03.26.2026 Inside NY’s high stakes car insurance battle: A Syracuse lawmaker and Uber take on the lawyers
For Sam Rowser, the soaring cost of car insurance in New York is both a personal and professional problem.
He watched the premiums for his two-car family in Syracuse double from about $90 to $213 per month in recent years despite a perfect driving record. But it’s the rise in insurance costs for the nonprofit he leads, On Point for College, that Rowser finds especially frustrating.
The group uses vans to give rides to first-generation college students in the Syracuse area who couldn’t otherwise afford to pay for transportation to classes. The insurance cost on three vans spiked from $7,893 in 2022 to 9,314 last year, an 18% increase.