Why does your insurance go up if you have an accident or get a traffic ticket?

Auto insurance offers some protection against risk. The company agrees to take on your risk in exchange for your premiums, the money you pay them. There has to be an actual risk covered by the company, or there can be no legal insurance contract. Even if you don't have an accident for an entire covered period, the company was covering your risk so you obviously would get no money back for that period. The money you paid goes to the payment of claims made by other policy holders. If you get into an accident, some companies will ask you to increase what you pay in premiums because the accident [or ticket] probably indicates that the company is taking on a little more risk (there may be a higher probability that you will make a future claim) by covering you. Remember, you are paying them to accept risk on your behalf.