BusinessWeek lists 25 companies that have great customer service. It may not surprise those of you that read this blog regularly to see USAA at the top of the list.
If you or one of your family members is in the military look into there product, both insurance and finance, and see if they can save you money.
I personally have found their insurance, car loan and credit card terms and services great.
I don’t use there brokerage, banking or custom funds.
For many people car insurance is a large expense, sometimes running into the thousands of dollars a year. Finding ways to get a better car insurance rate is a great way to set aside a bit more each year.
- Look into increasing your deductible. Often times raising your deductible can reduce you rate by several hundred dollars a year. Zero dollar deductibles are especially costly.
- Make sure your comprehensive coverage decreases with the value of your car. If you have $30,000 of insurance for $5,000 of property you may be wasting money.
- Shop around. Different companies have radically different views of the same set of circumstances.
- Make sure the miles on the policy match the miles that you drive. Your insurance is based in part on how much you drive the car. I’ve talked with people that have this number set way too high.
- If you are now or were in the past in the military or are related to some who is see what coverage from USAA will cost you. I’ve personally had very good rates from them.
- Consider were you live. If you are living in a neighborhood with a high crime rate it may cost you more on your car insurance company. Make sure that you factor this added cost in when you decide to live there.
- Ask your insurance company what discounts are offered. I’ve heard of offers for a big discount for getting your car windows etched with the VIN number. Some other discounts that might be available:
- Good driver discounts. No accidents or tickets for a certain amount of time.
- Anti-theft devices (alarms, Lojack, …).
- Keeping your car on the garage instead of on the street.
- Good student discount.
- Multi-car discount.
- Discount for other insurance from the same company (home, life, …)
- Auto-payment discount
- If you get a ticket and traffic school is an option to remove the ticket from your record (called “points” in some places) do it. The number of points you have can radically alter your insurance rates.
I hope these tips will save you some money!
I got my car back this week after 14 days in the shop. The insurance company's insistence on attempting a repair that the shop believed was not possible. The insurance company thought they would save about $250 if they could repair instead of replace the bumper cover.
The grand total for the rental car came to $392. Oops. The insurance company managed to blow about three hundred dollars on unneeded rental days. All I can say is I’m glad I’m not a shareholder.
You can read my previous entries on this insurance fiasco and my initial shock.
I spoke with the repair shop again today. The dealer keeps slipping when they can deliver the part. At this point I'll be in the rental car for 10 to 13 days for a total rental cost of $280 to $364. This wipes out the difference between the repair and replace options of only about $250.
The repair shop and my insurance company were both pretty adamant that (1) a repair would be needed and (2) that they wanted to order the parts before taking the car apart to avoid the unpredictable wait. But the other insurance company, the one that is paying, insisted on trying to fix it.
They are paying a steep price for this mistake.
Trying to save money is good. Trying to save money without thinking it through is bad.
You can read more about this car repair mini saga here.
Someone ran into my car recently. The damage wasn’t horrible but the car is so new I wanted to get it fixed.
I got an estimate for about $700 to replace the bumper cover from a reliable repair shop. This would have taken a day. The insurance adjuster for the guy that ran into me insisted that it could be reconditioned.
The shop said they have to start with what the adjuster said, but that they knew this couldn’t be reconditioned.