Every year when our car insurance renewal shows up, I open it expecting the number to be about the same. And every year for the past two, it's gone up. This January it jumped again, to $1,812 for the year, for one used minivan that mostly drives to daycare, the grocery store, and my office.
That was the push I needed to actually sit down with it. This is what we did, what changed, and what stayed exactly the same. Quick note before I start: I'm a dental hygienist with a spreadsheet, not an insurance professional. This is just our experience, not advice for your situation.
Our setup
We only insure one car. Dan drives a work truck that his company owns and insures, so our policy covers just the minivan we bought used when the twins were born. Both of us are listed as drivers. Clean records, no claims, no tickets. The van is now about ten years old.
That's part of why the increase bugged me so much. Nothing about us had changed. Rates in California have gone up for pretty much everyone, but I wanted to know how much of our increase was the market and how much was us just not paying attention.
Step one: get real quotes
I blocked out a Saturday morning while Dan took the twins to the park. I got quotes from four companies: two online, one through a local independent agent who can quote several carriers at once, and one by phone. I used the exact same coverage levels for every quote so I was comparing apples to apples. That part matters. A cheap quote with half the liability limits isn't a deal.
The spread surprised me. For identical coverage, the quotes ranged from about $1,480 to over $2,100 a year. Our current company was in the middle.
Step two: bundle with renters insurance
If you read my post about our renters insurance after the leak, you know we finally got serious about that policy. It was with a different company from our car insurance, and it had never occurred to me to put them together.
Bundling the two with the same company brought a multi-policy discount on the car side. The renters policy itself cost about the same either way, so the savings were basically free.
Step three: raise the collision deductible
We had a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive. Raising it to $1,000 lowered the premium noticeably. This was the one where Dan and I actually talked it through, because it means if something happens, we pay more out of pocket.
Our rule: we only raised it because we now have enough in our emergency fund to cover $1,000 without panic. If we didn't, I would've left it alone. A lower premium isn't worth much if a fender bender would put the repair on a credit card.
Step four: the low-mileage program
This was the biggest single change. Because Dan's commute happens in his work truck, our van drives about 6,500 miles a year. That's low. The company we ended up with offered a telematics program: a small app on my phone tracks mileage and driving habits like hard braking and phone use while driving.
I was a little hesitant about the tracking, honestly. But I drive like someone with two toddlers in the back, which is to say very carefully, and after the trial period the discount came through. If you drive a lot at night or brake hard in traffic, it might not work in your favor, so read the terms.
Before and after
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Liability limits | 100/300/100 | 100/300/100 |
| Uninsured motorist | Yes | Yes |
| Collision/comprehensive deductible | $500 | $1,000 |
| Roadside assistance | Yes | Yes |
| Discounts | Good driver | Good driver, multi-policy, low mileage |
| Annual premium | $1,812 | $1,296 |
That's $516 a year, or $43 a month, and our liability coverage didn't go down at all. The only real trade-off is the higher deductible, which we went into with our eyes open.
What I didn't do
- I didn't drop collision coverage. People told me a ten-year-old van isn't worth covering, and eventually that'll be true, but replacing it tomorrow would still hurt.
- I didn't lower our liability limits. That's the part that protects us if we hurt someone, and it's the last place I'd cut.
- I didn't skip uninsured motorist coverage. Not in the Bay Area.
The takeaway
The whole thing took about three hours spread over two weekends. Most of the savings came from things that were sitting right in front of us: a policy we could bundle, a mileage number that was already low, and an emergency fund that meant we could handle a higher deductible. I put a reminder in my calendar for next January to shop it again, because loyalty clearly wasn't getting us anything.
