New York, NY Car Insurance Buying Tips You Aren’t Supposed to Know

Are you sick and tired of paying out the nose to insure your vehicles every month? You are no different than the majority of other car owners in New York.

Because you have many different company options, it can be diffult for consumers to pick the best insurer.

It’s a good habit to take a look at other company’s rates occasionally because prices change frequently. Just because you found the best price last year you will most likely find a better rate today. Forget all the misinformation about car insurance because I’m going to let you in on the secrets to the easiest way to find the best coverage while lowering your premiums.

Buying car insurance in New York is not that difficult. If you currently have car insurance, you stand a good chance to be able to reduce your rates substantially using these methods. But New York drivers must comprehend how insurance companies compete online because it can help you find the best coverage.

Comprehensive New York Car Insurance Comparison

There are several ways of comparing rates from car insurance companies in your area. The simplest method to compare insurance prices is to use the internet to compare rates. It is quite easy and can be accomplished in just a few minutes using one of these methods.

The best way to get the best comparison quotes would be an industry-wide quote request form click to view form in new window. This form saves time by eliminating separate forms for every car insurance company. Filling out one form will get you price quotes from car insurance companies with the best prices.

A more difficult way to find lower rates is to take the time to go to each company website to complete a price quote. For sake of this example, let’s say you want comparison quotes from Auto-Owners, Allstate and Liberty Mutual. To find out each rate you need to visit each site to enter your coverage information, and that’s why the first method is more popular.

For a list of links to companies insuring cars in New York, click here.

It’s up to you how you get prices quotes, just ensure you’re using exactly the same coverages with every price quote. If the quotes have different deductibles it will be next to impossible to truly determine the lowest rate in New York. Slightly different coverages may cause a big price difference. And when price shopping your coverage, having more price comparisons will improve the odds of getting the best price.

Verify you’re getting all your discounts

Car insurance companies don’t always advertise every discount very clearly, so we took the time to find some of the best known as well as the least known ways to save on car insurance.

• Defensive Driver – Successfully completing a defensive driving course could save 5% or more depending on where you live.
• Paperwork-free – Certain companies will discount your bill up to fifty bucks for buying a policy and signing up digitally online.
• Discount for Swiching Early – A few companies offer discounts for switching to them prior to your current policy expiration. The savings is around 10%.
• Homeowners Savings – Owning a house in New York may trigger a car insurance policy discount because of the fact that having a home requires personal responsibility.
• Drive Less and Save – Low mileage vehicles could qualify for better rates on cars that stay parked.
• Drivers Ed for Students – Cut your cost by having your teen driver enroll in driver’s education in high school.
• Federal Government Employee – Active or retired federal employment can save as much as 8% depending on your company.

Drivers should understand that most discounts do not apply the the whole policy. Most only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. So even though it sounds like all those discounts means the company will pay you, you’re out of luck.

For a list of providers with discount car insurance rates in New York, follow this link.

Tips to Get Lower New York Rates

It’s important that you understand the factors that come into play when calculating the rates you pay for car insurance. Having a good understanding of what influences your rates empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with better car insurance rates.

The list below includes some of the items used by your company to calculate rates.

• Men pay higher rates – Statistics show women are more cautious behind the wheel. However, don’t assume that women are BETTER drivers than men. Both sexes tend to get into accidents in similar numbers, but the males cause more damage and cost insurance companies more money. They also have more aggressive citations like DUI and reckless driving.
• Safer cars cost less to insure – Vehicles with good safety scores tend to have better insurance rates. These vehicles reduce injuries and better occupant protection means lower claim amounts passed on to you as lower rates.
• Bump up deductibles to save – Physical damage insurance, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims could be colliding with a building, damage from fire, and windstorm damage. Deductibles for physical damage are how much you are willing to pay before a claim is paid by your company. The more expense you have to pay, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
• Add-on coverages can add up – There are many additional coverages you can purchase when buying car insurance. Things like vanishing deductibles, better glass coverage and additional equipment coverage may be costing you every month. They may seem like a good idea when talking to your agent, but now you might not need them so remove them from your policy.
• Consolidate policies to earn discounts – Most insurers will give a discount to people who have multiple policies with them such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. Discounts can add up to five, ten or even twenty percent. If you currently are using one company, you may still want to comparison shop to make sure you are getting the best deal.
• Do you have enough liability coverage? – The liability section of your policy is the protection when a court rules you are at fault for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. It will provide legal defense up to the limits shown on your policy. Liability insurance is quite affordable compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so drivers should carry high limits.

When should I talk to an agent?

When buying coverage for your personal vehicles, there really is no best way to insure your cars. Your needs are not the same as everyone else’s and a cookie cutter policy won’t apply. For example, these questions can aid in determining if your situation would benefit from professional advice.

• Why am I required to buy high-risk coverage?
• Is my custom paint covered by insurance?
• Does my policy cover my teen driver if they drive my company car?
• Are my tools covered if they get stolen from my vehicle?
• Is pleasure use cheaper than using my vehicle to commute?
• Exactly who is provided coverage by my policy?
• Does my medical payments coverage pay my health insurance deductible?

If you’re not sure about those questions but a few of them apply then you might want to talk to a licensed insurance agent. To find an agent in your area, take a second and complete this form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area.

Additional detailed information is located at the New York Department of Financial Services website. New York drivers can find out industry alerts, read industry bulletins, file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, and view a list of available companies.

The articles below may also help you learn more about car insurance in New York

• Tips for Researching a Buffalo New York Auto Insurance Agent

Beware of misleading car insurance ads

Companies like Allstate and Progressive consistently run ads on television and other media. All the ads make the same claim about savings if you change your policy. How does each company make the same claim? This is how they do it.

All the different companies can use profiling for the driver that earns them a profit. For example, a preferred risk could possibly be between 25 and 40, insures multiple vehicles, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. Any driver who matches those parameters will get very good rates and most likely will save quite a bit of money when switching.

Drivers who don’t meet the requirements will have to pay higher rates and this can result in the customer not buying. The ad wording is “customers who switch” not “people who quote” save that much money. That’s the way insurance companies can advertise the savings. Because of the profiling, it is so important to get quotes from several different companies. It’s not possible to predict which car insurance company will have the lowest rates.

Smart shoppers get results

We just covered some good ideas how to reduce car insurance prices online. The key concept to understand is the more quotes you get, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may even discover the most savings is with the smaller companies. These companies may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates compared to the large companies like State Farm, GEICO and Nationwide.

When you buy insurance online, make sure you don’t skimp on coverage in order to save money. There have been many situations where someone dropped liability coverage limits to discover at claim time that it was a big error on their part. The proper strategy is to buy a smart amount of coverage at the best price while still protecting your assets.