No permission: You didn't consent to your friend driving your car.
• Not legally allowed to drive: Your friend has a suspended or invalid licence (or no licence at all).
• Excluded driver endorsement: Your friend is listed as an excluded driver on your policy.
• Undisclosed or excluded use: The car was being used for something your policy doesn't cover (for example, delivery or ride-sharing use that wasn't disclosed).

If an exception applies, your claim might be treated differently than you expected. For example, depending on the situation and the details, your insurer might deny your claim, reduce your coverage, or limit your payout, leaving you responsible for costs that would normally be covered.

So, if your friend borrows your car more than "once in a while", it's worth adding them to your policy as an occasional or secondary driver. You'll usually pay a bit more up front, but you reduce the risk of potential coverage problems that could come up if they're driving your vehicle frequently without being listed on your policy. 

There's no exact "formula" to use, but because a claim can impact your premium at renewal for a number of years, a good rule of thumb is to skip the claim if the repair cost is only a little higher than your deductible (or if you can comfortably pay for repairs yourself without wrecking your budget).

In practical terms, if the net payout you'd get—typically, the repair cost minus your deductible—is modest, filing a claim won't save you much, and paying the full repair bill yourself would still be close to the deductible you were already prepared to pay.  

Consider the following examples :

Example A

Repair cost = $1,350

Deductible = $1,000

Net payout = $350

If you make a claim:

You pay: $1,000 (the deductible)

Insurer pays: $350 (the net payout)

Your out-of-pocket savings: $350

Example B

Repair cost = $10,800

Deductible = $1,000

Net payout = $9,800

If you make a claim:

You pay: $1,000 (the deductible)

Insurer pays: $9,800 (the net payout)

Your out-of-pocket savings: $9,800

In Example A, making a claim only saves you $350 out-of-pocket, but in Example B, you'd save $9,800 out-of-pocket. Since making a claim in either case will usually increase your premiums for a number of years, it makes sense to not file a claim in Example A, since the small amount of savings you'd get from the claim likely wouldn't be worth the future premium increases.

Finally, when deciding whether to make a claim, don't forget to factor in any other "costs" that go beyond the impact on your base premium, such as losing a claims-free discount or using up Accident Forgiveness protection that would have been better saved for a more expensive claim.

Quebec residents: If you reside in Quebec, you'll still need to inform your insurer of any damage to your vehicle, even if you're not filing a claim.

While "not at fault" often means "no deductible", deductibles are tied to the coverage paying for the damage to your vehicle, rather than who is the at-fault driver. That's why a deductible can still apply in certain situations, such as:

• You chose to add a deductible. For example, Direct Compensation Property Damage (DCPD) coverage, which is available in provinces with no-fault systems and covers vehicle damage when you're not at fault, usually doesn't have a deductible, but you can decide to add a deductible to lower your premiums.
• Fault hasn't been confirmed yet. Sometimes it's not immediately clear who's at fault, so your insurer may process the claim using coverage that requires a deductible while they sort out what happened. Any necessary adjustments are then made once they determine who's at fault.
• The claim is being handled under Collision or All Perils coverage. If you have Collision coverage (or All Perils coverage), and your claim doesn't qualify for no-fault coverage, your insurer might handle repairs as a claim under Collision (or All Perils), which typically has a deductible. A common scenario where this might happen is when the at-fault driver can't be found (for example, in a hit-and-run situation).