For years, I kept ignoring those commercials I saw on TV about getting a better rate on auto insurance. I didn’t feel like I was paying too much for mine. I was taking advantage of all the discounts available. As it turned out, I was paying too much for car insurance, but I got a lower rate without even switching companies. I’ll tell you how I did it.
As I just mentioned, I was getting all the discounts I could. Or so I thought. That’s really important when you’re trying to get the lowest rate. If you’re not taking advantage of those discounts, you’re essentially making a monthly donation. In order to get a really good rate on auto insurance, you have to take advantage of every discount you can get.
So, after hearing the millionth commercial asking if I could be getting a better auto insurance rate, I decided to find out. I got online and compared quotes. After comparing several that had offices in my area, I stopped looking. I decided that nobody in town could offer me a better deal than the one I already had. Then, it occurred to me that there was one person who just might be able to offer me a deal: my own insurance agent.
I gave him a call and admitted that I’d been shopping around. He asked why and I told him I felt like I could be getting a better rate on my auto insurance. He assured me that I was already getting a pretty good rate. Then he asked if anything had changed since I’d first purchased my policy, and went over a series of questions with me.
When I’d first set up the policy, I’m sure I answered those same questions. The thing was, many of those questions were related to discounts that were offered and at the time I had no idea. I guess I thought my agent was just a really nice guy.
He went through the list, and although most of my answers were the same, a select few had changed. I hadn’t had an accident in the past two years, my car was older, I was enrolled in school and I was in a different age group. Apparently, the system didn’t automatically update all these things. Within forty-five minutes, I had a significantly better rate on my auto insurance.
Now when I hear those commercials, I laugh. Switching companies gets you a better rate sometimes, but it isn’t always the answer.