The stars at night are big and bright...

The stars at night are big and bright...
The stars at night are big and bright...

Monday, March 31, 2014

15 Minutes Saved Me...

OK, it was more than 15 minutes, but it was worth it. I've had insurance thru State Farm for years. Same local agent. Her father inlaw was my Jr High basketball coach. I open pickle jars with the neat little rubber grippy thingy she sends out at Christmas. Small town warm-n-fuzzy stuff. The last year or so I have been inundated with junk mail from AARP. I finally joined up just to get the hotel discount and hopefully cut down the junkmail.

Yes on 1. No on 2.

In fact it only changed from offers to join AARP to offers to join AARP partners like The Hartford insurance. But I was happy with my current insurance. Hometown gal, know her family, knows me by sight... she would certainly be giving me the best deal out there.

Today the policy renewal shows up and so does more of that AARP junkmail. Oh WTF, let's compare policies just for shits and giggles. But I used Progressive's website instead of The Hartford because Progressive checks multiple companies. Turns out I can save almost $200 by switching to Flo.

Wow! That's not chump change. I call my friendly, down home, you're on our Christmas card list agent to get that famous "Discount Double Check". The girl that answered the phone reminded me of April on "Parks & Recreation". It was obvious I was really annoying her by calling asking for a lower bill. She even told me how it would be actually cheaper to stay with State Farm even though they were more expensive, because it's a big company and she's worked for them for over 10 years. For some reason that wasn't a big selling point for me. She did finally break down and admit she could save me $18 after I pointed out an anti-theft discount I had on one car, but not the other.

WOOHOO, $18! Let's take those savings and buy a 12 pack and some pork rinds! Might be enough left over for a slice of jerky, too.

Bitch pissed me off.

The Progressive page didn't list The Hartford, so I had to quote them separately thru the AARP site. Almost. half. price. State Farm was $949 for 6 months, The Hartford was $1120 for 12 months. $778 difference! I double checked everything to make sure the coverages were the same and they were identical. I even added some extra coverage on my F350 for custom equipment that wasn't listed on my SF policy.

Needless to say I won't be getting a new rubber grippy thing to open my pickle jars next Christmas and I could care less about being in AARP or getting their junkmail now. I hate those Aaron Rodgers commercials, anyway.

tl/dr: I saved a metric assload of money by switching to geezer car insurance

2 comments:

el chupacabra said...

We are kinda weird about our insurance agency and banks and will for the most part stay with them through thick and thin- for better and for worse and I don't know exactly why.

If April would have passed the attitude test AND they would have at least met the other agency somewhere in the middle you probably would have stayed and so would I but again- I don't know why.

PS I'm sure you're also forgoing some sweet, sweet free calendars and fridge magnets- how are you going to know what day it is and keep appointment slips plastered to the fridge?

RPM said...

It will be a constant struggle, but I shall prevail.