I should probably clarify that I am only 20 years old and my parents pay for my insurance. Will this effect me in the future?
That's the truly insidious nature of how insurance companies work. Between the agents who make promises that it will/won't affect you, the underwriters who keep their methodology and calculations from everyone (including the agents), and the custodians of the database who go to great lengths to keep the consumer from seeing their records or knowing that they even exist - the consumer has no way of know the real reason why their rates are what they are. Lot's of speculation, supposition, and conjecture - but nothing concrete.
I would suspect that if you have a social security number, and your name is attached to the policy, any claim will stick with you. That said, consider this...
I permanently moved to my own place in 1994. I have never lived at my parents' house since. Yet, in 2005, when my father accidentally backed into a guest's car parked in his driveway, it affected my rates. I was lucky to even find out about it, and only did so because I have a trusted friend who is an insurance broker. She provided me with a copy of my ChoicePoint risk profile - something she is NOT supposed to do. In fact, agents are not even supposed to acknowledge its existence. In it, it showed that my risk profile increased because there was a claim filed on an incident that happened at a 'previously known address' for me. Never mind that I hadn't lived there in 11 years... or that it didn't involve any of my insured vehicles... of that any of the parties involved were on my policy. Nope, none of that mattered - yet my auto rates went up.
Here's what sucks about that. Because I was shown this information in confidence, I could not contest it. Unlike credit reporting agencies which allow consumers to view them (free or otherwise), and challenge inaccuracies, no such thing exists for the insurance industry. You are purposely kept in the dark.
That's why anytime a thread like this is started, I make sure people realize the potential for unintended consequences - and that any agent that promises that there is no risk is lying. They simply cannot make that claim. Instead, they're counting on you not being able to determine why your rates changed. After all, when you complain about a 20% increase in your premium, that agent will say, "we don't know why it went up, but just be glad it only went up 20%... everyone else went up 30%" - like you have any way of actually verifying that.
I lump insurance agents (my friend excluded) into the same category as lawyers and health insurance companies.
