Been with the same insurer since I was 22. Clean record, zero claims, never late on a payment. My premium just kept quietly creeping up every 6 months and I kept renewing on autopilot like an idiot.
Finally got annoyed when it jumped from $118/mo to $149/mo with zero explanation. Decided to actually shop around for once and got a few quotes online.
One of them came back at $91/mo. Same coverage. Same deductibles, same liability limits, everything literally identical.
Thats like $690 a year I was just leaving on the table for being a "loyal" customer. I had some money saved on the side so it wasnt a financial emergency or anything but it still stung when I did the math on what I overpaid over the years.
Apparently theres a name for it, the "loyalty penalty." Insurance companies just count on the fact that switching feels like a hassle so they slowly bump your rate knowing most people wont bother.
Called my old provider to cancel and they offered to match it. I said no just out of spite at that point honestly.
If you havent shopped your car insurance in over a year just go do it. Took me maybe 25 minutes and it was probably the best hourly rate of my life
Switched car insurance after 7 years with the same company and I'm kind of pissed at myself
byu/TotalProfit5851 inpersonalfinance
Posted by TotalProfit5851
12 Comments
Theres no loyalty with car insurance. I didn’t pay attention and when I finally did change it got cut in half… then the new company lowered my rate when I renewed at 6 months
I read on Reddit by a former insurance agent that you should change it every two years or you’ll be flagged “golden goose egg” because you’re most likely not gonna shop around and they’ll raise prices.
How did it only take 25 minutes? were you using some sort of aggregator?
You need to be careful with this. I tried playing the “shopping around” game. I ended up with State Farm. Once State Farm raised my premium, I tried to move again. I was told by another insurance provider that they would not insure me because I had a gap in coverage. I have always been insured, there was no gap in coverage. The next company refused to insure me because State Farm was reporting incorrect information to them. I suspect they may do this on purpose to prevent people from switching. It could also just be incompetence…
Anyway, regardless of State Farm reporting a gap, I learned that if you ever stop paying for car insurance, apparently that is suspicious and companies will just deny you a new policy. So…by my calculation, sticking with one company may lose you money, but you are less likely to end up caught in some infuriating limbo where nobody will want to insure you because one of the 10 previous auto insurance companies you’ve been jumping between reported incorrect information.
I’ve had Progressive for years, and I’ve went and got quotes several times and they still came in more affordable than the alternatives.
I should check again now that I’ve got an EV and that made it go *way* up.
Yeah I just did this year and it cut it by MORE than half. I was astounded.
I negotiate a new car insurance deal every year with the same insurance company. They are the best and it keeps my yearly payment roughly the same, with only small increments. You just have to do it or they will rip you off.
Just make sure your policies are similar coverage levels. I was shopping home owners insurance policies this month and one agent came in with a policy $1300 less but the coverage was significantly different for hail coverage, and personally owned contents. Sure the policy cost less but if you actually needed to use it, it did less. The details matter, AI is actually pretty good at analyzing and comparing various quotes as long as you double check it’s work.
Just did this recently with Progressive. Live in Florida so insurance options aren’t the best, also only get 6-month coverage. I was shocked that my renewal actually went down slightly this year, but I decided to get a quote again just to see how much I could save. The new quote was about $20 cheaper a month so decided to take the new quote. I normally float between them and Liberty mutual and do a new quote when renewal time comes up.
We switch between geico and progressive every few years.
Wow.
You know where I’ve read the whole “golden goose” analogy? In a sponsored post (an actual pair-for that was fully disclosed as an advertisement).
OP’s username has “Profit” right in it. It reads exactly like an advertisement trying to sound like an actual reddit post. And in the comments, there’s someone else quoting the actual paid ad that gets fed to me on a regular basis. This whole thing feels like a shitty advertisement trying to pass as an actual discussion post.
I did shop around, and nobody could beat the rate Geico has me under for home and auto.