Deciding which companies have the best insurance rates for inexperienced drivers involves a little more effort than just comparing rates from one or two companies.
Each insurance company has their own unique process to establish rates, so we will examine the insurance companies with the overall cheapest rates in New York.
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Rank | Company | Cost Per Year |
---|---|---|
1 | USAA | $1,163 |
2 | Erie | $1,205 |
3 | Utica National | $1,534 |
4 | Allstate | $1,556 |
5 | Progressive | $1,558 |
6 | Travelers | $1,575 |
7 | MetLife | $1,636 |
8 | Amica | $1,644 |
9 | Preferred Mutual | $1,686 |
10 | New York Central Mutual | $1,836 |
11 | Safeco | $1,908 |
12 | GEICO | $1,926 |
13 | State Farm | $1,982 |
14 | Central Mutual | $2,008 |
15 | Liberty Mutual | $2,087 |
16 | Hanover | $2,323 |
17 | Encompass | $2,662 |
18 | Nationwide | $3,147 |
19 | Mercury | $3,848 |
20 | 21st Century | $4,281 |
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USAA may offer some of the cheapest car insurance rates in New York at around $1,163 each year. Erie, Utica National, Allstate, and Progressive also qualify as some of the best New York car insurance companies.
As the example above demonstrates, if you have coverage with Utica National and switched to USAA, you might achieve an annual savings of in the vicinity of $371. Policyholders with Allstate might save as much as $393 a year, and Progressive insureds might reduce prices by as much as $395 a year.
It’s important to note that these policy prices are averages for all ages of drivers and types of vehicles and do not take into consideration a rate discount for inexperienced drivers. So the insurer that can offer you the lowest price may not even be shown in the list of companies shown earlier. That points out the importance of why you need to compare prices as often as possible using your own driver information and specific vehicle type.
One of the more important things used to calculate auto insurance rates is where you normally keep your vehicle in New York. Regions with more people or even just more weather-related claims like New York, Hempstead, and Mount Vernon tend to have higher rates, whereas less populated areas generally benefit from lower insurance rates.
The illustration below illustrates the more expensive cities in New York for inexperienced drivers to purchase car insurance in.
Rank | City | Annual Premium |
---|---|---|
1 | New York | $2,708 |
2 | Freeport | $2,235 |
3 | Hempstead | $2,211 |
4 | Levittown | $2,041 |
5 | Mount Vernon | $1,978 |
6 | West Babylon | $1,932 |
7 | Hicksville | $1,919 |
8 | Yonkers | $1,900 |
9 | Brentwood | $1,853 |
10 | Coram | $1,784 |
11 | White Plains | $1,661 |
12 | New Rochelle | $1,627 |
13 | Buffalo | $1,488 |
14 | Cheektowaga | $1,253 |
15 | Tonawanda | $1,201 |
16 | West Seneca | $1,201 |
17 | Niagara Falls | $1,189 |
18 | Syracuse | $1,119 |
19 | Utica | $1,092 |
20 | Troy | $1,085 |
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Annual rates are comparative as the specific area where the vehicle is garaged can change coverage prices considerably.
Choosing the right insurer is hard considering how many companies sell insurance in New York. The company ratings displayed below may help you select which car insurance companies to look at comparing rate quotes with. The rankings below are for companies who write in the majority of U.S. states, so smaller regional companies will not be included in the list.
Company | Value | Customer Service | Claims | Customer Satisfaction | A.M Best Rating | Overall Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The General | 96 | 100 | 92 | 91% | A- | 95 |
Mercury Insurance | 87 | 96 | 100 | 87% | A+ | 93.4 |
The Hartford | 88 | 96 | 91 | 93% | A+ | 92.6 |
Progressive | 84 | 94 | 99 | 90% | A+ | 92.4 |
Travelers | 84 | 93 | 100 | 87% | A++ | 92.3 |
State Farm | 84 | 93 | 95 | 87% | A++ | 91 |
Farmers Insurance | 87 | 92 | 90 | 85% | A | 90.6 |
Erie Insurance | 92 | 90 | 82 | 88% | A+ | 88.5 |
Safeco Insurance | 85 | 91 | 87 | 86% | A | 88.4 |
USAA | 71 | 93 | 98 | 87% | A++ | 88 |
GEICO | 73 | 93 | 95 | 85% | A++ | 87.1 |
21st Century | 85 | 85 | 91 | 89% | A | 86.9 |
Liberty Mutual | 72 | 91 | 97 | 83% | A | 86.4 |
AAA Insurance | 85 | 85 | 88 | 86% | A | 85.8 |
Nationwide | 71 | 90 | 93 | 83% | A+ | 84.9 |
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Data Source: Insure.com Best Car Insurance Companies
The chart below illustrates how choosing a deductible can raise or lower insurance costs when trying to find cheap insurance for inexperienced drivers. The prices are based on a single female driver, comprehensive and collision coverage, and no discounts are applied.
