If you’re one to keep track of your NY car insurance renewal bills, you’ll most likely have noticed a gradual and significant rise in premiums over the past several years. The reason premiums have been going up is because of the continued increase in the rate and severity of auto accidents along combined with claims payments that are skyrocketing. Unfortunately these increased insurance company costs are being shared by everyone, even for people who haven’t had any accidents or claims.
If your auto premiums have been rising, you may be paying too much for your insurance and in line to get some cheap NY car insurance quotes. There are insurers that might rate the best for your specific scenario currently and save you a significant amount on your policy. Discounts, of course, are a very important part of maximizing your total savings. Unfortunately, they are sometimes missed in the quoting process and you should make your agent aware of which discounts you believe you are eligible for. It’s important to make sure you receive all your discounts. Below are the top 5 discounts for NY car insurance policies.
1) Bundled Policy Discount: Also known as the “Bundle Discount” when bundling car and home policies is usually quite generous, anywhere between 10% and 25% depending on the insurance company. The average discount among all insurers is 17%.
2) Multiple Vehicle Discount: Depending upon the insurer, a multi-car discount typically reduces your auto insurance premium by anywhere between 10% and 25%. Liability coverages such as bodily injury liability, supplementary uninsured/underinsured motorist protection, property damage and personal injury protection will need to be identical for each vehicle but you can choose to carry different or no coverage on each car for comprehensive, collision, glass, roadside assistance, and rental car reimbursement coverage.
3) Defensive Driving Discount: The defensive driving course in NY State reduces auto insurance premiums by a mandatory 10% that lasts for three years. The course can be retaken every three years to keep your discount going continuously. The ten percent discount is applied to your liability and collision coverages.
4) Good Student Discount: Young drivers added to a car insurance policy can be quite expensive and many companies offer a significant “good student” discount to help offset the increased premium by up to 25%. Most New York insurance companies require a GPA of 3.0 or higher to qualify for the discount and both high schoolers and college students under age 25 are eligible.
5) Paid-in-Full – Go Paperless Discount: For those that pay their premium in-full and elect to go paperless with their auto policy, it can add up to a nice combination savings opportunity. Paid-in-Full discounts often range between 6% and 14% while going paperless can add another reduction of between 3% and 6%. Going paperless just means that you receive your policy documents and billing statements by email instead of by postal mail.
Please keep in mind that while discounts are important and should be taken advantage of; you really need to pay attention to the bottom line when comparing NY car insurance companies. As an example, say insurance company Blazing Star gives deeper discounts but a base premium rate that is higher than average, an insured could end up with a higher overall rate and premium than company Sure Bet that has lower than average discounts yet base premium rates that are better than average.
