Why do my insurance rates keep going up?

I’ve got an unfortunate fact to share with you all. This is something that is going to affect every single one of you – but – I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice to help. Ready for the fact? Your insurance auto insurance rates increasing. Home, auto, whatever. Inflation is taking a toll on every single business and vendor that insurance companies use. Don’t believe me? Tried renting a car lately? What about getting your vehicle in a body shop? How about getting a contractor to do work on your house? All these things are examples of things that are going to affect rates. So – how do you, as a consumer, protect yourself from auto insurance rates increasing? Here are 5 tips for you to consider.

You need an Insurance agent to work with. 800 numbers to do insurance will often times leave you vastly under insured. Insurance agents will ask you questions about what you are protecting and make recommendations based of of that. Not just plugging in numbers and spitting out a price.

Telematics. These are systems carriers offer that base your rates/discounts on how you drive. I know, I know big brother is watching blah blah blah. Here is a fact. If you have a cell phone, you’re already being tracked so you might as well get a discount for it. This is especially true if you work from home.

Increase your deductibles. Look – I get it. You have something happen, you dont want to pay a big deductible. But what people tend to forget is your rates are HIGHER for a lower deductible. Take $1000 and put it in your savings account. This is for your deductible if you ever need it. Then raise your car insurance deductibles to match. Also, full glass coverage eliminates deductibles on glass losses – like cracked broken windshields. Get that.

Evaluate the coverage on your home insurance. A lot of people, including agents, think they should insure their house for what they paid for it. This is absolutley, 100% incorrect- unless you are a property investor and know the risks. What you pay for your house is the market value. That takes into consideration the house, location, land, and market conditions. Those last 3 are not insurable. Let’s use this house as an example. Take a 1200 sq ft house on 12 acres. If you put it on the market today, it would sell for around $700,000. So should I insure it for $700k? No. Insurance worries about the replacement cost of the home itself. It does not care about the 12 acres or the infamous Tater Peeler address. The replacement cost is more like $250k – that’s what I should be insuring it for.

Don’t cut your freaking coverage. “Only pay for what you need” is the dumbest slogan in the industry right now. Insurance has one job – protect your way of life and return you to the same financial state you were in before the loss. It’s tempting to go gut your policy and reduce coverage to save money… Do not do that. You think insurance is high? Wait ’til you have a loss and don’t have the right coverage. Want to discuss more? Shoot me a message or click this link, we are happy to help.