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Cancelling your current coverage before the term expiration is perfectly fine, no penalties will be assessed. You’ll actually get a pro-rated refund back from your prior insurer for the number of days coverage that you paid for and did not use. For instance, if you had a 6-month policy and paid for it in full at the inception with a premium of $1,000 and cancel at the end of 3 months, you’ve paid for 180 days and only used 90 days of protection. Therefore, you would receive a refund back in the amount of $500 for the 90 days you paid for but did not use.

All of the companies with do business with offer multiple payment options including 1-Pay, 2-Pay, semi-monthly, quarterly, and monthly options. Our two most popular options are the Paid-in-Full option (some of our carriers offer a discount for paid-in-full) and the Monthly Automatic Payment option. The monthly automatic option is an electronic transfer of your payment directly from your checking account and eliminates any monthly bill installments fees which adds up to a good savings amount over the term of the policy.

Good question, NY auto insurance rates have been rising steadily over the past few years due to a number of factors. The increased rate and severity of accidents, more and costlier personal liability claims, fraud, increased medical costs, rising costs to repair, and natural disasters. Unfortunately, these costs are spread among all policyholders, even the ones that don’t put in claims or get tickets and dutifully pay their premiums every time and on time. It doesn’t seem fair and we agree with our claim-free customers who voice their displeasure, sometimes loudly! Yes, prices of everything seems to increase and as the cost of living goes up, one would expect a small increase in renewal premiums due to inflation, but not big price swings. Being an independent agency with access to multiple carriers, this is an area where we can help. In the event one of our insurers begins to raise premiums on a scale that’s above the norm from others in the market, we can re-shop for our clients to affirm whether or not they still have the best overall deal for them. If we find a better option with another company, we can simply switch you to that company.

Comprehensive and Collision coverages are both provided for protection against damage to your vehicle.

Collision: This is provided to pay for damage to your vehicle from a collision with another vehicle where you are deemed at fault, or in some instances where your vehicle is hit while you are driving and the offending driver takes off (hit and run). It also pertains to an accident with an inanimate object such as a guard rail, fence, pole, etc. Or for a single car roll-over incident. Collision is usually required to be carried if you are financing or leasing your vehicle.
Comprehensive: It is sometimes referred to as “other than collision” because it provides coverage for perils such as fire, hitting an animal, natural disasters such as hail damage, falling objects such as a tree falling on your car, vandalism, and theft.

Keep in mind that with both comprehensive and collision there is a separate deductible for each. People commonly use $500 as their deductibles for each but you can have lower or higher limits if you choose. Lower deductibles will raise your premium where higher ones decrease it. Of the two, collision is normally much higher in cost and some folks choose to have a high collision deductible and lower comprehensive deductible depending on their risk tolerance and value of the vehicle. Also, if your car is financed, the lender may have a cap for deductibles at $500, $750, or $1,000, so be sure to check with them if you are thinking about raising your deductibles.

Auto Glass is actually covered under your Comprehensive coverage and provides for repair or replacement of your windshield or any other vehicle glass such as back window, front, passenger, or back seat windows. Your comprehensive deductible will apply, but most insurers allow a separate deductible for glass or no deductible at all. The “Full Glass” option means that your glass will be repaired or replaced with no deductible or out of pocket expense. Always be sure to ask your agent if Full Glass applies to your policy as it’s relatively inexpensive and most people prefer it.

When folks refer to liability protection on a NY auto policy, they are referring to Bodily Injury Liability. Simply put, it protects you if you’re driving and cause an accident where you’re deemed at-fault and one or more people are injured and sue you for their injuries. NYS requires that you carry a minimum amount of at least $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident (termed 25/50) which is not much financial protection. Say for instance, you’re driving on the highway, encounter a patch of black ice and hit the car in front of you causing a severe injury to a person in that car. You are now sued for $500,000. Your insurer will pay $25,000 to the injured party and you can be on the hook for $475,000, and may ruin your financial life. Bodily Injury Liability can be carried at levels from 25/50 all the way up to $1 million on your base policy. If extra coverage is desired, individuals can add a $1 million to $5 million Umbrella Policy for an added layer of liability protection. It’s one of, if not the most important coverage on a car insurance policy.