Well, I called Liberty Mutual - they are my insurance company for my home, my car, and my life insurance. I asked if there was ANYTHING I could do to reduce my costs.
They already know how broke I am because, remember, I took a loan off of my life insurance policy already.
Well, they have a new deductible amount on cars - so I went from a $500 deductible to a $600 deductible (Fingers crossed for no accidents!). Of course, then my policy renewed and the cost went up, so it was actually a wash. I think I'm paying an extra $2.30 per month. BUT I found out that there was a questionaire about my driving habits and I didn't see it so apparently that caused some of the increase. I had it emailed and have filled it out and am crossing my fingers on that one.
BUT! That's not actually my topic! I live in So Cal - you ALL know that we have earthquakes! And my Godmother had EXTENSIVE damaged caused to her West Los Angeles home after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. And I had always heard (jokingly-ish), that if your house collapsed because of an earthquake, and you don't have earthquake insurance, to set it on fire and collect the fire policy because otherwise, YOU'LL GET NOTHING! So, I got earthquake insurance and have had it for years.
Well, I spoke with the insurance agent and she said that I was paying kind of a lot for a very "watered down policy" and that the deductible was 15% so I really would get nothing anyway.
CANCEL!!!
I cancelled it in January. My policy year wasn't quite up yet, so I'm expecting a small refund (probably $10 or $15), but that is $92 that I won't be paying this month to renew the policy!
Either way, call your insurance company and see if there is any way to REASONABLY reduce your coverage while maintaining your safety net but reducing your expenses.
As always: This is NOT insurance advice and I am not a licensed insurance person. This is just me typing and you reading.
Update: After submitting that updated insurance mileage form and increasing my deductible, my insurance will be - almost exactly what it was last year. So a little less than they had sent in the first email, but not really different than I was paying before. You should shop around. I have, but because we lost a lot of homes in the 2007 wildfires out here, my zip code has apparently REALLY high car insurance rates even though i'm a "safe driver" with "multiple policies". I called everyone. They were all right in the same range. If I move or get married (being single is apparently a "no-no" in the insurance world) my insurance will go down. So, soon. Not soon enough, but soon.
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