My car insurance premium goes up every 6 months despite the fact that I’ve never had any accidents in my life. They only try bumping it up by a few dollars a month, but it’s very annoying. So I now have a process to keep my rates in my budget.
Our Car Insurance History
I’m married and we have two cars. My car, a paid off 2005 Chevy Aveo, is only worth a few thousand dollars, so I just need liability coverage. My hubby’s car is a paid off 2007 Toyota Prius that we use for pretty much all drives together and he uses to get around for sports officiating. It’s worth around $9000-$10,000 still, so we do pay for full coverage on that one.
This means that at least in our area of Houston, TX, we will be paying $100-$120 a month for all of our coverage. The trick is keeping it in that range despite premium creep.
Get Multiple Quotes
It’s a pain in the butt, but every 6-12 months, I do start collecting quotes again. I call around or compare cheap auto insurance quotes online. Usually I can find a slightly better offer. Then I either take it to my current insurance company to match or switch companies if they refuse. It takes anywhere from an hour to several, but I consider it time well spent since I hate paying more than necessary for anything…especially insurance that I haven’t ever used.
Have Your Data Handy
The trick to getting fast quotes is having all of my data handy right up front. I want all of my quotes to be based on the same information, so I keep my current policy in front of me while I call around or type in my info online. I also ask reps if there are any discounts available to us that we may not know about. Our lack of accidents usually helps a lot and we take a defensive driving course every 3 years to get that discount too. Teachers, police, and military can also receive special discounts as well. It pays to ask.
Keeping our car insurance rates within my happy range is yet one more annoying errand, but try to be stubborn. It can save you money.
Do you shop around for car insurance quotes when your rates go up too?
