Halved my car insurance payment

[FireLane]

For the past few years, DW and I had car insurance with Allstate. We have two cars, a no-longer-new hybrid and an old 200,000-mile beater that used to be my parents' daily commuting car, that they gave us when they retired to use as a backup vehicle.

For comprehensive on the main car and liability-only on the beater, we've been paying $300+ a month. I know, I know, facepunches are in order. That amount nagged at me every time I saw it on the bill, I knew it was a lot, I just never got around to doing the research for a replacement. I told myself that the one or two times we actually needed them, Allstate was very helpful.

Then I got an e-mail about an alumni discount program with Liberty Mutual. That was the kick in the rear I needed, so I got an online quote and it turned out we could get the same coverage for $175 a month. Almost half the price!

I told my Allstate agent about my competing offer and gave them the chance to match it. They couldn't, although they offered to slash their price - but in a way, that just ticked me off more. They could have been charging me less this whole time, but they would've happily let me go on paying top dollar forever if I hadn't taken action. Loyalty doesn't pay in this business, clearly.

I just switched, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the new, lower monthly payment. The only part I'm not sure about is that Liberty is offering further discounts if we let them send us a hardware dongle and plug it into our dashboard so it can send back information on how safely we drive.

My Mustachian side likes the idea of saving money, but my civil-libertarian side thinks this is a creepy reach into our privacy. Anyone done one of these programs with their insurer? Would you suggest we try it?

[Miss Piggy]

My Mustachian side likes the idea of saving money, but my civil-libertarian side thinks this is a creepy reach into our privacy. Anyone done one of these programs with their insurer? Would you suggest we try it?

I've pretty much written off any sense of privacy with anything anymore. I would have the same reaction you did for a minute or two, then I'd laugh and think to myself "as if my driving habits are the last bastion of privacy I have..." then I would probably agree to the little dongle thingy and save the damn money.

[FallenTimber]

It's funny that you mention this because it sounds almost identical to my wife and I. We had Allstate for years and we were paying $1,800 every 6 months for coverage without thinking much of it. Like you, I liked Allstate well enough and our agent there was a nice guy, so I didn't give it much thought.

Then I stumbled on a thread on MMM and decided to shop around. It turned out that GEICO was only $712 every 6 months for identical coverage. In fact, their roadside assistance coverage was even better than Allstate. I couldn't believe it. So now I've been running around like a GEICO commercial telling friends and family that I just saved $2,000 per year by switching to GEICO.

I told Allstate that I really enjoyed working with them but that I couldn't ignore savings so extreme. They were extremely snarky about it, telling me I would lose my multi-policy discount and they hoped it would be worth it (it was), and then told me with attitude, "You can come back to us when GEICO raises their rates on you next renewal" and a handful of other non-professional comments. I had been loyal to them for 8 years, so that pissed me off and caused me to then shop around for new homeowners insurance as well, which I found for $800 per year less than Allstate (through GEICO, American Modern).

As for the Big Brother devices that track you... I actually had those with Allstate and I hated them. Yes, they provided a discount, but it bothered me that they tracked my speed, my braking, and all mileage / time of day / etc. I would get marked down if I ever exceeded 75mph, even if only for a second. It also marks you down if you use your brakes too hard. Ironically, that caused me to always feel pressured to run every yellow and red light, because I knew it would cost me if I had to get on the brakes.

[Paul der Krake]

I find it nuts that you were okay with such a high payment for so long.

[JohnGalt79]

Congratulations on putting in the effort & saving so much!

I too was amazed (at the different prices between insurers), and frustrated (at feeling taking advantage of on pricing for being loyal/naïve(?)) when I first shopped around.

I suggest you immediately take it a step further and call another company or two and get quotes.  The $175 a month still doesn't strike me as super cheap (though hard to know since it's so individual), so I wouldn't be surprised if you find an even better price elsewhere.  I would suggest checking with Progressive and Geico at least.  I am in the middle of shopping around now and just got a decent price from Ameriprise through their Costco member discount (which I didn't know existed until learning about it this week). 

