How Often Do You Change Car Insurance?

[DisneyMandC]

Just out of curiosity... I'm still pretty young and haven't been dealing with my own car insurance for long. I thought I'd heard to change every couple years, and saw one of my friends posted she switched from Progressive to Geico and saved 36%. So I started looking and I could save 34% for the same coverage! Not sure how long my husband has been on Progressive, I just got on his policy when we got married just over a year ago.

Thoughts? Do you switch it up or stay with one company? We've been happy with Progressive, but I've heard good things with Geico too.

 

[verleniahall]

We have progressive and love it - but we also get a military discount through them

My parents have been with the same car insurance compnay for over 40 years -

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I've heard good things about both Progressive and Geico. I have an insurance company that my local insurance agent secured which is the best price we found. The best thing to do is to price check every once in a while but not more than yearly. If you are happy with your current insurance coverage and price, then stay. But when the renewal comes up, price check it against other companies' quotes. In my experience, insurance premiums can creep up year after year which look like basic inflation but they can get carried away if you are complacent. If you check yearly, you might be better deals elsewhere especially if a competing company wants your business. But know that each time you get an insurance quote, they probably do a hard pull on your credit so don't do it too often or your FICO score can suffer. Good FICO scores are important to get good rates on insurance among other things like loans, etc. Good luck!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I've heard good things about both Progressive and Geico. I have an insurance company that my local insurance agent secured which is the best price we found. The best thing to do is to price check every once in a while but not more than yearly. If you are happy with your current insurance coverage and price, then stay. But when the renewal comes up, price check it against other companies' quotes. In my experience, insurance premiums can creep up year after year which look like basic inflation but they can get carried away if you are complacent. If you check yearly, you might be better deals elsewhere especially if a competing company wants your business. But know that each time you get an insurance quote, they probably do a hard pull on your credit so don't do it too often or your FICO score can suffer. Good FICO scores are important to get good rates on insurance among other things like loans, etc. Good luck!

Oh good to know on the credit check, thank you! Didn't think about that. Yeah we just got the renewal for our car insurance. It went up $6 for the next 6 months, so certainly not like they're breaking the bank. Looks like I can save about $40 a month on car insurance and $100 a year on homeowner's though, so it may be worth it to switch. I wonder if I call Progressive and tell them I've found cheaper rates if they'd be willing to knock anything off the price for us.

 

[amcnj]

I don't switch often, but do check rates every few years, just to keep them honest!

 

[havaneselover]

I rate shop annually. Have been with Geico for a while though.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Anyone have luck with getting their current insurance to knock some off the price if they call? I mean, $40 a month is a big difference on car insurance. And that wasn't even the bundled rate with homeowner's since I didn't have a way to check those together, so I imagine it may be a little bit cheaper than that.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

It can't hurt to call your existing company and ask. They might be willing to reduce it if you have a hard quote with comparable coverage from another company - they might want to see it though to confirm that you're not blowing smoke.

Funny story, we just shopped insurance a few months ago and my husband went onto Geico's website for a quote. He input my phone number. For whatever reason, he ended up calling Geico as the online quote didn't work - timed out or something. We found that our existing coverage was better so we didn't go with Geico. Then, about a month later, I got a bunch of phone calls to my cell phone one day. Like 20 calls. I didn't answer the first few since I was working and didn't recognize the numbers. But after several calls I started answering. Geico must have sold my phone number to some insurance exchange because every flippin' call was from an insurance company wanting to give us a quote. BAH!!! My husband was in some trouble with me that day for using MY number on that site. The calls stopped after a few days but I had to talk to each one to ask them to take me off their list. My advice, put your hubbie's number in the application so HE gets the calls! haha

 

[DisneyMandC]

It can't hurt to call your existing company and ask. They might be willing to reduce it if you have a hard quote with comparable coverage from another company - they might want to see it though to confirm that you're not blowing smoke.

