If you pay for accident damages yourself will insurance rates go up?

Answer 1

Depends, if a tree falls on your car and you pay for damages yourself then no. If another party is involved in the accident then yes. The reason being is even if you don't report your damages on your insurance the other party may report to theirs. The data from the accident is then reported into the CLUE insurance database and will cause your rates to raise since the database 'sees' that you were involved in an accident. Bottom line, it's best to report to your insurance yourself and let them pay out since you're going to feel the pinch anyway.