Pragmatic Finance

A while back I decided that I should look into finding cheaper car insurance. I wasn’t necessarily unhappy with the service I had been receiving from State Farm but had wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off. After looking into the different coverages, I decided to go with minimal liability coverage with a high deductible. My car is very old so comprehensive or collision would not be worth it.

I started out by using some online quote websites. They take your information and desired coverage and give you a quick check of several companies to compare, most of which are lesser known or ones I hadn’t heard of. I also took some quotes from Allstate, Progressive, Geico, AIG, and Liberty Mutual, among others.

Overall, I was a little disappointed. Most of the popular names gave me quotes that were much higher than I currently pay. I believe AIG wouldn’t let me select the limited coverage I wanted. Although Geico has very entertaining ads, I wasn’t as enamored by the quotes they gave me.

However, USAA totally blew everyone out of the park. Their coverage ended up being almost half of what I currently pay so I jumped at the opportunity. USAA membership, and consequently its auto insurance, is only available to military members or the spouse or children of a member. If you are eligible I definitely recommend obtaining membership even if you don’t immediately get any accounts with them. I once heard someone joke that she wanted to marry a military man so she could get USAA insurance. I don’t know if its that good but it is the best I’ve seen.