Car insurance...

Hey! I know, I know, I got on a posting spree for some reason, and now I haven't posted for a whole day! =) Yesterday we had a nice playdate at a friend's house. At this point, Seth has taken so many naps there in his baby tent that she casually referred to her room as "his room." =) Love that tent, and lovin' a baby that sleeps in it, and love that she didn't mind braving a possibly still contagious baby so that I could get some company.

But anyway, just thought I'd see if I could get some help from y'all about car insurance. Yup, car insurance, that thing we all hate to pay for but can't live without (legally at least). Since we moved here and got another car, our car insurance rates have really jumped. We have discovered that N.C. is a horrible state from a car insurance perspective, due to ridiculous amounts of bureaucracy and a large number of uninsured motorists (illegal immigrants). Virginia was much better on insurance. But it is what it is...

We didn't realize how much we were paying above the average, though, until we got a letter last week from our insurance company saying that N.C. required them to tell us that we were paying more than the state rate bureau felt was necessary. We started investigating insurance companies online, and there is a very broad range of rates for the same package. Some were half of what we're currently paying!

However, for insurance, I'm willing to pay more for something when the consequences could be dire if you don't get good customer service. When we've needed our car insurance, it's been there for us with no problems. See this example for reasons why we would care about this so much. =) We have loved all our dealings with USAA, and we don't really want to switch. It's not a savings if the el cheapo insurance company we switch to won't come through for us when we need them.

Geico was the cheapest at half the amount we're paying now, giving us a potential savings of a couple hundred dollars a month. But I know nothing about them. There were a couple of others that I also knew nothing about that were in that ballpark, one of them being Safeco. Anybody in N.C. with two cars and few accidents paying less than $1000 every six months? Have you ever had an accident? How was that handled? If you're from another state, and you've had a good experience with your car insurance and their rates, would you tell me that? We're just checking into all our options...

Oh yeah, and for Katie who asked about our cable. We're with Time Warner, and I think it's definitely worth checking into a lite option from your local cable provider. Have a great day!