When was the last time you shopped around for car insurance? I don't mean because you have a new (to you) car. I'm talking about comparing the prices of various companies.
With the internet it only takes a few minutes. Find the websites for a few major companies and enter the data for the coverage you want. It might take you an hour to do this for 3 or 4 companies. Just be sure you enter the same coverage amounts each time.
You may be wondering what is prompting this unsolicited advice. Our auto insurance was up for renewal in September. So I decided to look at our bills for the last 5 renewals (I have all my financial records in binders for each year and can pull any bill going back 6+ years in about 3 minutes). $549, $553, $531, $540, $546.
Shouldn't the cost of car insurance gradually decrease each year? It did with our previous company. After all, we are getting older and our vehicles are getting older (one is 12 years old!).
I jumped on the web and did some comparison shopping. After changing a few small things with our coverages GEICO will insure us for $425.70. Compared to the same coverage at Progressive for $546. And that's paying for the whole 6 months! (Please don't tell me you are paying month-to-month, save up and get the discount!!!).
I decided to see if Progressive would come down so I called. The first girl offered me $540. Huh?! Then she transferred me to a "specialist" who "reviewed my policy" and offered me $485. What?!
Why in the world should I pay more for the exact same coverage?! That's crazy!! Do you know what I can do with $60? Buy a week of groceries. Almost fill my gas tank for a month. Eat at McDonald's for lunch and Cracker Barrel for supper. Not to mention how many diapers I can buy.
You can guess that we're changing companies. Let me urge you to do a little research. I'm saving $120 for 6 months after about 30 minutes of effort. That's a pretty good return on my time.
Try it and see what you can get. If you aren't up for renewal but find a cheaper price, go ahead and switch. The old company will pro rate you a refund on the time left on your policy.
And by all means, let me know how much money you save!
1 comment:
Yay for you? You've peaked my curiosity because I really feel like we were getting a great deal, but we are paying more than that for sure. I'll start looking-that's for a mini-van and a truck, right?
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