How do you comparison shop for insurance?

[FireLane]

I used to have both home and auto insurance through Allstate, but they kept raising their price for auto insurance to ridiculous levels, so I switched to Liberty Mutual a few years ago. I kept the Allstate home insurance because it was more reasonable.

Both of them are up for renewal this year, and both are increasing their rates, so I should shop around. I've also been meaning to get umbrella insurance, and I've heard it's cheaper when it's bundled with home and auto insurance, so it might be good to consolidate everything into one company.

However, I don't want to be bombarded with sales calls. Is there a way to shop around and see who has the best rates without giving out my phone number to every cold-calling sleazeball within a hundred miles?

[PoutineLover]

I usually get online quotes and if you have a choice, don't sign up for marketing emails, and if they do send stuff, unsubscribe.

[gatortator]

because of our old house, I was initially locked into certain companies that were managed by a local insurance agency. at least least that was the case many, many years ago when we first closed on our old house. 

over the years we have opted to stay with this local agency because they do the legwork for us and keep finding new, lower cost options with highly rated companies.  they do a great job.

do you have the option to work with a local independent agency? ask a real estate agent who deals with older housing for a recommendation.

[Metalcat]

Indicate that you prefer to be contacted by email, and give a fake phone number.

[FLBiker]

I've done various comparison websites, but I've actually had my best luck working with a local independent agent.  We ended up doing that in both Florida and Nova Scotia.

[simple money]

Same. My yearly home insurance bill has been around  $1,200 the past few years from our local place.

This year I did some online comparison shopping from lemonade and the larger agencies and it was higher.

It got confusing. What we would get from insurance to rebuild our house if it burned to the ground is less that what our current house would cost to rebuilt.

However, we decided to pay a lower insurance yearly but get less payout to rebuilt...I mean we could built a house it just would not be as nice.

[FireLane]

I wanted to update this post to say that I found a solution.

My parents use an independent insurance agent, and they put me in contact with her. An independent agent does the comparison shopping for you, so you don't have to hand over all your contact info to salespeople. (@gatortator and @FLBiker suggested this as well.)

She checked with all the insurance companies she does business with and found me one that offered cheaper home insurance, better auto insurance for the same price, plus umbrella insurance, which I've been wanting to get. This insurer does business only in New York, and I've never heard of them before. As best as I can tell, they don't spend money on advertising, which probably explains how they can offer cheaper rates.