Car accidents come in all shapes and forms. There are some that are minor and will simply result in stress. On the other hand, there are some accidents that can change your life and the life of every other entity involved in the accident. Afterwards comes the process of paperwork, insurance payments and police reports. This is one of the most difficult things to deal with. However, the question we usually ask ourselves is how long does an accident stay on your insurance? Well, accident records and the time they stay there depends purely on the state where you live. Their number varies but usually they stay from three to five years. This is actually a fairly long period of time.
The way the whole process works is the following. Whenever you are involved in a car accident, no matter if it is or is not your fault, this information is reported to the DMV in your state. This does not always have to be the case but it is a usual practice. Now let us take a look at some examples of how long different countries keep the accident records of driver. For example, Oregon is pretty strict because it keeps the records for at least five years.
Furthermore, we have New Hampshire that keeps these records exactly five years from the day of the accident. California and New York are somewhat less strict because they keep the record for only three years. Compared to Oregon, this sounds much better. This is why it is very important to check the record requirements in your state. However, it is highly unlikely that it is going to be for less than three and more than five years.
There are times when accidents simply have to be reported to your DMV. Again, this is different in every state so let us take a look at an example. If you are involved in a collision in New York that reaches a collective property damage of over $1,000, then you simply have to report the accident. For anything that is lower than this, you do not have to because you can sort everything out unless there was a person who was actually injured. In this case, you have 10 days to report the accident.
If you are involved in an accident that resulted with death, this is something that has to be reported no matter what. The sooner the better. On the other hand, if the accident is not severe enough and no emergency personnel is required to offer help, the DMV takes no notice of the accident. This is even true if you claim it in your insurance. So, the best thing to do is to conduct research in your state and find out what the outcomes of car accidents are!
Your best-case scenario is to completely stay out of trouble by not being involved in an accident. However, in reality accidents happen but at least now you know what to do!
