Vehicle Insurance...

Call your agent and discuss ways to lower the premium. Ex: higher deductible, road side service, etc. Get them to run a new credit report. Allstate has a new app that runs on a cell phone and tracks your driving speed, miles, hard stops. Saves me 10% at least. I don't care that they are tracking me, I have nothing to hide. Every year when the policy goes up, I call them to seek other discounts to offset the increase. I am sure that eventually I will have to change companies. Sometimes companies will enter a new market and undercut all the other companies. Good luck.

 

Check with your employer, mine offers discounted rates for auto and home with the company they contract employee life insurance through.

 

That's a huge increase in one year. Ask the agent why it happened? If they can't answer, it's time to go.

I'll say this however. Local agents you know and trust are worth more money than a .com only type insurance company.

I was rear ended (automatic at fault for the other guy in my state) when I had progressive with no local agent. The other driver was in somebody else's car, wasn't a listed driver, was drunk mid day, and totalled my car. No injuries. Just 4k in damage. Progressive didn't want to fight for me at all and I didn't have anyone local to talk to. All I could do was dial the 1 800 number and hope somebody cared. They didnt. I personally had to walk into the other insurance company and cause a scene to get my money. I fully expected the law to be involved making me leave. I was only going 2 ways.....cuffs or with a check. I got my money in 20 minutes.

Never again will I do business with somebody I can't go deal with face to face. It's not worth saving a $10 per month.

Summary....even if changing companies, stay local.

 

BrianK may be able to offer some info here about shopping insurance

 

all insurence is one big rip off.they got you by the balls.

 

I don't agree. I have some optional (not required by law) insurance and coverage, because I choose too. It would be stupid to do that if it were a ripoff. Some of it is actually quite a good deal.

For example, my house insurance, with a value of $270k, costs about $600 per year. That includes liability, if someone were to get hurt on my 10 acres. And fire insurance, and I live in an area known to have forest fires. And I heat with only a wood stove. I have no mortgage, so I buy that because I want to, because I see it as a good deal.

 

That is a good deal, I pay double that for a house that they claim would have a $270k replacement value...I really doubt it would be that high, but they won't insure it for less, I tried.

 

GEICO does the creeping premiums thing as well. Their excuse is they had to pay out more in my area. So I asked to see the data and they would not show it to me; which proves that is just an excuse. I just got my statement and yes, they went up on the premiums. I plan on getting a quote from a competitor and see if I can force them to price match. I did manage to get them to reduce my rate by $20 several years ago because they were offering new customers cheaper rates than current customers. I did this by going to their website and pretended to be a new customer. I did that yesterday and my quote as a new customer was higher than my premium. I am sick of those misleading GEICO advertisements claiming you can save so much; if they cut out the advertising costs, they could just offer cheaper premiums and word of mouth would get them all the business they need. By the way, there is no way in Hades I would buy from Progressive (which was higher the last time I checked) because of those stupid adverts with that idiotic woman.

 

time to go shopping

 

Whhaaat? You don't like Flo...Flo's awesome!

 

How much do you think they are paying that idiotic woman to basically do nothing but be annoying?

 

A lot.
I say good for her...make hay while the sun is a shinin.
I find most of their commercials creative and funny.

 

Farmers is half the next best option for me.