Auto Insurance | Get An Auto Insurance Quote Free In New York City

In 2023, and according to latest trends, people are becoming more used to having service companies take care of their needs rather than going through the trouble of lining up in offices for legal and personal matters and to avoid the trouble of making mistakes in proceedings. Of course, people earn money to purchase facilities that make their lives easier. Buying an auto insurance is definitely a peace of mind and an important need for people having expensive cars and busy lives.

Why is having auto insurance an important need?

Because an auto insurance policy will help you financially in covering damages to the vehicle involved, damages to the property that you crashed into (such as a shop, tree, fence, signboard, etc) and medical expenses to cover the injuries of all the persons (including you and your passengers) that got into an accident due to your vehicle. So, the insurance policy will provide financial assistance for:

• Damages
• Vehicle involved
• Property involved
• Medical expenses for injuries

While auto insurance is typically mandatory in almost all of the states, the case is no different about New York City. It may be upsetting to pay for an insurance policy if you do not feel like, however, if you get pulled over in New York City (or any state that is regulated to have auto insurance policy available on hand), you would wish that you had purchased an insurance policy since auto insurance is mandatory and it is required to keep a proof of insurance policy on your car. Needless to say, it is actually a wise decision to have an insurance policy on your vehicle, because in a busy city like New York, people tend to be in a hurry, more distracted while driving and end up having a road accident. Also, in order to register your car with the DMV, you need a New York State issued auto insurance with you. If you do not carry the minimum liability insurance, there is a high possibility that your Driver’s license and car registration may get suspended, probably as soon as you get pulled over by a police or traffic officer.

The minimum amount of liability coverage you’ll need in New York:

• $10,000 for property damage for a single accident
• $25,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 for death for a person involved in an accident
• $50,000 for bodily injury and $100,000 for death for two or more people in an accident

It is also required that you carry the New York State coverage for a vehicle registered in New York.

Proof of Insurance:

Since it is mandatory to have your vehicle insured, you will need to provide proof of insurance to the DMV. Here’s how you can do that: When you purchase an insurance policy, the insurance company or agent will give you two Insurance Identification cards, one of them you will have to give to DMV to register your vehicle with insurance. You must also keep the second Identification Card with yourself if you get pulled over for a traffic violation. Your insurance company will also send an electronic notice to the DMV regarding information about the insurance policy. DMV requires both the electronic notice and the Insurance Identification card. It is better to make sure with the DMV that they have both.

What you need to get an auto insurance quote:

There is a good amount of information that the insurer will need from you in order to determine the quote and to determine whether you will be able to get the insurance policy or not. Not to worry, typically you only need to provide 3 basic things to get a quote

• A currently active, valid driver’s license
• VIN number (Vehicle Identification Number)
• Address of the place where the vehicle will usually be kept.

Now, there’s a lot of why’s and reasons involved in each question that will be asked by the insurer. We will answer every question and educate you completely about everything there is to know about the Auto Insurance.

A driver’s license will tell the insurer about the history of your driving records, any moving violations that you may have performed in the past will be taken into account when giving a quote for auto insurance.

Then comes the VIN number, all cars have a vehicle identification number, a 17-character long alphanumeric identification number unique to that vehicle. Commonly known as a VIN number, your vehicle’s ID is assigned when it is manufactured and stored in the VIN. Just like your Social Security Number (SSN) is unique to you, a VIN will give details specific to your car.  If you do not know your VIN number, you can find it on the dashboard of your car, it is located near where the dashboard meets the edge of the windshield on the driver’s side. Aside from that, another place where the number is usually found is on the driver’s side door jamb.

The address of the place where you will be keeping your car is important because it determines how likely it is that the vehicle being insured is susceptible to being stolen, getting in an accident, or a target of vandalism. Why is the address important in auto insurance? Because some areas have a higher crime rate than the others, some areas have more rebellious groups and gangs, and some areas just have more irresponsible people either having too much money or having too little money that tend to get into more car accidents.

