Proven Techniques for Finding Cheap New York, NY Auto Insurance

No one in their right mind likes paying for auto insurance, in particular when their premiums are through the roof.

Drivers have multiple insurers to purchase coverage from, and even though it’s nice to be able to choose, it can be more challenging to compare rates and find the lowest cost auto insurance.

Shopping for more affordable protection in New York is easy if you know what you’re doing. Just about anyone who is shopping for auto insurance stands a good chance to be able to find lower rates. Although New York drivers must understand how companies sell insurance online and take advantage of how the system works.

These discounts can slash auto insurance rates

Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, but companies offer discounts to cut the cost considerably. Some trigger automatically at the time of quoting, but some must be specifically requested prior to getting the savings.

  • Discount for Good Grades – This discount can get you a discount of up to 25%. This discount can apply until age 25.
  • Auto/Home Discount – If you have multiple policies with the same insurance company you will save 10% to 20% off each policy.
  • Clubs and Organizations – Being a member of certain professional organizations may earn a discount on auto insurance.
  • Senior Discount – Mature drivers can possibly qualify for a small decrease in premiums.
  • Drivers Ed for Students – Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to complete a driver education course if offered at their school.
  • Safe Driver Discount – Insureds without accidents may receive a discount up to 45% less than drivers with accident claims.
  • Sign Online – Some insurance companies will discount your bill up to fifty bucks for buying your policy on their website.
  • No Claims – Drivers who don’t have accidents pay less when compared to frequent claim filers.
  • Federal Government Employee – Being employed by or retired from a federal job could cut as much as 10% off with certain companies.

It’s important to understand that some of the credits will not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Some only reduce the cost of specific coverages such as comp or med pay. So when the math indicates all the discounts add up to a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way. Any amount of discount will reduce your overall premium however.

New York Auto Insurance Quote Comparison

Shopping for lower auto insurance rates can be a lot of work if you aren’t aware of the most efficient way. You can waste a lot of time discussing policy coverages with agents in New York, or you can stay home and use the web to get pricing more quickly.

All the larger companies take part in a program that allows shoppers to submit one quote, and each participating company provides a quote based on that data. This system prevents you from having to do quote requests for each company.

To find out how much you can save on auto insurance click to open in new window.

The only drawback to getting quotes like this is buyers cannot specifically choose the companies to get quotes from. So if you want to choose from a list of companies to compare rates, we have assembled a list of companies who write auto insurance in New York. Click here for list of insurance companies in New York.

It doesn’t matter which method you choose, just compare apples-to-apples coverages and limits for every quote you compare. If you enter different deductibles it will be very difficult to determine the best price in New York. Slightly different limits can make a big difference in price. Just remember that quoting more provides better odds of finding lower pricing.

Lower the Price of Insurance with These Tips

An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that go into determining your auto insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively impacts premium levels helps enable you to make changes that may reward you with lower auto insurance prices.

  • Occupation reflects on rates – Did you know your job can affect your rates? Careers like real estate brokers, executives and financial analysts tend to pay higher average rates in part from high stress and lengthy work days. Conversely, jobs such as pilots, engineers and performers have the lowest average rates.
  • Traffic violations increase rates – Even one ticket can bump up the cost twenty percent or more. Drivers who don’t get tickets have lower premiums than bad drivers. If you have serious violations such as DUI or reckless driving may find they need to submit a SR-22 form with their state DMV in order to continue driving.
  • Consolidate policies to earn discounts – Some insurance companies give discounts to insureds who carry more than one policy such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. Discounts can be 10 percent or more. Even with this discount, you still need to compare other company rates to ensure the best deal.
  • Optional equipment can affect rates – Choosing a vehicle with a theft deterrent system can save you a little every year. Anti-theft features such as GM’s OnStar, tamper alarm systems and vehicle immobilizers can thwart car theft.
  • Sex matters – Statistics show women tend to be less risk to insure than men. However, this does not mean women are better drivers. Men and women are in accidents in similar percentages, but the male of the species have costlier accidents. Men also tend to get more serious tickets like DUI and reckless driving. Teenage male drivers are most likely to cause an accident and thus pay the highest rates.
  • Drive a safer car and pay less – Safer cars tend to have better insurance rates. The safest vehicles result in less severe injuries and any reduction in injury severity means less money paid by your insurance company and more competitive rates for policyholders.
  • Your spouse saves you money – Being married actually saves money on your auto insurance policy. Having a spouse translates into being more mature and responsible it has been statistically shown that married drivers get in fewer accidents.

Buyer beware of auto insurance advertising tricks

Companies like 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm constantly bombard you with ads on television and other media. All the ads have a common claim that you’ll save big if you switch your coverage to them. How do they all make the same claim? It’s all in the numbers.

All companies are able to cherry pick for the type of customer they prefer to insure. A good example of a profitable customer might be profiled as between the ages of 30 and 50, is a homeowner, and has excellent credit. Any driver that hits that “sweet spot” will get very good rates and as a result will probably pay quite a bit less when switching companies.

Potential insureds who do not match this ideal profile will have to pay higher premiums which usually ends up with business going elsewhere. The ads say “people who switch” but not “drivers who get quotes” save that kind of money. That’s why companies can truthfully make those claims.

price insurance in New York

Because of the profiling, it’s extremely important to quote coverage with many companies. It’s just too difficult to predict the company that will fit your personal profile best.

Smart shoppers get results

In this article, we covered some good ideas how to get a better price on auto insurance. The most important thing to understand is the more you quote, the better your chances of lowering your rates. You may be surprised to find that the best price on auto insurance is with some of the lesser-known companies. Regional companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate and Progressive.

As you go through the steps to switch your coverage, make sure you don’t buy less coverage just to save a little money. In many cases, someone sacrificed comprehensive coverage or liability limits only to discover later that the savings was not a smart move. The aim is to buy a smart amount of coverage at a price you can afford while not skimping on critical coverages.

Additional information is located on the website for the New York Department of Financial Services. Click here for link. New York drivers can read enforcement actions against agents and companies, read state legal mandates and laws, and find out industry alerts.