There has been a ton of people writing about insurance, and how to lower the premiums you pay. These posts have had perfect timing as I have just received my renewal statement. I almost fell out of my chair after reading it. I have a 2002 GMC Envoy that is paid for. The value of the SUV is between $9,500 and $10,500 at the moment on Kelly Blue Book. The renewal amount was $731 for six months. Not one to stand around and be taken to the cleaners, I jumped online and started my quest for a lower insurance rate. The whole process took less than 30 minutes. That’s including a call to my current provider to see if they still wanted my business. After receiving the updated quote, I choose to jump ship and save $810 per year.
How to Shop Around
The first place to start is to print a copy of your current policy and pricing. You need to understand the coverage you currently have so you can use it to compare mulitple companies side by side. In order to keep everything in one spot I’ve created a quick a spreadsheet to enter all the information into. You can use mine, make one yourself, or if you are really smart you can keep the information in your head.
Get At Least 3 Quotes
Getting quotes from 3 different companies will help to understand how they stack up againest each other and will provide you with choices. When you go through the quoting process, be sure to select the same coverages for all the companies to get a clear picture of the differences. All companies do not calculate rates the same for auto insurance.
Look For Discounts
Every company has different discounts avaliable. Most discounts can be selected during the quoting period, but a quick phone call to the company can yield some other discounts. These are two of the discounts I found interesting while shopping around. If you have a Paypal account you could get 10% off at Esurance. If you sign up for MyFico you can get money off at Progressive.
Look Out For This!!
All companies do not quote your driving record the same. Some companies use the 5 year accident free and 3 year no claims or tickets time table. While others use the 5 year accident free and 5 year no claims or tickets time table. This can make a huge difference in the premium. So if you or your spouse have a ticket you think has dropped off the radar, think again because the company might be looking back further into your past than you think.
$500 vs $1000 deductable
While looking through all the quotes and using the systems, changing the deductable from $500 to $1000 doesn’t seem to matter as much I thought it would. The average across the companies was $60 per 6 month period. Now for some people it might be worth the extra money up front to protect again an accident that could take $1,000 out of their emergency fund.
Medical
This is a biggie. Remember to select “Excess” coverage if you have health insurance. This has the great effect on rates when getting a quote. Excess just means that you have health insurance that will cover your injuries during an accident. If you don’t have health insurance the companies are going to charge you more in the event they have to provide payment to the hostipal on your behalf.
Happy Shopping
I wish you luck during your shopping adventure. Remember to compare the companies side by side and then you’ll be able to make a GREAT choice on the provider to hand over that hard earned money too. Below is my filled in sheet if you’d like to see the rate difference I found during my shopping.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I just went through this process with Health, Home, and Car insurance. I kept calling my insurance guy to find a way to lower my rates and he kept trying to sell me something else. So I called around and am saving a total of $400 bucks a year on insurance (with comparable, if not better, coverage), and $130 bucks a month with health (with a few small changes to the insurance). Crazy process. But so freeing as that is a ton of cash to pay down my debts and get free faster!
.-= Ted´s last blog ..Insurance fun! =-.
AWESOME Jobe Ted. That’s alot of money that you can put to good use. Keep up the great work. I’ll be shopping Home insurance soon and then combining with auto if the price is right…
Other than the obvious shopping around to compare quotes, etc… you should also do a couple things to make sure you aren’t paying more than you need to: get a safe car, try to get as many “points” on your license taken off, and get safety features installed in your car.
You should also try to combine your auto, health, life, and any other insurance you need into one company. They often give discounts for this.
Don’t know if you have them in the states but in UK have a few big online comaprison sites and i have found if you get a quote to determine the cheapest offers from them then contact the car insurers direct they will normally make the price even lower as they are saving the commission they would have had to pay the comparison site.