Aside from these, more common requirements are as following:

• Home: If you are a home owner and that’s where you will be keeping your car, this will add a significance to your auto car insurance quote, because home owners tend to get a discount. So, be sure to keep details of your home ownerships handy when you go for a quote. They might even ask you where you previously lived, if you have been moving around a lot and how many people live with you.
• Employment History: Insurance companies or agents will inquire about your employment history, where you have worked and for how long if you left a job, why you left that job because all this information will add up to determine how likely it is that you get the insurance policy and at what rate. Good employment history will make your character look good, which in turn will get you a good deal on the insurance policy.
• Credit History: It goes without saying, that credit history will be a useful impact on determining your insurance policy. Bad credit history might hurt your rate and you may end up paying more.
• Vehicle Details: The insurance agent or company will ask you about your vehicle’s details, what is the year and make and model of the car you are looking to insure? Do you own or do you finance the car? Or do you lease the car? All this will be discussed in detail, since all these factors affect your insurance deal or policy. How many cars do you own? And if you get insurance policy on multiple vehicles at once, that will definitely drag down the rate of your insurance policy.

Vehicle safety features will also be inspected by the insurance company, as it goes without saying, that if the vehicle has more and advanced safety features such as anti-lock braking system, upgraded airbags, anti-theft system, alarm and security system, it will ultimately reduce the cost of insurance.

Your annual vehicle mileage will surely be inspected, if you drive your car a lot, it will eventually mean that there will be a higher chance of claiming the insurance policy. Hence, if you have low annual mileage, you will get a cheaper insurance deal. You will need to provide these details accurate, as the agents usually check the odometer whenever you go for a renewal of policy or periodic meetings.

What you need to know before shopping for a quote:

There are terms that you must know prior to shopping for an auto insurance quote. Some common terms are:

• Appraisal: A professional, formal, written estimation of the value of the property.
• Coverage: Details of protection and benefits provided to you.
• Collision Coverage: Optional coverage for when your car is damaged as a result of colliding with another car or another object, a pole, tree, fence, wall, a glass of a shop, etc. It also can come into play if you hit a pothole that severely damages your car. This insurance applies only to your car. It doesn’t cover whatever the car collided with (that’s what your property damage liability is for).
• Comprehensive Coverage: Optional coverage for when your car is stolen or damaged in ways that don’t involve a collision. Examples include hail damage, glass breakage, fire, vandalism, damage from an animal, flood, earthquakes, falling objects, and theft. The price of comprehensive insurance is affected by the risk of loss, meaning the likelihood that an insured car will be stolen or damaged, and the car’s value at the time of the loss.
• Property Damage Liability (PD): This coverage is for when you damage someone else’s property with your vehicle. Usually, it’s someone’s car, but it can apply to other property such as buildings, utility poles, fences, and garage doors.
• Claim: Request by an insured for the insurance company to cover an incurred loss. A claim may be filed online, by phone or in writing.
• Limits: Maximum amount of protection for specific coverage (such as $50,000)
• Policy: Contract between you and your insurance company.
• Premium: Price (per interval) of your insurance policy.
• Deductible: The amount that must be paid out of pocket by the insured for covered losses before the insurance company pays a claim. Choosing a higher deductible will reduce annual payments but in case of a claim on loss, the amount paid by the insurance buyer will be higher.
• Surcharge: An increase in your auto insurance premium due to an at-fault accident or a moving violation.
• Replacement cost: The cost of replacing or repairing lost or damaged property without allowing for depreciation in value or considering the market value.
• Indemnity: The principle upon which all auto insurance contracts are based. According to this principle, the objective of insurance is to restore the insured to the same financial position after a loss that he or she was in prior to the loss.
• Grace Period: Some auto insurance policies have a grace period that allows customers to make a payment after the due date. But, many companies will not accept a payment after the date shown on a cancellation notice. Online payments and EFT can prevent policy lapses.
• Free Look Period: An insurer may cancel an auto insurance policy for any reason during the Free Look Period, which is usually the first 30 days of the policy. The exact number of days varies by state.
• Exclusions: Items that are specifically denied coverage under the terms of an insurance policy. For example, most auto insurance policies exclude coverage for normal wear and tear, drag racing, and intentional acts.
• Extended Coverage: An endorsement added to an insurance policy, or a clause included in the policy, to provide additional coverage for risks other than those covered under the basic policy provisions.
• Endorsement: A written agreement attached to an insurance policy to add or subtract coverage. Once attached, the endorsement takes precedence over the original terms of the policy.
• Deposit Premium: The premium deposit paid by a prospective policyholder when an application is made for an insurance policy. It is usually equal to at least the first month’s estimated premium and is applied toward the total policy premium when billed.
• Liability Insurance: Coverage for sums that an insured becomes legally obligated to pay because of bodily injuries or property damage, or financial losses caused to other people. Liability insurance is legally required because it covers the costs associated with injuries, death, or damage caused to another vehicle or property that you or another driver causes while driving your car.

