I decided to pay cash upfront for our car, home, and umbrella insurance policies.  It just seemed simplier that way.  So for the rest of the year I’ll set aside the costs and pay it again next year.  I also ended up switching to Progressive Auto Insurance because MA is now allowing free market insurance competition.  Previously the rates were set by the state.

So how’d I do?  Well for Homeowner’s and Umbrella insurance the annual cost was $444.  It includes $31k for dwelling, $36k personal property, $14.4k loss of use, $500k personal liability, and $1k medical payments in the homeowners policy with a $500 deductible.  It also includes a $1 million umbrella policy.

Why do I have an umbrella policy?  Well it was explained to by an insurance agent, and online at Wikipedia and About.com as extra liability insurance for our home and autos.  We currently are carrying $500k on our home and $250k/$500k on our cars which seems like a lot.  But with the mentality of people in the US being “sue first, ask questions later”, it seems wise to be over insured. 

I do acknowledge we don’t have much assets yet only about $250k.  But potentially if we were sued we could run into trouble fast, and the extra $1 million coverage costs us $188/year.  It’s priced out seperately.  So for peace of mind I’m paying $15/month which sounds like a deal in my book.  Perhaps people will tell me to self-insure, and yes likely a claim will never happen. But if it ever does?

As for our auto insurance we got a better deal with Progressive, we are paying $626 for 6 months or $1252/year.  This is with a $300 deductible.  So in all we’ve spend $1696/year or $141/month. That means a savings of $40/month from last year because previously we were paying $141/month for car insurance with a higher deductible $1k versus $300 and $454/year for homeowner’s and umbrella insurance.

I am liking this new insurance.  Hopefully things will get cheaper as accidents and tickets fall off my DH’s record!  It’ll be 3 years this October!  So shop around if you live in the area, it’s worth looking into.