Was that $850 per month, per 6 months, per year? Does it include collision and comprehensive coverages or just liability and uninsured motorist? How much coverage (e.g. 100,000/300,000 or 250,000/500,000 etc)? If you were quoted with collision and/or comprehensive, what's the deductible?
Since you're new to this, definitions:
- Liability protects other people's medical and repair bills if you are at fault in a crash. Required by law.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist covers you when someone else is at fault and they don't have insurance or your costs are higher than their maximum coverage amount. May be required by law, or you may be able to opt-out by signing a waiver.
- Comprehensive covers theft, vandalism, glass, damage caused by others when the car is parked, etc but does NOT cover everything, despite its name. Optional. It's probably expensive in NYC. I get it on old, low-value vehicles to cover glass and expensive things I leave in my vehicle (such as tools or gadgets); it's cheap where I live/drive/work.
- Collision covers your car when you are at fault in a crash. It's expensive for cars that are expensive to repair or replace. Optional. On a low-value car it's pointless unless you get it with no deductible. Even if you get it with no deductible it's likely to be more expensive than it's worth, since the maximum they'll pay is whatever they declare as the book value of the car. I don't bother with it because it's much more expensive than comp and I don't get in at-fault collisions (or really, any collisions) (because I'm awesome).
Collision and comprehensive are usually packaged together and most people think they are part of the same coverage, but they can be had a la carte and that's how I operate.
Ask how much it would cost if you live in {wherever you plan to call home next}. There's no need to wait to buy the car; you'll pay the higher insurance rate until you change your place of residence, then your rate will drop (or you can shop it again). If you've paid ahead they will prorate the difference.
I've never had any of the recommended discounts (like a defensive driving course) actually make a meaningful difference. I have done well by shopping for the best price and tweaking my coverage to exactly what I want. I have never done well with an old-fashioned local insurance agent; the best prices and service I've had were direct with huge conglomerates like Geico, Travelers, AIG, etc. I also find it more convenient that way because I can use their web interface to tweak my coverages, quote cars, etc.
If you or one of your parents served in the military, check with USAA.
Check your credit report. Credit is used as part of actuarial data based on a correlation between insurance payouts and credit rating, so if you have bad credit they'll think you might cost them more. If there's a mistake on your credit report, get it fixed and then try again with insurance quotes.
If you have any other insurance, like renters insurance, see if you can get a good rate through the same company.
As a side note, I hope a 1991 Civic with a failing transmission is a lot less expensive than the budget you mentioned in your other thread. That's not a car whose price should have four digits. Speaking of which, it's probably insane to get collision and comprehensive coverage on that car in NYC. Where I am it might be worth getting comp but still not collision.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue
I don't know if the insurance companies are penalizing owners of small Hondas because some punk kids think they're racecars, but that's a distinct possibility.
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It's not because of what they think, but rather because of the statistical data (aka "actuary data") they have. If that car is high it might be because of punk kid racer wannabe stereotypes or it might be from something else. Anyway we can't say whether that's in play or not because we haven't seen rates for other cars.
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