Local car insurance prices rank high

The Bronx is the second most expensive borough to insure a car, while Riverdale is ranked the second most expensive neighborhood in the Bronx to insure a car, according to a recent report detailing the average cost of car insurance in New York. 

ValuePenguin, a data analysis company, reviewed auto insurance premiums across New York to identify the cheapest and most expensive cities in which to insure a car. 

With a mean of $ 4,028, auto insurance in the Bronx can cost more than $400 a month, based on the neighborhood. In Riverdale, auto insurance is reportedly a whopping $4,063 a year on average in the ValuePenguin study. Fordham, the neighborhood with the highest auto insurance rates, is at the top of the study, with an auto insurance rate of $4,299 a year on average. 

“When you have tight population density, you’re going to have these problems,” said Riverdale resident and driver Dennis Donofrio, 64, who was not surprised by Riverdale’s rank in the study. “The number of little fender-benders that we have up here — there’s just a lot of little accidents.”

Meanwhile, the cost to insure a car for drivers living in the Throgs Neck and Pelham neighborhoods is under $3,900. 

At $5,305 a year on average, a rate that is 30 percent higher than the citywide average, Brooklyn is the most expensive borough, according to the study.

“I would categorize [the rates] under a couple things,” explains Ting Peng, co-founder of ValuePenguin. “One is the driver’s record, the type of car, liability coverage and where they live.”

If a community has a high number of traffic accidents and auto insurance claims, auto insurance for drivers in the area is likely to be higher. 

 “We always urge our readers to try to get as many quotes from as many companies as possible because you never know how companies are going to rate and quote you,” said Ms. Peng.  “Consumers should be very aggressive about asking for each and every one of them.”

Good driver discounts, student discounts, discounts for professional and organization affiliations and green/hybrid auto discounts are among the cut rates that drivers should look out for, Ms. Peng said. 

The ValuePenguin study was based on auto insurance for a single 30-year-old man and 65-year-old man in New York. The drivers owned 2010 Toyota Camrys and drive them approximately 12,000 miles a year. The drivers also have good credit and have not had an accident or traffic violation in the past five years of being licensed. The coverage in the study also provides twice the protection required in the state to be more generally applicable to readers, according to the analysts.