Hack Your Money: How to Lower My Car Insurance Bill

As you all know, I’ve been searching for “novelty and progress.” So I picked up this book. I then proceeded to read the whole thing in one week. Next up, I panicked about how little money I have saved or invested. By the end of the week, I was thinking about how to lower my car insurance bill. And I cut my bill in half!

What I Learned from the Book

Phew! A lot happened in a short amount of time! The book was all about cutting your experiences in order to live off less, maximizing your income (in a variety of ways, including launching side hustles), and then investing, investing, investing your money so it makes money off itself.

I have so many swirling thoughts in my head right now. Should Matt and I have spent our 20s and 30s following the strategies in the book so we would’ve been financially independent by now? Are frequent vacations an integral part of our happiness as a family? How can we save more? How can we earn more income?

Plus I had so many disgusted thoughts about the ways in which folks get to become millionaires through the stock market which is essentially predicated on extracting more, doing more, exploiting more in order to make a few people rich.

But then I’m panicking about my sons’ futures, since this generation is the first generation that isn’t doing as well as their parents. And so many millennials are living with their parents right now. And it’s hard to get a job. Plus the cost of college is rising. And climate change is coming and will change the landscape of our children’s lives in unfathomable ways. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away and now we are a huge step closer to our dystopian future.

Like I said, I had a lot of swirling thoughts this week! #anxietymuch?

So let’s get back to how all of this is connected to my question about how to lower my car insurance bill.

One of the first things I did after finishing the book was to go back to our budget and see where I could cut more.

I remembered that a friend of mine shops around to compare car insurance rates every 6 months. I couldn’t be bothered with this activity for the past 20 years, but now I’m on a mission to save more and invest more!

Steps I Took to Lower My Car Insurance Bill

1. I pulled up my current policy to make sure I was able to compare apples to apples.
2. I used this website to generate other insurance options. The only option it gave me was Progressive.
3. I went through the Progressive website to generate a new quote. I went through my policy line by line to make sure I was getting comparable coverage.
4. Then, I set the policy to start September 30.
5. I called GEICO and let them know I wanted to cancel my policy. They warned me about not comparing apples to apples. They warned me about the potential for my Progressive expenses to shoot up after the first six months. I asked them to cancel my policy effective October 1. They will be sending me a prorated refund for the remainder of my policy.
6. I downloaded the Progressive app and now have my policy cards on my phone (which is allowable in Texas). I paid for six months in full in order to avoid extra installment costs.

We were paying $751 for 6 months to cover two cars (electric Fiat + Honda Fit) and two adults. We are now paying $360 for 6 months.

I’m totally expecting this rate to jump up during the next enrollment period. That’s why I DID NOT select automatic renewal. I want to force myself to shop around the next time it’s renewal time. I’m excited!