Factors You Can’t Easily Control

These factors are built into your profile, but still play a major role:

• Your location: Claim trends, traffic, and weather patterns where you principally drive.
• Your age and driving experience: Especially for younger drivers.
• Other drivers in your household: Their age and driving history.
• The vehicle you own: Unique to the Year, Make, Model, and Sub-model’s damageability and cost of parts/labor.

These factors significantly influence price differences, but they don’t tell the whole story.

Factors You Can Control

This is where habits and wise decisions can make a real difference:

• Your driving habits: Minimizing tickets and accidents can have a direct impact.
• Your coverage choices: Liability limits, deductibles, and optional coverages can vary widely.
• Your insurance consistency: Avoiding lapses in coverage.
• Your annual mileage: How much and how often you drive.
• Discount opportunities: Bundling, pay-in-full, NYS defensive driving course.
• Your Insurance Score (Yes—You Can Influence It)
• Insurance companies use a credit-based insurance score as part of their rating process. While it’s based on financial behaviors, it is not permanent—and it can be improved over time.
• Simple habits like:
• Paying bills on time
• Reducing outstanding debt
• Avoiding excessive credit inquiries… can positively impact your score—and in turn, your insurance rates.
• Your insurance score is under your control and a worthy mid to long-term project in and of itself. For more information on what you can do to positively influence your score, see:
• Great 8 Tip #8 - What's Credit Got to Do with Insurance?
• How Can I Improve My Auto Insurance Score

Why Comparing Rates Doesn’t Work

When someone says, “I only pay…”, the uniqueness of their fingerprint is missing. What are their:

• Deductibles
• Driving history
• Insurance score
• Household profile
• Coverage limits: what they may be giving up in terms of protection. Price without context can be misleading and discouraging.

Final Thought

Your auto insurance rate isn’t random. It’s personalized. 



When you understand what drives your rate and what you can control, you can make more confident, informed decisions about your insurance. Just like your fingerprint, your rate is uniquely yours. Give us a call or send us an email today, and we’ll work with you to find your best insurance value!