Reader question:

Why are New York car insurance rates so high??!! They just keep going up!!!

Jackie

Very true, Jackie. And there’s a reason.

One of the main reason that car insurance rates go up anywhere is because of car insurance fraud. However, New York car insurance prices are more easily subjected to these rises every year because it is a no fault state, and no fault car insurance laws make fraud easier to perpetrate. While some no fault states manage to have great car insurance prices, for New York car insurance, fraud is a billion dollar a year industry and the prices rise and rise.

There are plenty of types of fraud, and many of them can be avoided by you. Some people will get into an accident on purpose with you and make it look like it was your fault so that they can make a car insurance claim and claim injuries. The way to avoid the accident in the first place is for you to practice defensive driving. If you drive defensively, then it is harder to catch you off your guard. If you do end up getting into a car accident, always make sure that a police report is filed. This also prevents the other person going off an calling up the next day with claims of much more damage than was actually done. In relation with that, take pictures.

Another very common type of New York car insurance fraud is when mechanics skew the numbers a little so that they can get more out of car insurance companies. They will fix things that don’t need to be fixed, use certain more expensive parts to the job (or claim they did) among other things. One way to avoid this is to stay involved the whole way with the repairs of your car and the claim process.

While it is true that you can’t control all New York insurance fraud or the high prices, you can do your best to stop fraud on a personal basis and keep your prices low through discounts and other money saving techniques.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.