How often do you shop Auto Insurance?

[LoveBWVVBR]

We have GEICO, and I honestly haven't shopped it in probably 5 years. How often do you shop yours, and how do you do it? Agent? Calling companies like AAA and Progressive directly?

 

[christineann]

My agent shops around every year before he sends me my renewal notice to see if there are any better options for me. He gives me a list of the companies he checks and their rates. Yes, I am a big fan of independent agents

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

My agent shops around every year before he sends me my renewal notice to see if there are any better options for me. He gives me a list of the companies he checks and their rates. Yes, I am a big fan of independent agents

I never thought to ask the agent that I just spoke with about auto policies. I'll ask her when she calls me tomorrow with the homeowners' quotes. I always assume that GEICO will be the cheapest, but that might not be so.

 

[lgjjp]

I seldom shop around for insurance. Just the thought of calling and answering all the questions and then having them keep calling back to try to get me to change makes me cringe!! However we recently got a notice from my husbands credit card for a discount on insurance. I talked to them. It wasn't enough of a discount to make me change ( it was a savings of less than 100$ a year and we have been with Allstate for almost 35 yrs) but I did call my agent and tell her I got a quote that was lower and what could she do for us. Just doing a credit check dropped our homeowners by almost 400$ a year and our car insurance by 140$ every 6 months. Maybe you could just call your agent and ask if there is any way to reduce your cost. That way you don't have to go thru the hassle of changing company's.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I seldom shop around for insurance. Just the thought of calling and answering all the questions and then having them keep calling back to try to get me to change makes me cringe!! However we recently got a notice from my husbands credit card for a discount on insurance. I talked to them. It wasn't enough of a discount to make me change ( it was a savings of less than 100$ a year and we have been with Allstate for almost 35 yrs) but I did call my agent and tell her I got a quote that was lower and what could she do for us. Just doing a credit check dropped our homeowners by almost 400$ a year and our car insurance by 140$ every 6 months. Maybe you could just call your agent and ask if there is any way to reduce your cost. That way you don't have to go thru the hassle of changing company's.

I'll try this...I don't know if Geico would want to retain my business by matching the other one, but I could try. Was that an apples-to-apples comparison that dropped your car insurance by $140 every 6 months or did they cut some coverages to do that?

 

[lgjjp]

My coverage stayed the same. My agent said the drop in price was due to our excellent credit rating. Nothing was changed. Kinda peeved at myself that I didn't call sooner

 

[lgjjp]

Duplicate post

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

OK, I'm going to try calling GEICO directly first then. We will see...

 

[UCFGrad01]

They won't be able to just price match. It's not something the reps just have the power to reprice. You can look at changing coverage around or asking if there are any discounts you might be missing out on, but that's likely the extent of what they'll be able to do. Good luck!

 

[HM]

We've kept the same insurance company, Nationwide, for over 26 years. We've been happy with our agency's service and have only looked at changing once just to see if there was a better deal at Amica.

 

[mrsstats]

I work for an insurance agency. When a clients premium increases by 10% we shop it for them.

As far as Geico, they are not always the lowest priced.

Shop you insurance.

 

[southlakejr]

We used to shop every 6 months, but stopped two years ago or so. No one was ever even close to what we pay, so we just gave up trying to find a better deal. When we bought our house two years ago, our HO ins company tried to get us to bundle our rates- at a monthly premium almost 200 more a month than we currently pay. The agent even told me that there was no way we were getting the rate we have with our level of coverage- I actually sent over our documents and he said he was impressed.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I work for an insurance agency. When a clients premium increases by 10% we shop it for them.

As far as Geico, they are not always the lowest priced.

Shop you insurance.

Just curious, how do you handle hard to insure clients, those with less than stellar records etc?

 

[havaneselover]

My car insurance is cheap. $440/year for a 2-year old minivan through Geico. I do still shop it every year to two primarily because I keep it bundled with my homeowners insurance. I just switched everything to Geico from Liberty Mutual in March (I think Liberty Mutual was closer to $600 for identical coverage). I'll probably call around again next year. I'm going to check Costco's insurance.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I just compared AAA and Costco and AAA was cheaper.

 

[msmama]

I randomly called about a random question about my homeowners insurance and the agent asked if I had a few minutes so she could make sure everything was up to date. She ended up saving me several hundred dollars (right before a Disney trip, which was extra nice).

Since we saved so much there she suggested checking on car insurance, too. That didn't change as much (maybe $20) but it was something.

If you "bundle" through a company (I use USAA which actually just works as an agent in my case) it may save you too, so don't forget to take that into consideration.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . How often do you shop yours, and how do you do it? Agent? Calling companies like AAA and Progressive directly?

1) We re-quote insurances every year.
. . . personal auto insurance
. . . personal home/property insurance
. . . personal umbrella insurance
. . . rental property insurance (37 properties)
2) We have no allegiance to an insurance company.
3) We do weigh the quotes as things can differ widely, and not just price.
. . . coverage terms
. . . coverage amounts
. . . full replacement "terms"
. . . discounts for multiple policies and/or types of policies with same company
4) It does take some time to do this, because we
. . . call Independent Agents (or agencies like AAA) for quotes
. . . go On-Line for quotes from major companies
. . . call major insurance carriers directly
. . . email our requirements and wait for replies *
5) But, based upon the savings we have gotten, the money is worth the effort.


* We have a "specification sheet" of our coverage requirements. We can easily
email to agents and companies. This way, we "usually" get Apples-to-Apples
quotes. However, we do compare the quoted items with our specs, because
some agents reduce the coverage to make their prices look so cheap. AND, YES,
this does happen a lot.

 

[luvmylatte]

My agent shops around every 6 months. Right now we are with Mercury and they had the cheapest rate and nothing changed from our previous policy.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

My car insurance is cheap. $440/year for a 2-year old minivan through Geico. I do still shop it every year to two primarily because I keep it bundled with my homeowners insurance. I just switched everything to Geico from Liberty Mutual in March (I think Liberty Mutual was closer to $600 for identical coverage). I'll probably call around again next year. I'm going to check Costco's insurance.

I have a 1 year-old minivan and a stellar driving record and my insurance is more than twice that. Crazy.

 

[mrsstats]

In NY there is always the NY Auto Plan.