Another lesson learned, after shopping around every couple years for the last 14 years for 2 different people across 5 different states:  It is very difficult to know who will have the best price.  They all have their own formulas, and their prices can vary widely as a result.  The winner will also change - just because one is the best (by far) this year does not mean they will even be competitive 2 years from now.  Each time I shop around, I try to check with 3-4 different insurers and over the years the winner has changed from Progressive to USAA to AAA to State Farm (yeah, who would have EVER guessed that one?) to Ameriprise.  I should probably always check all of those, but I usually run out of energy at around 3-4 quotes.  (State to state seems to make a huge difference, so you might not see quite as much variation as I have if you're staying in the same place).


There is also a tendency to raise your rates over time, with most of the insurers, so shopping around every year or two is probably worth it.

Congrats again!  And, keep building that stash so you can self-insure the other car with liability-only as well.  Just cutting out the comprehensive can save a bundle over time.

Thanks for sharing - & keep up the great work!

[Car Jack]

Our insurance company had the OBD GPS tracker program as a pilot a few years ago for under 18 year old drivers.  I really liked it for parental controls as I could call up a map and see where my son went and speeds along the way.  I could set a max speed where it would text me if that was exceeded.  On the bad side, when I first installed it, I wanted to see how it worked so I very sedately drove around our block.  It came up with about 20 "excessive braking" and 10 "hard acceleration" warnings.  I had done no such thing and didn't exceed 20 mph, the entire trip.  I decided that there's no way I'd put one in our cars to determine rates.

[FallenTimber]

I didn't mention this in fear of getting banned from MMM, but the $712 / six months that we pay is for 3 vehicles (2004 Ford Explorer, 2011 Ford F-250, 2015 Ford Escape) plus 2 motorcycles, and a 28 foot travel trailer. I'm only saying this to back up what JohnGalt said in that you may be able to find even cheaper than $175 a month, since you only have 2 vehicles. Did you have a chance to compare GEICO?

[DarkandStormy]

I just switched, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the new, lower monthly payment. The only part I'm not sure about is that Liberty is offering further discounts if we let them send us a hardware dongle and plug it into our dashboard so it can send back information on how safely we drive.

My Mustachian side likes the idea of saving money, but my civil-libertarian side thinks this is a creepy reach into our privacy. Anyone done one of these programs with their insurer? Would you suggest we try it?

I did the "My Ride" or whatever it's called through Nationwide - since I bike/walk to work I drive A LOT LESS than the average driver.  Got my monthly bill down to $65.  Still going to research other options, but since I don't drive a lot I didn't mind sending them data showing my car idle 5-6 days a week haha.  Suckers!

[PC2K]

Wow those premiums are massive!

I called my insurance and got €7 discount per month. Now paying a whopping €27,02 each month for my 09 Hyundai i20

[FireLane]

I've pretty much written off any sense of privacy with anything anymore. I would have the same reaction you did for a minute or two, then I'd laugh and think to myself "as if my driving habits are the last bastion of privacy I have..." then I would probably agree to the little dongle thingy and save the damn money.

Yeah, fair point. I mean, Equifax just leaked pretty much every SSN in America, including mine. Being a stickler for privacy when it comes to my driving habits seems trivial by comparison.

I told Allstate that I really enjoyed working with them but that I couldn't ignore savings so extreme. They were extremely snarky about it, telling me I would lose my multi-policy discount and they hoped it would be worth it (it was), and then told me with attitude, "You can come back to us when GEICO raises their rates on you next renewal" and a handful of other non-professional comments.

I guess I got lucky there. I was bracing for the hard sell, but my agent was professional about it. (Side note: As an introvert, I hate, hate, hate services that force you to call and talk to someone to cancel.) He said he understood and asked if he could call me back when they could beat Liberty's prices. I said sure, go right ahead. I never have an objection to saving money.

I wonder if the difference in attitude has to do with how many people in an agent's area have switched companies lately. Maybe mine is having a good year and could absorb the hit, and yours was snarky and rude because he's seen a lot of churn and is getting worried about his own job?

[hgjjgkj]

As an fyi, it pays to shop for insurance every couple of years. Insurance companies slowly roll off discounts and raise prices the longer you are with them