• Lapse: The expiration of a right or privilege when one party does not live up to its obligations during the time allowed. A lapse in auto insurance coverage may result in paying higher premiums for a new policy, because insurers have determined that drivers who maintain continuous coverage are less likely to make an insurance claim that those who let a policy lapse.
• Uninsured Motorist coverage: may help compensate you for your injuries or property damage caused by a driver without insurance.
• Underinsured Motorist coverage: can protect you from at-fault drivers with insufficient insurance coverage to pay your claim.

You will see three numbers when you are buying liability coverage, such as 15/30/10. They represent (in the $ thousands) your liability limits for per-person bodily injury, bodily injury for all persons injured in any one accident, and property damage liability. Most states require a mandatory minimum amount and insurance companies offer the option to purchase more.

If you let your insurance lapse, you will have to pay more when you get the insurance again. How does that work? If you do not have any insurance policy on your car, the insurance company will see you as a risky and irresponsible driver, hence when you go to get a new policy without having any policy purchased, you will be required to pay more.

Higher deductible can save you money on your annual payments. Because when you sign up to pay out of your own pockets in case of a loss, then that means that the insurance company will not have to pay all the cost of damages, you will share the loss with the insurance company, hence your annual payments to the insurance company will be reduced. This will basically be determined by the fact that how much cash money can you pay readily at any given time in a year?

You must research your minimum insurance as required by the State, New York in this case. Then review all the coverage options to get the best possible plan.

Tips to reduce the cost of your insurance policy:

Just like the general rule of bulk purchasing, if you insure more cars or more drivers with the same company, the cost of insurance policy will be lesser. In case of multiple drivers, it is taken into account that whether the drivers are blood related or married or live at the same residence.

Also, if you bundle up the insurance policies, such as auto insurance and life insurance or auto insurance and home insurance, then you can also get a better deal and discount on your insurance policy in New York city.If you have a better driving history, no or least previous accidents, least moving violations, and overall less points assessed to the driver. Insurance companies usually obtain driving reports from DMV for a particular vehicle or a driver using VIN number and driver’s license. So keep your records clean! And your insurance payments will also be clean.

You can also take an approved defensive driving course. In the State of New York, if you pass an approved defensive driving course and you had points on your driving records, you may be able to have those points reduced, which means, a cleaner driving record. This will also reduce your insurance costs. It is also important to consult your insurance agent or the insurance company to check whether they will offer discounts based on clearing the defensive driving course.

An insurance coverage typically includes a lot of services, some of them that you might not really need. It is advised to go through the policy in detail, just to make sure if there is a service that you might not need, dropping those services will reduce your cost.

Put your back into it, take multiple quotes from multiple companies, if you are already on an insurance policy, especially for a long time, then start doing your research again, because there might be someone around the corner, offering a more economical deal for you. So, take more quotes!

Every insurance company offers different sorts of discounts. Be sure to check them all! And pick the one that gives you the most benefit.

Good driver discount (no accidents in past 5 years).

Military, marines or navy officers get an exclusive discount.

Discount for Seat Belt Use.

New Vehicle Discount.

Senior drivers get another discount.

Federal employees with GS-7 and above get discount. Even if you are retired.

Good student driver discount: If you have grades maintained at “B” average or better, then you are eligible for this discount. There are various alumni, colleges, universities and student organizations that allow you to get discounts.

Memberships in particular organizations or groups that offer discounts. Such as your employer or your association with a doctoral group.

Anti-theft discounts.

Locations also increase or decrease an insurance cost.

Your car’s make, model, and year also plays a role in determining your cost of insurance.  Especially mileage, every insurance company offers mileage thresholds, upon which you might pay more or less, depending on the current mileage and yearly mileage of your car. Ask your insurance company about the company’s different mileage thresholds, so your efforts won’t be wasted

A smaller and safer car will have lower insurance cost and a large SUV type vehicle will have a higher insurance cost. So, keep that in mind before purchasing a vehicle. Obviously, if your car requires a higher cost to repair, then the insurance premiums will likely to be more expensive.

Insurance prices vary a lot by the company, so make sure the check them all.

Also, make sure that the insurance company is known and is able to pay up, in case of a loss. If you are getting too good a deal, then its likely that the company might not even be able to pay up.