Shop around for insurance

When we got married, I didn't own a car and J did. Since J had insurance, I was added as a driver on her policy. When we bought a washer and dryer for our apartment, we added renter's insurance. When we bought our second car, we got a multi-car discount through the policy.

I didn't know anything about insurance costs, and I assumed that J knew well since her whole family went through the same company. Our premiums didn't seem outrageous, but what did I know? I never shopped around until our rates went up drastically on our home owner's policy when we hadn't made a claim EVER. 

Boy did I feel dumb when I looked at different companies' quotes. I didn't trust the ones you see advertised all the time, so I went through our AAA membership when they quoted me an annual savings of over $700 on auto alone. The rates stayed around the same until a few years ago, so I decided to look at the quotes again. I got a good quote from Liberty Mutual and had decent customer service getting switched.

Again, we saved several hundred dollars. After a couple years, I see that our rates are creeping up again, so I did a quick look at rates. I made the mistake of using a site advocated by Clark Howard, for I was getting calls instantly from places that aren't ranked well by Consumer Reports. I got decent price quotes, but nothing made me feel the need to switch.

Recently, I got my Equifax Report, and I see that those same insurance companies flooded the credit bureau with inquires. Not sure how much my credit rating was dinged, but I'm still getting credit card offers in the mail after being unemployed for 18+ months.


Google brought up these articles:

Is Shopping Around for Auto Insurance Worth my Time?

Car Insurance: Proof It Really Pays to Shop Around