I have had the same insurance company for both for the past 23 years and I would like to change. I am really having a hard time with this. So many things came up when I googled. Do I need to contact a company direct, or go through a local agent? Does anyone know any useful tips about buying insurance? My teen daugter (17) who just got her license in June had an accident and it was her fault. We did get an attorney for the ticket. But our car insurance (w no full coverage, just liability) went up from 80 a month to 200 month. ?! So I guess we either have to find something MUCH cheaper or ditch her altogether because we cannot afford that.

Insurance is such a gimmick. I have priced insurance for my truck and sports car and my house several times over the last 3 years and can come up with nothing better than I have. I get advertisements in the mail all the time from different companies. After taking all the time to give them detailed information they cannot give a better price. Usually the vehicle insurance is a little lower but the house insurance is higher. You can't split them up because you will lose the "discounts" they give for multiple policies.
When I bought my car last year I called the insurance company and they gave me a price I thought was acceptable. Then a month later doubled the price for no reason. No win situation.
Good luck.
Michael

I would go for an independent insurance agent.

https://www.google.com/search?...

We have Insurance Brokers here. You pay them a fee and they get you the lowest rate each month with various Insurance Companies. I believe the way it works is you only have to commit to the Broker and not the Insurance Company. People say they save a lot of money this way. They have such Brokers for Electricity, Medicare Supplements as well.

ShadyGreenThumb said:We have Insurance Brokers here. You pay them a fee and they get you the lowest rate each month with various Insurance Companies. I believe the way it works is you only have to commit to the Broker and not the Insurance Company. People say they save a lot of money this way. They have such Brokers for Electricity, Medicare Supplements as well.

hmm I have never heard of this. Wonder if this is not in MO but only in certain areas.

@emddvm Oh, wow I hope they don't do that to me. I did have a couple of places already price me and it was half of what I am paying now, and supposed to be a 12 month policy, I would think that is a contract and they couldn't raise your cost unless you had an incident that changed it like a ticket or accident? I didn't realize they could do this, I will keep that in mind.

https://www.bbgbroker.com/what...

Google:

@Frillylilly I pay my vehicle insurance every six months and house insurance every year. It is just the way I have always done it. I have not had any accidents or tickets in over 20 years. My car insurance was up for renewal a couple months after I bought the car which is when they doubled the cost. Of course the agent said everybody got the increase. For some reason I doubt that.

Frilly-- Just saw this. I would contact the agent, better yet go in and talk to them. See if they can find you any extra discounts. Maybe mileage, good student discounts, multi-line or multi-vehicle. My insurance company has a policy...after 15 years they can not drop you. I needed that clause with a couple of my kids. For awhile that was the only way they would have had insurance. But they had to pay the difference... because they caused the increase. Also check with your agent and see if they have a long term clause... that you can not be dropped. Stuff happens with kids, then you may not want to change.

Many blessings for a successful ending!

emddvm said:@Frillylilly I pay my vehicle insurance every six months and house insurance every year. It is just the way I have always done it. I have not had any accidents or tickets in over 20 years. My car insurance was up for renewal a couple months after I bought the car which is when they doubled the cost. Of course the agent said everybody got the increase. For some reason I doubt that.

It is probably true but some times you can go to your agent and if you bitch loud enough get a reduction BUT when the Hurricane his Louisiana, our State Farm insurance told us immediately our rates were going up to pay for it.
If you have tickets in your driving record, unless you are paying asininely high rates, best to stay where you are as the new company will check your record and you will pay for transgressions long ago.
They will find out about tickets not reported to them because they were within a certain limit where cops don't report it.

State Farm is about as good as it gets for car insurance; Farmers for house insurance is not bad .

so in the end I ended up filling out form on-line (time consuming) and then had quotes emailed to me w a local agents contact info. Farmers was the same per month as the one I had -$180 a month therabouts. All state was $140 per month for the same coverage. There were varriances in how trailers were covered. We occasionally pull a trailer, maybe 1 or 2x per year and just local. One place wanted an extra 15 a month to cover them. The others said they were covered by the insurance of whatever is pulling it. We have a 17 yr old daughter and asked if we had to insure her or if we could drop her. I was told that in MO a minor w a license is required to be insured even if they don't drive. But another company told me they can exempt that by having us sign a fancy form. I ended up going with Geico. Insured my daughter and the trailers for $90 month.