You’d be surprised at how many times we get asked how much our auto insurance costs at our NY insurance agency. Although it actually makes sense as many people view car insurance as a commodity. A commodity in the sense that car policies are the same at every NY insurance company, only the price is different. If you follow our blog and read through our website, you know that this is not the case and that there are differences in car insurance policies and sometimes major ones between insurers.
Our reply to the question of cost is that there are too many factors involved in quoting an auto insurance policy to even give a guesstimate until we gather all of the pertinent and required information needed to run premium estimates. Each car insurance quote is unique to the individual and their particular qualifying factors coupled with the differences in insurance companies and how they rates based on those qualifying factors.
There are several major rating and discount factors NY insurance companies utilize that ultimately determine the final premium quoted, such as:
Common Rating Factors
Driving record
Driver(s) age
Credit rating
Location
Vehicle use
Vehicle mileage
Car(s) being insured
Liability limits
Comprehensive and collision deductibles
Optional coverages such as roadside assistance and car rental reimbursement
Common Eligible Discounts
Safe driving
Defensive driving course
Alarm systems
Early shopper
Multi car
Multi policy
Affinity
Daytime lights
Good student
Student away
Accident free
Paid in full
Electronic billing
E-documents
As you can see, it’s just impossible to even guess how much an auto insurance premium will be without having a lot of information and then applying that information into each specific insurer’s quoting platforms. Our experience has taught us how to contrast and compare utilizing rating factors and discounts that give our clients the bottom-line best option from our stable of companies.
This brings up the point that using an independent NY insurance agency can really bring benefit to the consumer as independents have a multitude of insurers to quote with as opposed to a captive agency with has only one option.
Keep in mind that independent agencies often utilize the use of “Raters” to quicken the process of quoting with several insurance companies at once. Although a time savings measure for the agency, these rater tools are not always perfect and can cause a necessary coverage to be missed or rate a higher premium than should be paid.
We have chosen to avoid rating systems for these reasons. Yes, it takes longer to do things manually but gives greater assurance to our customers. We contrast and compare utilizing rating factors and discounts that give our clients the bottom-line best option from our stable of hand-picked insurance companies that offer the most competitive pricing and comprehensive coverage for New York State.
If you have any questions regarding available auto, home and business insurance options, please contact us, we’re always glad to help. The NY Insurance Hub serves Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Latham, Cohoes, Watervliet, Clifton Park, Saratoga Springs, surrounding Capital Region areas and all of New York State from NYC to Buffalo.