So you’re tired of hearing the commercials that brag that you could save “16% or more on your car insurance” or that the average driver that switched saves $350 per year by switching to….”  It’s hard to figure out the methods to buy auto insurance but let me go through the options.   (Editor’s Note:  I do business under the last model that’s reviewed and believe it is the most efficient way to purchase insurance.  It’s also the model that has been picking up market share recently.)

1.  You could put all your personal information out on the internet and receive dozens of calls from companies that want your business.  You will have never heard of these companies because the site that you fed your information into doesn’t sell insurance.  They make their money by selling leads to multiple competitors.  Get ready for your phone to be blown up.  You could find a good “deal” but the hours that it took to filter through all the information will tarnish any premiums that you save.

2.  You could decide to call all the major companies in the insurance business to get their prices for your policy.  Each call will take 20 minutes or so but after spending a good part of an afternoon, you will have a paper napkin full of notes that you will have to decipher the next day.  Also, every company will recommend different coverages to you, point out the advantages of their roadside assistance and at the end of the journey, you will like have to call most of them back to really understand what they are selling.

3.  You could go online to those highly advertised sites and see if you are brighter than a prehistoric homo sapien.  This requires that you understand all the insurance lingo (without the aid of any live person), input all your information, choose your coverages, remember your login information to later modify your quote, AND do this at multiple sites.  When does the best deal surface?  Hmm, “maybe if I go to the 6th site, they will give me what my heart desires?”

4.  You could pick up the phone and call local agents with the big name companies, give them all your information, (again one by one) listen to their options, and pick your best option.  To call the big three, expect to spend around 1 and 1/2 hours on the phone.  You would get an agent in the process and join the largest method of purchasing insurance in the United States.  You would have a local office to go and visit when something went haywire and I believe that this is a good way to buy insurance.  Unfortunately, the next year, the company will increase their rates on their own or due to a claim and you will have to go through the process again and change agents.

5.  You could call an agency that represents multiple companies.  They represent companies that are well known and others that are not as well known.  They go by a number of different names such as independent agents, trusted choice agents, local agents.  The list goes on and on but what happens in this scenario is that you make one call to a specialist in auto insurance and you will receive pricing from multiple insurance carriers.  This type of agency allows you to buy efficiently and if the rates go up in future years, you can have them reshop your insurance through your stable of companies without having to spend half a day sifting through the quotes.  This type of agency used to be extremely inefficient because they had to imput your information into multiple computer systems to generate the different quotes, but most of them (my agency included) have systems that will create the multiple quotes with just one input session.

Now you’re armed with the information to buy your auto insurance.  Try a couple of different ways to buy your auto insurance but ALWAYS include option 5.  There you will receive multiple quotes and get that agent’s best deal.

If you live in Texas, call my agency in Lubbock for your auto insurance.  Our number is 806-798-7800 and our website is www.hettlerinsurance.com We represent 13 different carriers for auto insurance including the big names like Progressive, Travelers, MetLife, and Hartford to lesser known names like Republic, Foremost, Unitrin, and Safeco (and we represent 20 property insurance carriers).  You can also quote a few of our carriers online at our site by clicking on the auto quotes link on our home page.  Happy shopping!!!!!!