Your renewal went up and you never claimed. Here's what actually follows you.

8 October 2026

Your renewal came through and it's gone up. You didn't crash into anything. You didn't claim. The number went up anyway.

That's normal, and it's worth understanding before the next thing happens — because what you do after someone hits you is one of the few parts of this you actually control.

Why it went up when you did nothing

Premiums move for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Repair costs, parts, labour, the weather, what every other driver in your postcode has been claiming. You are priced as part of a pool, and the pool got more expensive.

What you control is whether you add your own claim to the pile.

The claim you make is the part that follows you

Here's the bit that matters. Canstar puts it bluntly:

depending on your insurer, your premiums may increase after you make a claim, regardless of whether you were not at fault

Read that twice. Not at fault, and your premium can still move — because you made a claim.

Your no-claim bonus is a separate thing and usually safer:

Insurers generally will not reduce your no-claim bonus/discount if you were not the at-fault driver and you provide your car insurer with the at-fault driver's details

Two different levers. The bonus is generally protected if you can name the other driver. The premium is not guaranteed anything.

So what do you do when someone hits you?

Most people reach for their own insurer because it's the number in their phone. It's the reflex, and it's the expensive one. You pay an excess, you take the repairer your insurer picks, and the claim goes on your record.

There's another route. The person who hit you is responsible for putting your car back. Legal Aid NSW describes it plainly:

If you believe that the other driver was 'at-fault', you may try to recover from them the cost of repairing your vehicle and other losses, such as hire car expenses.

"You may try to recover" is the whole thing. Someone has to actually do the recovering — the letters, the assessor, the chasing. That's the job we do.

What it means for next year's renewal

If we handle it, you don't lodge a claim. No excess. No claim on your record. Your car gets repaired and you get a replacement car for as long as the repair takes, and the cost goes to the at-fault driver's insurer.

Your renewal still might rise — everyone's might, for all the reasons above. But it won't rise because of something that wasn't your fault in the first place.

Before you accept the renewal

If there's damage on your car right now from an accident that wasn't yours, don't let it sit into another policy year. Find out whether it was ever yours to pay for.