Payoff and Ripoff: The Offs of Life

The million insurance quotes I got totally paid off. I know this because I talked to my mortgage broker and she was like, "I see that you don't have a deductible listed for wind and hail here on your insurance and seeing as how you'll be in Kansas, I really want you to make sure that you have coverage because this is different than tornadoes."

First off, I'm not living in Kansas, but she works in Kansas, so I'll forgive her. Secondly, I don't have a deductible listed because it's the same $1,000 as my normal deductible, which is why it wasn't listed. Thirdly, don't be hatin' on me just because you saw how fabulous my yearly rate was. I did my research, woman.

"Three hundred and ninety dollars... I mean, WOW."

Yeah. Maybe you should suggest that people get more than just three quotes.

Although, there is a down side. Because of all the phone calls required for the quotes and the fact that I only have a cell phone and all the calls were made during business hours to non-verizon cell phones or business phones... I went over my allotted 450 minutes a month for the first time, ever. By 83 minutes... at 45 cents a minute. So I might as well be paying $430 on my home insurance this year.

Bastards! The very sad part about it is when I renew my phone plan (which will be happening any day now as they called and told me I was eligible for my 2 year phone upgrade) they'll increase my minutes to 550 a month for the same price. So close...

So, in summation, my insurance is good and the rate rocks and cell phones are pretty dumb (but in the long run better than paying for a house line I'd never use).

Get Met. It Pays.


End Blog.

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.