Posted on 03/07/2008 4:28:30 PM PST by RKBA Democrat
In this week's show, I help you find $200 a month by just calling your "Ungrateful Providers". Now this does not mean that your auto or homeowner's insurance agent is not appreciative of your relationship. It means that the insurance and utility industry are set up to take advantage of laziness. I am going to provide you with the tools to protect yourself
If you click on the following link… connectutilities.com, you can type in your address and the site will provide you with the contact information for all of your local utility providers and what their current rates are for new customers. This will allow you to see if your current provider is offering better deals to new customers and not showing the love they should to a loyal customer. It also allows you to see if you need to consider switching service providers. The site should help you with:
Natural gas providers Power providers Phone service providers Cable or satellite providers
In today's show, I also discuss how your utility providers are not the only providers that may be taking you for granted. Your property and casualty insurance provider needs to reshop your auto, renters, and homeowners insurance every 3-4 years. This is one of those industries that has a premium creeping problem — meaning that every year you will notice a slight price increase. Keep them honest by reshopping the rates every few years.
I mention in today's show that you can shop rates at insure.com, but I always tell everyone to only use the Internet as a tool to shop rates — not to buy your actual policy. You will always want to deal with an actual agent so that you have someone to call if you ever have an issue or claim. State insurance regulation usually ensure that Internet rates are the same as what local insurance agents can provide.
Listen to the show to also here my discussion on increasing your insurance deductibles to save even more money. I also briefly touch on a recent dip in mortgage rates, and how everyone that missed the great rates a few months ago may need to perk up and pay attention.
The advice to check into your insurance deductibles and increase them *can* make good economic sense. My personal experience has been that the savings are significant. If increasing your insurance deductible from $250 to $1,000 saves you $150, that's 20% of the difference. Or said another way, you'd break even in five years even if you were to have a claim. When was the last time you actually had an insurance claim anyway?
>>>>>>>The advice to check into your insurance deductibles and increase them *can* make good economic sense. My personal experience has been that the savings are significant. If increasing your insurance deductible from $250 to $1,000 saves you $150, that’s 20% of the difference. Or said another way, you’d break even in five years even if you were to have a claim. When was the last time you actually had an insurance claim anyway?
As soon as I pay a car off I drop the collision coverage. I am 12 years to the good on current 1993 Honda with 170K miles.
(knock on wood)
Just doesn’t make sense unless you hagve a note on the car and are forced to have the coverage.
The case for hiking your deductible on your house is compelling. The insurance companies will drop you if you have a claim, so best to use it only if you suffer a catastrophic loss. So why pay for a $250 deductible if you would be crazy to put in a small claim?
It says my address doesn’t exist! WTF? H4X!
I checked this out for my house in Montana and all it showed was my current phone provider with cheaper options and internet. I happen to know that there is a much cheaper local option with internet/cable AND phone bundle, but it was not listed. White fence does not have a relationship with that company.
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