Insurance: Saving and Spending
I am someone who does not like to call and talk on the phone to companies, mostly because I hate phone trees, but Surfgirl has been after me to find out if rental cars are covered under the policy. So I called today… yes they are. But I also decided to save a bit of money.
As I was talking to the policy agent, I found out I only had a 500 dollar deductible. I had set this up a while ago when it was all we could afford, since we are better off now, I decided to move it up to 1000 deductible. That saved us 218.00 a year! With that savings I decided to check on renter’s insurance and see what was all involved. Lately, there have been a number fire related news stories that have been about apartment buildings.
After speaking with the agent, I picked up renter’s insurance for an extra 10.80 a month. Not bad, really. But the best part was that it also decreased the auto insurance another 200 a year as well. What I saved in auto insurance by raising my deductible and by picking up a second type of insurance through the same company, allowed me to still save over 150 a year. Not a lot of money, but sometimes it’s about nickel and diming yourself.
Combing homeowners or renters and auto insurance together will save you money in most cases as you have found out. Be sure to always ask your agent about other discounts available as well. I just want you to be careful about the deductible increase since it is estimated that 1 out of every 4 drivers needs to make a claim on their insurance policy per year. If you have to file a claim you will have to pay $500 more and this will wipe out all over you savings instantly. It may be smart to raise your collision coverage deductible which is needed when you have an accident. Comprehensive coverage would come in effect if your cars has hail damage, windshield cracks or other non crash damages. In most of these cases the increase in your deductible would be more than the cost of the repairs, so it wouldn’t make sense to file a claim on your insurance. That is why insurance companies can lower your insurance cost with higher deductibles because you become a lower risk to file a claim. This statement is not advising you against raising your deductible it is just to inform you of the difference. Please ask your agent for information on which would be better for your situation.