Make Money by Shopping for Car Insurance

I was going along, minding my own business when out of nowhere my car insurance bill shows up. No problem, I set aside money each month so that when the bill comes, I can pay it and be good for another year (yes, this company has annual premiums instead of semi-annual).

Anyway, I open the bill and was floored at the price. Now, I'm not a young man, but I suppose that is relative.. I am married with two children and am closer to 45 years old than I am to 39 years old. My driving record over the past 20 years is remarkably impeccable (before then, well that another story...).

I dug up the old bills from a few years ago when I got on-board with this company. Wouldn't you know it? The annual premium, slowly, like the hour hand on a clock, kept moving up. Over three years, the premium increased by almost $400.00!

So I asked my agent to shop my policy around for a better price. In the mean time, I was doing some shopping around on my own. The verdict? $400 in my pocket!

I'm not an insurance agent, so I don't know anything about how an insurance agent is paid for selling insurance or how their pay impacts the premium price, or even if it does. What I do know is that insurance carriers will slowly increase your premiums. The small increases add up and are pure profit for them, and pure undo expense to you!

So, how can you make money shopping for insurance? By reducing your premium like I did! There are two sure fire ways to do this: (1) Negotiate with your current carrier (2) Switch to another carrier.

Keep in mind, whether you negotiate a better deal or just switch to another carrier, make sure that you're not sacrificing coverage for a lower premium. Depending on whether or not a lender has an interest in your car, and how old the car is, you probably want comprehensive and collision coverage with a deducible of no more than $1000 ($500 is better, but the premium will be higher). Make sure that you have a good limit of liability too! Especially if you have other assets that you need to protect if in the unfortunate event you run somebody over and get sued!

For more information on shopping for car insurance, click here.