Enough already with “…with discounts up to 40%” or “..15mintues can save you…”  or ” the more policies you have the more discounts…”

• Is it really a discount if your base rate is too high, to begin with? 
• Is it really a discount if you have to purchase a policy you don’t already have to get it? 
• Would you only give your accountant, doctor, lawyer or even your mechanic only 15 minutes to review something that can affect you, your family, your livelihood and your wallet? 

FACT, every company I have encountered offers the usual four discounts your car qualifies for; anti-lock brakes, airbags, daytime running lamps and alarm systems when it comes to cars.  Maybe you get another discount for using your car a limited amount of mileage, national average is about 12,000 miles per year.  Maybe you get a multi-car discount if you own additional cars.  After this, it starts to get interesting which makes it almost impossible to accurately compare companies.  Be careful, ask lots of questions and review your policy each year.

5/12/2015  Updates

The lesson here is the statements above really have not changed.  Rating engines(the algorithm behind the companies) are more sophisticated than when the post was written.  What does that mean?  It means that the percentages and advertised discounts are less important than they were at the time of this post. There can be wild swings in your rate but this is more based on changes to your personal status and chaaracteristics than anything else.

The larger companies still have not learned how to advertise their “product” and have instead allowed it to become commoditized.  This is actually a good thing for you despite the confusion.

Beyond that, the facts are the same; determine the coverage levels you are comfortable with.  Shop accordingly.  Plan on remaining in the upper portion of the available market instead of trying to find the lowest.  You’ll save less money by overshopping than you will be doing a reasonable amount of shopping.