Car Insurance and Fundraising
As you can probably see, I am really making an effort to get in touch with all the magazine accounts in my territory. The need for this was driven home to me just the other day when I finally listened to all those car insurance commercial claims. You know, the "We can save you $478 per year by switching" commercials. How could there be so many commercials like that if they were all lying?
I had my perfect excuse to see if the commercials were true or not when the old Mazda 626 blew up on me while driving northbound on I-99 a couple of weeks ago. After buying a new car, I thought I should look into some other car insurance companies. Now, I had been with State Farm for about 13 years for both auto and home. I had filed about 3-4 claims in those 13 years, and the agent was always nice and professional -- nothing spectacular, but very serviceable. I was satisfied, but not blown away.
Julie did the leg work and got about 8 quotes from other insurance companies and, of course, we somehow got 2 or 3 solicitations in the mail during that time. After running through all the possibilities, I ended up saving $38 per month or $456 per year on my car insurance. It is the same exact policy as I had with State Farm with a few extras (like rental car insurance and roadside assistance). That is a ton of money! I happily signed the papers and ended a 13 year relationship with State Farm with a 2 minute phone call, during which they told me they could not match my new price and thanked me for my patronage over the years.
How do car insurance and fundraising correlate?
You may have a good company that you have been with for years. You may have even had to call in a "claim" a few times and been met with nice, professional service, but when the company is not doing anything above and beyond and you have a hunch that you could make some more money with another guy, why not go for the switch? Is it uncomfortable to call the old guy and tell him you have a new deal that he can't beat? Yes, it was for me, but in the end, I am more loyal to my checkbook and my family then I am to my insurance agent.
With car insurance done, it's now time to look into a new home owners policy!
