5 Ways You Can Buy Car Insurance for Less in New York, NY

Finding better rates for New York car insurance can seem to be challenging for consumers not familiar with comparison shopping online. There are so many choices that it can be a lot of work to locate the lowest price in New York.

Consumers should take time to shop coverage around yearly because prices are usually higher with each renewal. Even if you got the best rates a couple years back you will most likely find a better rate today. So block out anything you think you know about car insurance because you’re going to learn the best way to remove unneeded coverages and save money.

If you have a current car insurance policy or are shopping for new coverage, you can learn to find the best rates while maintaining coverages. Shopping for more affordable car insurance coverage in New York is easy if you know what you’re doing. New York vehicle owners just need to know the proper way to compare rates on the web.

Discounts are available to cut your rates

Car insurance companies do not list every discount in a way that’s easy to find, so here is a list both the well known as well as the least known savings tricks you should be using. If you aren’t receiving every discount you qualify for, you’re paying more than you need to.

• Defensive Driver – Taking a defensive driving course could save 5% or more if your company offers it.
• Federal Government Employee – Employees or retirees of the government may qualify you for a discount depending on your company.
• No Charge for an Accident – Certain companies will allow you to have one accident before hitting you with a surcharge so long as you haven’t had any claims for a particular time prior to the accident.
• Seat Belts Save – Buckling up and requiring all passengers to use their safety belts can save 10% or more off your PIP or medical payments premium.
• Bundle and Save – If you have multiple policies with one insurance company you may save at least 10% off all policies.

It’s important to understand that many deductions do not apply the the whole policy. A few only apply to individual premiums such as comprehensive or collision. So despite the fact that it appears it’s possible to get free car insurance, car insurance companies aren’t that generous.

To see a list of insurance companies with the best car insurance discounts in New York, click this link.

Car Insurance Prices in New York

Finding a better price on car insurance can be surprisingly simple. Drivers just need to take a few minutes to get quotes from different insurance companies. This is very easy and can be done in just a few minutes using one of these methods.

• The most efficient way to find the lowest comparison rates is to use a rate comparison form like this one (opens in new window). This easy form eliminates the need for repetitive form entry for each company. A single, simple form will return quotes from several companies. Just one form and you’re done.
• A more difficult way to find lower rates is spending the time to visit the website of each company to request a price quote. For instance, we’ll assume you want to compare rates from State Farm, 21st Century and Progressive. To get rate quotes you would need to spend time on each company’s site to input your insurance information, which is why the first method is more popular.

  For a handy list of car insurance company links in New York, click here.

Whichever method you choose, double check that you are using identical quote information for every quote you compare. If you have higher or lower deductibles you can’t possibly find the best deal in New York.

Everyone needs different coverages

When it comes to buying the best car insurance coverage for your personal vehicles, there really is no one size fits all plan. Every insured’s situation is different.

For example, these questions may help highlight if your situation could use an agent’s help.

• Am I covered when driving someone else’s vehicle?
• Do I qualify for additional discounts?
• Does my insurance cover damage caused when ticketed for reckless driving?
• How high should my medical payments coverage be?
• I have good health insurance, so how much medical payments coverage do I need?
• Do I need motorclub coverage?
• Am I covered if I drive in a foreign country?
• What if I don’t agree with a claim settlement offer?

If it’s difficult to answer those questions, you may need to chat with a licensed agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, simply complete this short form. It’s fast, doesn’t cost anything and can provide invaluable advice.

Learn about car insurance coverages

Having a good grasp of your policy helps when choosing appropriate coverage at the best deductibles and correct limits. Car insurance terms can be ambiguous and coverage can change by endorsement.

Uninsured or underinsured coverage

Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage provides protection when the “other guys” either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries and also any damage incurred to your vehicle.

Due to the fact that many New York drivers carry very low liability coverage limits (which is 25/50/10), their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.

Comprehensive protection

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage from a wide range of events other than collision. A deductible will apply and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.

Comprehensive insurance covers claims like rock chips in glass, vandalism and fire damage. The most a car insurance company will pay at claim time is the actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low consider dropping full coverage.

Collision insurance

This covers damage to your vehicle resulting from colliding with an object or car. You will need to pay your deductible then your collision coverage will kick in.

Collision insurance covers claims like crashing into a building, driving through your garage door, damaging your car on a curb and hitting a mailbox. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from vehicles that are older. You can also bump up the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.

Liability insurance

This coverage will cover damages or injuries you inflict on a person or their property that is your fault. Coverage consists of three different limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. You commonly see values of 100/300/100 that translate to $100,000 bodily injury coverage, a total of $300,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $100,000 of coverage for damaged propery.

Liability can pay for things such as repair costs for stationary objects, medical services, emergency aid, court costs and structural damage. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is a decision to put some thought into, but consider buying as much as you can afford. New York state minimum liability requirements are 25,000/50,000/10,000 but drivers should carry more liability than the minimum.

Medical expense coverage

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage provide coverage for immediate expenses for things like doctor visits, hospital visits, ambulance fees, funeral costs and EMT expenses. The coverages can be used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you lack health insurance entirely. Medical payments and PIP cover you and your occupants as well as being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP is not universally available but can be used in place of medical payments coverage

More quotes mean more savings

Insureds leave their current company for a number of reasons such as unfair underwriting practices, denial of a claim, an unsatisfactory settlement offer and being labeled a high risk driver. Regardless of your reason for switching companies, finding a new car insurance company is not as difficult as it may seem.

When buying insurance coverage, never buy less coverage just to save a little money. In many instances, an insured dropped collision coverage and discovered at claim time that they should have had better coverage. Your aim should be to get the best coverage possible at a price you can afford while still protecting your assets.

Throughout this article, we presented a lot of techniques to shop for car insurance online. It’s most important to understand that the more companies you get rates for, the higher the chance of saving money. You may even find the best prices are with a small local company.