Originally Posted by MacCool

AFAIK, all states record accidents on your DMV if a police report was done by the cops, or if an accident report was filed by the involved drivers as required by most state laws (if damage exceeds a certain level, which thus one certainly does). How your insurance company interprets the DMV is the variable. Some might care about how much the accident cost them, some might care as whether it's a chargeable or non-chargeable accident, some may allow a certain number of chargeable accidents before raising rates. They view long-term customers differently as well as other risk factors including age, marital status, gender, length of time with company, and how much money you spend with them every year (ie, how many other vehicles you insure).