Auto insurance is an expensive purchase for most Americans. A study by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners showed that, in 2003, the average annual premium payment was $820.91 per car.

One of the easist ways to save money on auto insurance is to shop around and compare rates. Different insurers can charge substantially more or less for virtually identical coverage. Don’t believe me? Well, the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance an Securities conducted a survey in 2006 and found that premium rates for the highest priced insurer were more than twice the rates of the lowest priced insurer for identical coverage. Twice as much!

No one wants to pay too much for insurance. So shop around.

But who has the time to shop around for insurance? Well, we understand that time is tight and shopping for insurance is about as much fun as cleaning the garage. But let me ask you this, if I told you I’d pay you $400 for a half hour of you time, would you take the deal? Of course you would.

Taking just half an hour to call a few different insurance companies could save you $400 or more. So quit whining, pick up the phone and start dialing.

To help make your job a little easier, we are giving you a list of insurers and their respective telephone and/or Web address information.
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In a win for policyholders, a California court upheld consumer-friendly regulations requiring California insurance companies to base rates primarily on policyholders’ driving records. 

Last year, Commissioner John Garamendi approved regulations requiring insurers to base insurance rates on driving records, rather than  on where policyholders live.  Seems reasonable, right?  A driving record should be a fairly good predictor of whether you are going to have more accidents.  You’d figure insurance companies would be in favor of this, right?

Wrong. 

Garamendi’s regulations replaced rules approved in 1996 by former Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush that allowed insurers to arbitrarily set rates based on an insured’s zip code.  Insurers fought hard for these regulations.  They funded the campaign of Commissioner Quackenbush, who secured a court order allowing insurance companies to continue to base rates on a motorist’s zip Code. The judge who wrote that decision resigned two days later and went to work for a firm whose principal clients are insurance companies.  Read more »

This video is great.

As we all know, the insurance business is about spreading risk across a pool of people who have known “statistically significant” risk factors. Age, gender, residence, etc are all taken into account because insurance companies have experts, called “acutaries,” telling them that these factors make a difference across thousands of policyholders.

And maybe they’re right. But this guy does a great job pointing out how stupid these factors are when applied on an individual basis.

Take a look below:
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