Screwing the Pooch

I’ve been getting the screw for years – years I tell you. I had no idea how expensive State Farm insurance was. When my Mom retired, my parents had to look at their finances. As part of that scaling down, they changed their insurance from State Farm.

I didn’t realize how much they were saving, but as the House of Jack has decided to live in the poor house (while I am in school) we, too, are looking at every aspect of our household expenses.

(Now I realize that I just bought a bicycle. But that means I am not driving everyday and I am saving money from gas. I am also saving money as the bicycle cost me the same amount as 8 months at a local gym.)

We went shopping for insurance: house, automobile and motorcycle. My wife and I, most the wife, researched all kinds of different insurance companies. We looked at the major companies, the independent companies and online insurance.

Amazingly, Triple A had the best prices on home and auto. I am amazed, because I didn’t know that AAA offered homeowners insurance. We saved several hundred, yes hundred, dollars on our home insurance. Triple A was cheaper than the two online insurance companies and that really surprised me. Progressive had the best rates on motorcycles.

Now here is the kicker. When I called and asked to speak to my State Farm insurance agent, he didn’t have time to talk with me. That’s right. Someone in the office helped me cancel all my insurance with them (they carried everything). Interesting enough, no one ever asked me why were canceling or offered to take a look at our policy to see if they could make it cheaper. The agent has never called me back and I requested he do so.

My guess is State Farm knows exactly why I am leaving: their rates were too high. I am saving hundreds of dollars a year by switching all of my insurance. The best part is that my home and auto are being carried by AAA which has a long standing local office with a real person.