Is There a Downside to Switching Your Insurance Frequently?
You keep finding lower rates every time you shop for insurance. Is there any reason not to take the better deal?
You've heard the advice to shop around for new quotes once in a while to see if you can beat your insurance company's renewal offer. But what if you shop around ahead of every renewal? And what if you get a better quote somewhere else every time? Is there any reason you shouldn't hop from one provider to another every year (or every six months) to get the best price?
The short answer is no. If you're constantly seeing lower prices elsewhere, there's not really a good reason to choose the more expensive premium just for the sake of not being a policy hopper. Despite the loyalty discounts your current provider might be offering, loyalty rarely pays in insurance.
With that said, there are some tradeoffs you make by frequently switching your insurance, and there are some considerations to keep in mind before jumping ship. Here are some of the things you might be sacrificing by switching – whether or not they matter depends on your situation.
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You'll lose out on certain discounts
Say you previously bundled your home and auto insurance to take advantage of a discount your insurance company was offering. Now, you've found cheaper car insurance through another provider, but your home insurance isn't up for renewal yet, or you still like the price you're paying where you're at.
Before making the switch, find the breakdown of how your current premium was calculated. If you've bundled multiple policies, get the breakdown of each policy in the bundle.
As an example, I bundled home and auto last year because the same company offered the best price for both – and it was even better after the bundle discount. This year, I was able to find a lower price on car insurance from another provider.
Before switching, I checked my current paperwork to see how much of a discount I was getting on home insurance by bundling. The discount was about $200. Meanwhile, the competitor's quote for car insurance was about $500 lower than the renewal offer. So I switched. Even though my home insurance premium will go up a bit when I lose that discount, I'm still paying less overall than I would be if I'd kept the bundle.
But, if the price difference you see isn't enough to offset any discounts you'll lose, it's probably better to stay.
Another common discount that you could lose when you switch is your loyalty discount. This is a modest premium discount that sometimes gets bigger the longer you've stayed with the same company. But the loyalty discount isn't always better than the introductory rates a company will offer to win over a new customer, so it's always worth shopping around at each renewal.
You may not be eligible for certain benefits
Beyond certain discounts, there are other perks sometimes tied to how long you've been with your insurance company. The main one here is accident forgiveness. This is a benefit that basically shields your policy from a rate hike following an accident.
Sometimes, it's based solely on your driving record. In that case, whether you're a new or long-term customer doesn't matter. What matters is how long it's been since you last had an accident. But some companies restrict accident forgiveness to customers who've been with the same provider for a certain length of time.
Is accident forgiveness worth staying with your current insurance provider despite the higher premium? That depends. If you don't have any accidents on your record and you're a safe driver, maybe not. If you've already had an accident and used this perk to keep your premium lower, you might want to stay to keep it active.
Do you know whether the new, lower quote you found already factors in that accident on your record? If not, the lower premium from the competitor is likely to jump once the company checks your claim history. If yes, then your current provider's accident forgiveness isn't really saving you money.
Make sure the coverage is comparable before switching insurance
If you get a new quote that's a lot lower than your renewal offer, you might be ready to take the leap. But before signing that paperwork, make sure to compare the policies side by side. Is the coverage actually the same? Are there any exclusions the new policy has that the old one doesn't?
If you got a quote for a policy with, say, a higher deductible than you currently have, have you compared that to what your current company would charge if you raised your deductible by the same amount?
Shopping around is a great time to reevaluate your coverage needs and see what tweaks you can make to save. But if you're making any changes to your coverage, get a quote from your current provider for that changed coverage, too. That way, you're comparing apples to apples to make sure you're truly getting the best available price.
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