At 23-years-old, I sought to get off my parents car insurance plan. This post chronicles the process I went through to get insured for just $18 per month. Most people spend more than that on coffee.

What I want to say right away is there is no short cut to this process. I too hoped for a simple way of getting the cheapest car insurance possible. I spent hours searching for a conclusive post, a simple calculator, or an agent who wouldn’t try to upsell me.

At the end of the day, I found there is no easy way. I’m now 25-years-old and there is still no easy way. You may think filling this void in the market would make a good business opportunity. However, it’s not. Maybe in the future it can be, but for now there are just too many variables. This is why it is beneficial to use an online service to find the cheapest auto insurance nationwide.

The Variables

• What insurance companies are available in your state?
• How does one measure the quality of customer service? Is that important to you?
• Are you comfortable filling out most forms online?
• This is the biggest variable: discounts. Each insurers offer different discounts. A $50 policy with one company make it drop to a $40 policy with the discounts. However, a $90 policy may drop to a $35 policy with another company. This is the biggest reason why aggregation software is hard to create.

Your approach to finding car insurance

First off, realize that humans are expensive. This means you shouldn’t be using insurance agents. They only inflate the price of insurance. It’s a dying career. Also, it’s super annoying when they bother you. Overly eager commission hunters are the worst, aren’t they? Also, I found that talking to insurance agents resulted in a lot of spam email as well. Very frustrating.

Once you’re settled in front of your computer, you can move onto step 2. Step 2 is more about not doing something. Don’t try using aggregation websites. We haven’t figured out how to develop good ones yet. Instead, find lists online revealing all the insurance companies that cover drivers in your state. For me, there were about 15 to choose from. I was able to quickly eliminate 5 or 6 of them because I didn’t feel like entrusting a noob with my insurance coverage. I love giving newcomers a chance but this was my first insurance policy on my own – we don’t need  two people who don’t know what they’re doing.

The next step is to decide the amount of insurance you want. This will help when you’re gathering quotes. Find out state minimums. Then, see if you want to go higher. I didn’t go any higher than state minimums. It’s because I don’t have a commute via car. I didn’t figure the chance of me causing a massive, multi-car, multi-person disaster was very likely. Determine as well what types of coverage you’re going after. For me and my $5,000 car that rarely gets driven out of the garage, I opted for liability only. I’m comfortable with that. If you have an expensive car, opt for full coverage.

Once you have narrowed your list and decided on your coverage, it’s time to get quotes. Go through each company’s website and have it spit out a quote.

After the website has given you a quote, give the company a call. Call in and chat with a representative. Not only does this give you a feel for their customer service, it allows you to ask if there are any discounts you may not be aware of. Upon calling my insurance company, I actually shaved another $10 off my quote!

If you’re like me, you will probably have a lot of similar quotes at this point. I had 3 that were all very close – around $20-$25 per month for liability coverage. Since the money difference was so small, I went with the company I felt would serve me the best.

I’m extremely happy with my car insurance. Customer service is fantastic, the price is low, their website rocks, and honestly (keep in mind I’m a very picky person) I can’t think of one single complaint. I want the same for you.

The process is far from automated but it can be tackled in just a few hours. Isn’t it worth giving up a few hours of your life to attain the best insurance possible? I thought so. Happy hunting.

 

–Will