No word on how my auto insurance will be impacted after the accident. I had the opportunity to contest the ticket that the officer decided to write me (even though, on the scene, he said he wouldn't issue a citation). I've been happy with AllState for a few years now; even in California, my auto insurance premiums were quite managable. Yes, I still have to get into the DMV to get a Washington driver's license before too long. In reading Dan's recent post in Technobabble on ,Auto Insurance Shopping, Lockergnomie Terry Wambaugh sent this piece of feedback:

I went shopping for auto insurance on line about a year ago. My wife was involved in three auto accidents during the previous three years Our auto insurance had steadily risen as you might imagine. Then we moved from to a new state. Upon notifying our insurance company, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that they do not provide coverage in my new state and that they were terminating the auto insurance policy in sixty days.
With little time and no local connections, I decided to shop o line. I found it very easy to get quotes from a variety of companies quickly on line. I only queried companies that I had heard of previously. Safeco provided one of the lower rate quotations. I 'googled' them to see what others had to say about them. Then I called to speak to a representative and explore the effect of various coverages and deductibles. During that conversation, I ended up with a different set of coverages and deductibles which further reduced costs. After six months, the policy cost was reduced due to one of the accidents in our profile moving out of the penalty window. That happened again at the annual renewal. The downside of this, if you can call it that, is that I have no experience with claims processing which is what having an insurance policy is ultimately all about. The upside, is that the policy reduced my insurance costs by hundreds of dollars up front and the cost has been reduced twice during the first year of coverage.

I keep seeing great gecko Geico commercials, but I think I'll stick with my current insurance carrier. AllState has great online insurance account management options, FWIW.