How much can you really save on car insurance?
One of the most recognizable tag lines in car insurance advertising today is: “You could save 15% or more by switching to Geico.” Wow; think about that! Is this true? Is Geico 15% cheaper than every other car insurance company in America? If this were true; Geico would be only car insurance company in the United States. The reality is, if you shop online, watch TV, listen to the radio or read the newspaper, every car insurance company makes it sound like they are the cheapest.
How can that be?
Well, it can’t. If there was truly one car insurance company which had the best rates on car insurance, we would not have thousands of car insurance carriers nationwide.
The truth about these “our car insurance is the cheapest” claims is very simple. Every driver, car and situation is different. Every car insurance company needs to raise and lower it rates to stay in business. While everyone is running around shopping for the best rate on car insurance; the carriers are keeping you guessing by raising and lowering their rates and calling the Programs they offer by different names.
Trying to compare one insurance company to another is like shopping for a mattress. Yes, that’s what I said: Car insurance policies are like mattresses. Just try to find a common name of a mattress in two different bedding stores – it will never happen. Say you go to “Mattress Galaxy” and find a great Mattress called “Spine Bracer.” If you want to compare the price at “Bedding World” – they may have the identical mattress; but it’s named “Straighter Spine.” That makes it tough for you to really compare products. And they do it because they don’t want you to be able to.
So, what option do you really have instead of shopping between different car insurance carriers who try to obscure the difference between the policies they offer? If you go to State Farm; Allstate or Nationwide – their ‘captive’ agent represents only that one car insurance carrier. Even if you call Geico, they’re only going to give you one rate. A Geico rate.
What they all hope is that you don’t shop with a Broker like InsureDirect. We’re independent, which means that when you call our Toll-Free number, our friendly representatives give you the ability to receive quotes from over 30 different major carriers including Progressive and carriers owned by Allstate and Nationwide.
But wait a minute Mike! I’ve been told buying from an agent costs more money because an agent makes a commission. Well, I’ve been hearing that for 18 years. But keep in mind who it was that told you will pay more for your car insurance by going through an agent or broker. The big carriers who have to add in the cost of their astronomical advertising budgets, or the single product carriers who have to look out for their ‘captive agents,’ right?
So don’t be fooled by the common misconception that if you buy direct and cut out the agent; you’re going to pay less and save money. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the exact opposite is usually the case. Agents and Brokers make it possible for car insurance companies to sell insurance who don’t necessarily see the wisdom of spending millions and millions of dollars on advertising or captive agents who must be paid regardless of what they sell.
Lets take Geico for example. I don’t know if you are aware of the cost of advertising these days, but it’s astronomical.
But here’s where it gets interesting… How many millions of dollars do you think it costs Gieco to make sure that there’s always a Geico TV commercial, radio ad, or picture of their lovable lizard in just about telephone book in the nation. Not to mention paying for internet ads running 24 hours a day 365 days a year?
The answer? Actually, it costs them nothing!
That’s right, all that advertising doesn’t cost Geico a dime. Those millions of dollars being spent daily are paid by every single auto insurance policy holder currently insured through Geico.
Now; if you take the advice I offered above and combine that with what you now know about who really pays the high price of car insurance advertising, isn’t it worth at least one more call, to 1-800-807-0762 , to see just what you might save on your auto insurance from a pool of 30 insurance companies? I hope you do give us a call – we’ll do everything we can to make you glad you did!
-Mike
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