Welcome to White Oaks Collision Center, your trusted auto body shop.

 For almost everybody (excluding businesses and people with very rare high-risk insurance policies, ect) the only way an insurance claim can affect your insurance rates for policies written in California are if ALL 3 of these requirements are met.
• A collision (NOT comprehensive)
• that is at least 51% or more your fault
• and the total of all damages are $1,000 or more.
So if any of those requirements are not satisfied, for almost every single situation, your rates will not be affected.

See Department of Insurance website for proof Here

 Some of us at White Oaks Auto Body come from an insurance background (with the inside info!) so this is an easy question to answer. A vehicle is deemed a total loss if the dollar amount of the repair exceeds the “threshold” for repairs set by the insurance company. This threshold usually ranges from 75%-100% of the valuation of the vehicle (not the blue-book, although the blue book is usually a decent ballpark for the valuation). The valuation is always completed by a non-biased 3rd party company. 

 The insurance premium increase does not increase as the repair estimate increases once the total claim is already at or above the $1,000 threshold in California. If you fit all 3 of these requirements listed above, then a point will be generated on your driving record and affect the insurance premium. The dollar amount of the estimate does not matter after it reaches the $1,000 threshold (the estimate can be $1,000, $10,000, $50,000- the premium increase will be the same). However it should be mentioned that claims involving an injury or a person affect your premium more than just one with vehicle damage only.