Listen up: Your life as an owner and operator of a motor vehicle in the state of New York is going to be a lot easier if you take some courses.

What you’ve got going right now, if all you’ve got is your driver’s license and the toughest decision you make is whether to partake in NY travel by train or car, is permission to drive around. That’s a good start, but driving is like any skillset: The more you study, the more you learn, the more privileges you’ll have available to you. You don’t get a job at Google by learning a little bit of JavaScript in high school, you don’t go to the Olympics because you can do a single pull up, and you don’t reap the benefits New York state has to offer drivers if all you’ve got is your license.

So what benefits can you reap if you take the next step and attend a defensive driving course online or in person? Here’s just to name a few:

Lower Insurance Rates

When you take a defensive driving course, you automatically get a five percent discount on your auto insurance. That’s mandatory, by law. This holds true in several other states, as well. Your discount may even be bigger than that depending on what sort of deals your provider has on offer, and if they’re not willing to cut you a break, someone else will. Taking a defensive driving course online essentially gives you more negotiating power in shopping around for insurance: You’re less likely to be in an accident, so more insurers are going to want your business, and they’re going to offer insurance discounts to sweeten the deal for you, so shop around and see what you can find.

Point Removal

By taking a driving course, you can have points stripped right from your record, like they never happened. This, again, will bring your insurance rates down. Obviously, there are exceptions. If you had to have your license revoked or suspended, for instance, then a defensive driving course might not be enough to get you out of it. But for anything from speeding to merging without a signal, you can have points taken right off your license.

Lower Ticket Costs

If you can talk the judge into letting you take a defensive driving course, you may be able to propose this as an alternative to paying your ticket. You’ll still be stuck with the legal fees incurred when you’re issued a ticket, but you might be able to dodge the much-higher cost of paying the ticketed amount. Note that this won’t always be the case. Sometimes, when the judge has you on the hook, he’s not letting you go. But there are some reasonable people out there in the legal system.

You’ll Get in Fewer Accidents

There are some subjects where you don’t really go to college for the education, you go for the piece of paper that makes it easier to get a job. With defensive driving, the skills are what count. With some additional training behind the wheel, you’ll be able to stay safe on the roads. Lower insurance is great, but the real benefit of a New Tech Driving school is that you’ll know how to operate your auto like a pro.

If you’re worried that a driving course will be expensive and time-consuming, you’re wrong on both counts. Rates are reasonable, and you can complete a course in one or two afternoons. So, what are you waiting for?