Funny story, we just shopped insurance a few months ago and my husband went onto Geico's website for a quote. He input my phone number. For whatever reason, he ended up calling Geico as the online quote didn't work - timed out or something. We found that our existing coverage was better so we didn't go with Geico. Then, about a month later, I got a bunch of phone calls to my cell phone one day. Like 20 calls. I didn't answer the first few since I was working and didn't recognize the numbers. But after several calls I started answering. Geico must have sold my phone number to some insurance exchange because every flippin' call was from an insurance company wanting to give us a quote. BAH!!! My husband was in some trouble with me that day for using MY number on that site. The calls stopped after a few days but I had to talk to each one to ask them to take me off their list. My advice, put your hubbie's number in the application so HE gets the calls! haha

Oh great, I already put mine in!! Lol! I just emailed DH about it to see what he thinks. We just moved into our house about 8 months ago, I wonder if it would cause any problems to change homeowner's so quickly.

 

[havaneselover]

Oh great, I already put mine in!! Lol! I just emailed DH about it to see what he thinks. We just moved into our house about 8 months ago, I wonder if it would cause any problems to change homeowner's so quickly.

Last night I did a swagbucks offer for auto insurance quotes. Within 10 minutes I had six calls from two different callers on my cell. Next time I use my ex's cell number

 

[havaneselover]

@DisneyMandC am I remembering correctly that you're in Richmond? If so, have you considered Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia for homeowners? If you're planning on being in the house a while it's a very good deal.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Last night I did a swagbucks offer for auto insurance quotes. Within 10 minutes I had six calls from two different callers on my cell. Next time I use my ex's cell number

@DisneyMandC am I remembering correctly that you're in Richmond? If so, have you considered Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia for homeowners? If you're planning on being in the house a while it's a very good deal.

Yes, Richmond! I've seen their building downtown but never looked into them. Thanks for the tip! Definitely staying around long term.

 

[havaneselover]

Yes, Richmond! I've seen their building downtown but never looked into them. Thanks for the tip! Definitely staying around long term.

I'll send you a PM.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We have had the same car insurance (with our home and everything else on the same policy) since we got married 19 years ago. We have looked at changing a couple of times, but it hasn't been worth it.

 

[Sadie22]

Never. Because: Longevity discount. Accident free discount x number of years with company. Multicar discount. Multiple policy discount. Knowledge of good service.

 

[lorijohnhill]

Never. Because: Longevity discount. Accident free discount x number of years with company. Multicar discount. Multiple policy discount. Knowledge of good service.

Ditto!!

 

[tvguy]

Never. Because: Longevity discount. Accident free discount x number of years with company. Multicar discount. Multiple policy discount. Knowledge of good service.

Same here. I have my auto, classic car coverage, homeowners, Umbrella policy, life and long term care insurance through the same company, my auto coverage going back to 1973. I have price shopped, and the funny thing is 1,2, 3 ,4 or 5 of the individual policies may be cheaper, but there is always at least one coverage that is so much higher, that the total out of pocket for all 6 is higher with other companies.

 

[msmayor]

Never here too...my first auto policy when I was 17 was with USAA. When I moved out and needed renter's insurance, then homeowner's, then life...USAA. 38 years, same insurer.

 

[georgina]

Every 10 years or so. Shortly after DD got her license she got in an accident. My DH had one also and our insurance policy dropped us (the Hartford, who keep advertising their AARP insurance that will never drop you!) So we ended up with something cheaper, then last year they sent us a letter that they thought our roof had deteriorated and we had 90 days to replace it or else! I had a contractor at the house because I was having my kitchen redone and he said the roof looked fine, so we just switched insurance companies. Again, a lot better price than what we had. We have home, auto, and an umbrella policy and I believe they think you will stick with them and don't give you the best deal after a while, so it is good to check other companies' rates periodically.

 

[Shmily1]

Our family has Progressive and in the last year, we've had family members with accidents with Geico and USAA customers. Both are super hard to deal with if you aren't their customer. USAA even balked on getting my grandchildren new car seats after their client hit my daughter with the babies in the car. It took months of back and forth with them. We've had Progressive for 17 years now and aren't interested in changing. I did go one time to check out State Farm since I got a letter of how they wanted to save me money. They were so expensive it was comical! Um, no thanks!