Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Insurance Magic

I wanted to get a whole bunch of quotes for homeowners insurance so that I knew I was getting a good price. But, it turns out, that within the first two quotes I received, I got both the highest and lowest quote humanly possible. One, All State quoted me at $930 a year. This floored me because my mortgage people were estimating something around $600 for all the estimates they gave me. Then I talked to a guy at MetLife, who told me it would only be $415 a year.

This intrigued me. So, I kept getting quotes. And kept getting quotes... and kept getting quotes. Then, I got quotes from different agents within the same company. Insurance is an insanely crazy thing, let me tell you. I've gotten four different quotes from All State: $930, $706.25, $614.03, and $489.44.

Crazy. Look at all those different numbers!

You know what else is crazy? I can't stop myself. I've gotten 16 quotes. I need to go to Insurance Quote Addiction Anonymous or something. I just can't believe how different they are. And did you know that Farmers gives you a discount for being a scientist? Now I just sit here and ask what kinds of crazy discounts I can get. I have a new roof, can you discount that? I even got a discount because I'm a GW Alumnus. Seriously, this insurance thing... it's magic.

I think you should become super good friends with your insurance agent, because the more they know about you, the more discounts they can find. I'm gonna go back to that MetLife guy. He was one of the first people I talked to, so I didn't know of the magic that is random insurance discounts.

And this is all without the 10-20% discounts you get when you insure your auto with the same company as your home.

So, learn your lesson well - shop around for insurance to find the best rates. The sad thing is, I'm comparing apples to apples on these because I make sure they're all quoting me the same replacement value numbers and personal liability and whatnot... and they're STILL so different.

Insurance world is a mystery.


End Blog.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Even though I work in the insurance industry - I totally agree!