Progressive Insurance Just Bought Me Dinner
I just saved $35 that I was about to put on my credit card with a five-minute phone call to Progressive auto insurance. I even changed a poopy diaper while I was doing it, which makes it the first time I have earned money while doing that since my high school babysitting days.
The reason I called Progressive was to ask them why, since my old car becomes cheaper to replace every single day, my auto insurance premium doesn’t go down every time I renew. Think about it — if I bought a new, more expensive car, the premium would certainly go up. I bought my car for $12,000, and it say right on Progressive’s site that it’s now worth $5,000. Why on earth do I have to pay the same premium for a $5,000 car as I paid for a $12,000 car?
Well, the Progressive agent I spoke to politely declined to give me a discount just for driving a clunker. (One that doesn’t qualify for the program, I might add.) But she did come up with several other discounts that will save me $35 on the six-month payment I’m about to make. I’ll be saving $70 a year — while not a gigantic savings, it’s the equivalent of a nice dinner out and I’m not gonna turn that down.
The discounts were:
* $21 for having a bachelor’s degree. See, I always knew going to journalism school would pay off! This is a new discount they hadn’t offered before, and the agent didn’t know if it was unique to Progressive or if other companies are doing it to. Worth asking about.
* $2 homeowner’s discount. We were renters when we started the policy, and we never thought to update our status with them when we move.
* $12 for paperless statements, which I prefer aynway.
My bill also says I can get a $39 discount for signing up for Electronic Funds Transfer, but I’m not really clear if this is instead of the $45 discount I get for paying the full six months up front or in addition to it.
Coming on the heels of the news that you can save hundreds on your ComCast bill just by asking, this makes me want to sit down and call ALL the companies that bill me and just flat out ask for reductions.
source : www.chicagonow.com
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