My Hunt for Cheaper Car Insurance - Part 1
I often feel as though I am being ripped off on auto insurance. Perhaps this is just due to my dislike of insurance. Unfortunately, it’s a necessity. My current plan is up for renewal very soon so this is a great opportunity to see if there is anything better out there.
Overall I have been pretty satisfied with State Farm. They have always been very helpful and had good service. I have had one accident that was my fault and it was taken care of with just a phone call. The only negative experience I have with them was several years ago. I called to see about canceling my life insurance policy I have with them. They told me that if I canceled it my auto insurance with them would go up. When I asked why they really didn’t explain it at all to me. It was quite annoying.
I wasn’t quite concerned with finances at the time and switching insurances was “too much trouble” for me. However, if a company did that to me now I feel pretty confident I would immediately look into changing services.
Anyway, the first order of business was to find out what rates they would be charging me for 6 month renewal. Luckily they send out a policy form every renewal that shows how much you will be charged so that step was very easy.
Next, I looked up my CLUE Report. This is a five year report on an individual of the insurance losses they have been involved in. There is one that looks at your auto history and your home history. Like your credit history, you can view it for free once a year.
I accessed mine and the one accident I had was on it, showing exact values for the bodily and property damage my insurance paid. Interestingly, the towing fee was also listed. I have read that some companies consider how many times you use that service when calculating rates.
The other noticeable thing was that it also listed “possibly related” accidents that involved other members of my household.
I figured that having this report would allow me to do two things: check that there were not any errors on it and have the exact numbers and date for doing insurance quotes with other places.
So the next step will be to look at quotes of other potential insurance companies. I have heard many people talk about how great USAA insurance is so I will definitely try them out. I haven’t decided on who else I will look at yet.
While I go off to start researching, anyone have any advice on good providers or websites that allow you to compare prices easily?
September 20th, 2006 at 11:47 am
I’m glad to hear you’ll be checking out USAA. I really like them.
September 20th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Yes, if you are a warehouse club member, like Costco and Sam’s Club, go to their web site and look under services. About 1 1/2 years ago, I checked with pretty much all the major companies and places like Geico, Progressive and other insurance web sites. The one offered by Costco beat the best of the others by $500 a year.
I hate shopping at warehouse clubs, but they have awesome savings on a lot of services, including realtors, car buying, travel and insurance!
September 20th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Great idea with Costco and Sam’s Club. Unfortunately I don’t have a membership in either. I had considered getting a Costco membership earlier this year but I really couldn’t justify it since I don’t spend enough. I will have to keep them in mind for when I do get a membership one of these days.
September 20th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
im checking if any of my Credit Unions can beat my current car insurance rate
September 21st, 2006 at 10:08 am
AAA or Geico?
September 26th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
I used to have State Farm too, but I now get a much better deal with eSurance. I haven’t been in an accident since I switched (knock wood), so I can’t speak to what that experience would be like.