Comparing Car Insurance Prices Pays Off

Many of us make a habit of comparing food and clothing prices; after all, every cent counts. But we’re less diligent when it comes to comparing things like car insurance premiums and bank rates. Yet, we’re easily swayed by price when it comes to choosing car insurance. Mostly we’re swayed by the ads that announce massive savings and the cheapest insurance in town, but we don’t usually check the veracity of the claims.

LifeInc. cites a survey by InsuranceQuotes.com, which has found that a mere 21% of people compare insurance quotes before settling on a particular policy. It seems that shopping around pays off, however, as 43% of those who compared prices changed insurance companies.

The numbers don’t lie

LifeInc. also cites a 2011 study by Deloitte Research which found that 24% of people never compare insurance policies when renewal time rolls around and 34% rarely bother with the comparison process. Apparently, most people are satisfied with their insurance companies. Of course, a quick search could make them happier.

A number of insurance comparison companies have sprung up that do the shopping around for consumers who can’t be bothered to do all the leg work (or finger clicking) themselves. They’re fantastically convenient but they’re limited in that they can’t take everything about your unique situation into account. If you really, really want to get the best deals you can use the comparison sites as a starting point and then drill down into the finer details to see if you can’t get an even better price.

Putting it in perspective

There’s a great article on Fox Business that compares the cost of car insurance over a lifetime to other ‘essential’ expenses, like Starbucks coffee. The average cost of car insurance over 62 years is $94,000.

• One Starbucks $4 latte every day for 60 years will set you back $88,000.
• Upgrading your iPhone every six years for 54 years will cost you $72,000. But let’s be honest, who waits six years to upgrade an iPhone. Tack on another 20K at least if you’re the kind of fanboy who can’t resist a new phone every year or two.
• The real killer (in more ways than one) is smoking. One pack of cigarettes a day for 60 years will set you back $115,000 (without factoring in inflation or medical bills for throat and lung cancer).

If you shop around for better car insurance prices, you won’t have to feel guilty about your daily coffee indulgence or lament the new iPhones that you have to buy yourself, your son, your daughter and your partner every year for the next billion years.