You should always review your insurance, whether it be health, car, life, or home insurance. Why? Because I was fortunate enough to have speeding ticket pass the 3 year mark at the end of September. This removed the 1 point from my driving record and allowed me to regain my status as a “safe” driver.
Thus in my insurance packet with Progressive, I read that I could call in the middle of my six month contract and ask for a review of my insurance policy because of a change. The change being removal of a point from my driving record. Turns out it didn’t save me much because the point was prorated on my driving record, so I save $11 for 6 months. However, it made it immediately applicable and I was informed that when my DH’s accident come off our insurance premiums would drop by a lot.
Thus it made sense to keep the insurance company aware of our newer, improved driving records. This way when our six month renewal is up we will be automatically given the “Safe” driver discount rather than having to remember to apply the discount.
This review of your insurance policies can help for things like losing weight or installing a home alarm system. I guess the point is, keep on top of your insurance to make sure you are getting all discounts you deserve. Otherwise the insurance company will not give you the discounts because it doesn’t benefit them to collect less money from you.
5 responses so far ↓
1 debtdieter // Oct 19, 2008 at 4:27 pm
So true!
It works the other way too, if you need to make a claim & haven’t kept your situation current, they can refuse it outright.
2 LivingAlmostLarge // Oct 21, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Good point and thanks!
3 Pearl // Oct 27, 2008 at 5:19 pm
In some states, auto insurance companies (and maybe homeowners too) base policy premiums in part on your credit score, so if you’ve been tracking your credit score and it has improved since your policy was issued, you can call in and get your premium adjusted.
On some policies, you can also get an additional discount for paying by automatic deduction from your account, or for taking an online “safe driver” class.
I try to call my insurance company every two or three years just to quiz them on any ways they can think of that they could lower my premiums other than reducing coverage. Since I first did it about six years ago, I’ve probably saved about $1,100 for the time it took me to make three phone calls. It’s also good to be reminded what the coverage is (and isn’t).
The question I still haven’t solved is when to drop the collision coverage on an older car. My car is now more than 11 years old, but very low mileage. Assuming no accident, I could expect to drive it another 5-10 years, but an accident would probably see it totalled at a pretty low $ value.
Any insight on this issue?
4 LivingAlmostLarge // Oct 29, 2008 at 11:11 am
Yep, but I’m unsure how much a role credit plays in insurance. But a great point about calling if your credit improves.
I think dropping collision when you can cover the cost of the car. To add collision to our cars it would be double what we pay now. So about $1800/year. To replace one car it would take 2 years. That’s easily worth the risk to me.
But depending where you live insurance could be a lot less. Where I live it’s expensive unfortunately so carrying collision isn’t worth it.
5 Krista // Nov 11, 2008 at 4:10 pm
This is so important, and of course insurance companies never say anything about it. Definitely keep track of your policies, and make sure they are aware of any significant changes in your life. If you lose weight, stop smoking, or your asthma officially subsides, etc… let them know!
Leave a Comment