google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawDfdqcibChart);function drawDfdqcibChart() {var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([[‘Age of Insured’, ‘$100 Deductible’,’$250 Deductible’,’$500 Deductible’,’$1,000 Deductible’],[‘Age 20’, 2123,1953,1765,1591],[‘Age 30’, 1477,1353,1211,1077],[‘Age 40’, 1371,1257,1129,1007],[‘Age 50’, 1199,1103,989,881],[‘Age 60’, 1157,1065,957,853],[‘Age 70’, 1345,1237,1119,1007]]);var options = {title: ‘Impact of Deductibles on Auto Insurance Cost in New York’,titleTextStyle: {color: ‘#333’,fontSize: 17,bold: true},width: ‘100%’,height: 700,’chartArea’: {left:100,top:50,’width’: ‘100%’,’height’: ‘80%’},legend: {position: ‘bottom’,textStyle: {fontSize: 12}},bar: {groupWidth: ‘80%’},colors: [‘#6791b9′,’#75a8d8′,’#98bee2′,’#bad4ec’],hAxis: {title: ‘Annual Auto Insurance Cost for Average Vehicle’,minValue: 0,format: ‘$###,###’},vAxis: {title: ‘Age of Insured’}};var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat({fractionDigits: 0,prefix: ‘$’});formatter.format(data,1);formatter.format(data,2);formatter.format(data,3);formatter.format(data,4);var chart = new google.visualization.BarChart(document.getElementById(‘qcibdfd’));chart.draw(data, options);}
The data above shows that a 30-year-old driver could pocket $242 a year by changing from a $100 deductible up to a $500 deductible, or save $364 by choosing a $1,000 deductible. Younger drivers, such as the 20-year-old example, could possibly save as much as $532 or more by choosing a larger deductible amount.
If you do decide to increase your deductibles, it will now be necessary to have additional funds in a savings account to be able to pay the extra out-of-pocket expense, which is the one shortcoming of high deductibles.
When comparing auto insurance for new drivers, the companies with the most market share are Geico, Allstate, Progressive, and State Farm. All offer liability and physical damage insurance, but each one has unique options and discounts that may affect your buying decision. The next table illustrates pricing and service ratings, plus some optional coverages that are available for policyholders.
Geico | Allstate | Progressive | State Farm | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Discounts Offered | 2nd | 1st | 4th | 3rd |
Customer Satisfaction | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
Handling of Claims | 3rd | 1st | 4th | 2nd |
Price Rank | 1st | 4th | 3rd | 2nd |
Percent of U.S. market | 11.4% | 10% | 8.8% | 18.3% |
Customers who recommend | 87% | 86% | 88% | 88% |
Rating from A.M. Best | A++ | A+ | A+ | A++ |
Standard & Poor’s financial rating | AA+ | AA- | AA | AA |
Roadside service | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Coverage for Uber and Lyft drivers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
New car replacement coverage | No | Yes | No | No |
Usage-based insurance | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Accident forgiveness coverage | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Mechanical breakdown insurance | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Insurance Agents | Online or through a Geico agent | Can only buy from Allstate agents | Online or from independent agents | State Farm-only agents |
Number of agents | 150+ | 11,000+ | 30,000+ | 18,000+ |
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Thanks to the internet, there are a lot of ways to comparison shop for insurance in New York, but the most common ways are using an exclusive agency like Liberty Mutual or Allstate, a non-exclusive or independent agent, or from a direct company like Progressive or Geico.
They all have the same end result, but buyers need to know the differences in how they price policies.
Independent insurance agencies write business for many companies and can quote your policy with each one. These types of agencies are appointed with more than one company and can quote rates with many companies, which can give you the best shot at cutting your rates. If your agent finds a cheaper company, your policy can be moved without you having to go to a different agency.
A captive or exclusive agent is only able to write with just one company, two examples are an Allstate or Liberty Mutual agent. These agents are not able to quote prices from more than just one company, so they have no alternatives for high prices.
When you buy insurance direct, you do not use local insurance agents and instead shop from a direct company like Esurance. Buying insurance direct is a good choice for families who have little risk and know more than average about what coverages, limits, and deductibles they need.
Out of those three methods, which one works best to find cheap auto insurance for inexperienced drivers in New York? We’d like to tell you buying direct saves the most money since there isn’t an agent involved, but that generally is not the case. And we’d like to say an independent agent is the best way due to having more companies to select from, but again, that’s not accurate. In the right set of circumstances, exclusive agents may have very competitive prices that are the cheapest in New York.
Because there are so many factors that make up insurance rates, the one way to ensure you are not overpaying for insurance is to get quotes and compare the rates. To find the best rates, be sure to get rate quotes from all three to have a good selection of rates to choose from. For a list of companies with cheap rates in New York, click here to view.