Car Insurance Comparison – What I Actually Learned After Wasting Hours on This
I spent way too much time last year comparing car insurance quotes. Like, embarrassing amounts of time. My wife kept asking if I was done yet and I would say five more minutes for about three weeks straight.
But you know what? I ended up saving $847 per year, so I guess it was worth it. Here is what I figured out so you do not have to waste as much time as I did.
The Different Types of Coverage (And What You Actually Need)
Let me be honest – I did not understand half of this stuff before I started researching. Here is the breakdown:
Liability Insurance
This is the one the state makes you have. It pays for damage you cause to other people or their property. Every state has minimum requirements, but honestly? The minimums are usually way too low. If you cause an accident that injures someone badly, those minimums will run out fast and then you are personally on the hook.
I carry way more than the minimum and it barely costs more. Worth it for the peace of mind.
Collision Coverage
This pays to fix YOUR car if you hit something. A tree, another car, a guardrail, whatever. If you are financing your car, your lender probably requires this. If you own your car outright and it is older? Might not be worth it – more on that later.
Comprehensive Coverage
This is for the weird stuff. Someone breaks into your car, a tree falls on it, you hit a deer (happened to my buddy twice in one year somehow), hail damage. Basically anything that is not a collision.
Personal Injury Protection
Covers medical bills for you and your passengers regardless of who caused the accident. Some states require this. I have it and I am glad I do – medical bills can get insane fast.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist
This is the one that saved my brother-in-law. He got hit by someone with basically no insurance. Without this coverage, he would have been stuck with his own medical bills and car damage. Get this coverage, seriously. There are way more uninsured drivers out there than you would think.
Why Your Rates Are What They Are
This part was eye-opening for me. Here is what actually affects your premium:
Your driving record – Obviously. My one speeding ticket from three years ago was still affecting my rates. Good news is it eventually falls off.
Your age – Young drivers pay way more, especially young men. My son just got his license and adding him to my policy was… painful. But it gets better as you get older and build a clean record.
Your car – Sports cars cost more to insure than minivans. Makes sense. Also, newer cars cost more because they are more expensive to repair/replace. But some newer cars have safety features that bring the cost down. It is complicated.
Where you live – I moved from a suburb to a smaller town and my rates dropped noticeably. More accidents and theft in urban areas means higher premiums.
Your credit score – This surprised me and honestly it seems unfair. But most insurers use credit-based scores. Better credit, lower rates. Not fair to people with medical debt or whatever, but that is how it works.
How I Actually Compared Quotes
Here is my process, for whatever it is worth:
Step 1: Get your info together first. You will need your driver license, current policy info, VIN numbers, and info about your driving history. Having this ready makes the quoting process way faster.
Step 2: Use comparison sites but also go direct. I used a couple of the big comparison sites to get ballpark numbers, but then I also got quotes directly from insurers. Sometimes the direct quotes were different (usually better, actually).
Step 3: Make sure you are comparing the same thing. This sounds obvious but I almost messed it up. One quote might have higher deductibles or lower coverage limits. You have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
Step 4: Ask about every discount. Seriously, just ask. Multi-car discount, bundling with home insurance, good driver discount, low mileage discount, good student discount if you have a kid on the policy. Some of these they just do not mention unless you ask.
The Mistakes I Made (So You Do Not Have To)
Only looking at price. The cheapest quote I got was from a company I had never heard of. I looked them up and their claims reviews were terrible. People waiting months to get paid out. Not worth the savings.
Not reviewing my coverage for years. I had been with the same insurer for like 8 years without shopping around. When I finally did, I found out I was paying way more than I needed to. Lesson learned – shop around every couple years.
Keeping collision on an old car. I was paying collision coverage on a 12-year-old car worth maybe $3,000. The annual premium was like $400. If the car got totaled, they would pay me… maybe $2,500 after deductible? Did not make sense. Dropped it.
High deductibles without savings to back them up. I raised my deductible to $1,000 to lower my premium, but then I did not have $1,000 saved for emergencies. If I had gotten in an accident, I would have been stuck. Now I keep my deductible savings in a separate account.
Companies I Actually Got Quotes From
I am not going to tell you which one to pick because it depends on your situation, but here is my experience:
State Farm – Good customer service, decent rates, local agent was helpful. Not the cheapest but not crazy expensive either.
Geico – Cheapest for me personally. Everything online, which I actually prefer. No agent but their phone support was fine when I needed it.
Progressive – They had this snapshot thing where they track your driving. I tried it and my rate went down because apparently I am a boring driver. Could be good if you are a safe driver, annoying if you feel watched.
Allstate – More expensive for me but they have some interesting features like accident forgiveness. Might be worth it if you have teenagers or just want that peace of mind.
My Actual Advice
Look, I know comparing insurance is boring. Nobody wants to spend their Saturday getting quotes. But the difference between companies can be hundreds of dollars a year for the exact same coverage. It is basically free money sitting there waiting for you to pick it up.
Set aside like two hours on a weekend. Get quotes from at least four or five companies. Make sure you are comparing the same coverage levels. Ask about every discount. Pick the one that gives you good coverage at a good price from a company that will actually pay out when you need them.
Then do it again in two or three years because rates change and your life changes and there might be new discounts available.
That is it. That is the whole thing. Not complicated, just time-consuming. But worth it.
