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New member here to this wonderful forum and first post, let me offer my .02 explanation as am/have been an Independent Insurance Agent/Agency owner for over 17 years who has represented Erie insurance and am fairly familiar with their claims process/renewal of policies.
The claim you turned into Erie Insurance was most like paid under your Collision coverage, (due to the fact your wife dropped the top). The total payout was over $1000, which becomes a "chargeable at fault" occurance. (note if the total damage was under $1000, the company would not have applied a accident surcharge).
If the claim would have been paid out under the Comprehensive coverage (due to vandalism, or something falling on the top, in other words, out of your immediate control) the increase would not have occurred as it would not have been coded "not at fault".
Insurance carriers look at the 3-5 years of your driving experience, no matter how long you have been insured with said carrier. Some offer 1st time accident forgiveness, some don't.
Switching to Allstate may or may not be a good idea. Have taken many of their customers over the years as the claims experience have not been the greatest speaks volumes in itself. One thing about Erie Claims service is that most people are extremely happy with the quick response and service given, and typically their rates are fairly competitive.
Call your current Erie agent and ask which coverage the claim was paid out under. If it is Collision, will have an impact on your rates for a 3yr period. If it was Comprehensive, not as much of an impact. You might want to get a home quote with the same agent as rates are generally discounted when combining both home and auto policies with the same carrier.
Also you may want to check with Allstate prior to switching to see if when you were quoted that the new agent ran your CLUE report. If Allstate did, you should not have this claim show up and your rate will be good. If the CLUE report was not ran, when Allstate issues your new policy rate will change as the "accident" will show up.
Hope this explantion helps explain why the increase happened with your auto rates.
Dale
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Dale 
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