Smart Auto Insurance Blog

According to the article “New York No-Fault Auto Insurance Leads to Inflated Claims” by Ryan Fields on e-wisdom.com, New York auto insurance could be experiencing higher rates because of their insurance model.  New York is one of many states in the US using the no-fault auto insurance system.  The purpose of this type in insurance model is to reduce costly legal costs from deciding who is at-fault for an accident.

Since no-fault auto insurance has auto insurance companies paying out claims directly to their customers regardless of fault, fraud can be an issue.  According to the Insurance Information Institute, about 20% of each no-fault auto insurance claims made are fraudulent.  That adds up to approximately $1561 per claim and cost insurers and their customers over $600 million since 2005.

Chief economist, Dr. Steven Weisbard, ties the increase to medical providers who submit claims that are much higher than they should be.  He says the amount of fraud in New York’s auto insurance system is so severe that payouts for claims are currently the 2nd highest they have been since the late 1990’s.  This excess translates to higher auto insurance rates for drivers in New York obtaining auto insurance.  Costs rise for everyone as fraud claims rise.

According to the article “Syracuse car insurance quotes continue to rise” by Chris Rowe on viploan.com, Syracuse, NY continues to see rates increase.  Analysts are not concerned about the increasing car insurance quotes.  This is the trend is many parts of the country. 

But a different article “New York State Auto Insurance Rates Decline 20.3 Percent in 2009″ found on money.cnn.com, paints a different picture for New York over all.  This article states that the average 6 month auto insurance rate in NY has decreased more than 20% since the start of 2009 according to insurancerates.com. 

The article also goes over some other interesting facts on New York auto insurance quotes.  Men in NY pay an average auto insurance premium about 12% higher than women drivers.  NY drivers who are under the age of 19 pay 100% more than drivers 60-74.  NY auto insurance rates declined over two percentage points more than the national average which declined 18.1% since the beginning of 2009.  Car insurance quotes will continue to flucuate in NY as well as the rest of the country so that is why it’s important to ensure you continue to shop around so you know you have the best deal on your premium.

According to the article “New York Releases Auto Insurance Rankings” from insurance journal.com, The New York State Department released their annual report which looks at complaint ratios of all New York auto insurance companies or groups with 10 million minimum in average premiums in 2007 and 2008.  If a company has less than 10 million premiums but had 10 or more complaints against them, then they are also included in the report.

In total, there were 38 companies included in this list.  Amica had the least amount of complaints.  There were 6 other auto insurance companies with no complaints upheld in 2008.  These included The Main Street America Group, QBE Insurance Group, LTD, American Express Group, Balboa Life and Casualty, Electric Insurance Group, and Everready Insurance Co.  Amica writes the most premiums, at about 86.7 million, so this is why they top the list.

One of the most common types of complaints was the delays in payment for no fault claims.  The average complaint ratio for insurance companies was .10 per $1 million in premiums.  Twenty seven auto insurance companies had complaint ratios that were average or better.  This is some information to think about as you are shopping for New York auto insurance quotes.