MAIN Your Money Insurance

Get the Most for Your Insurance Payments

Are you thinking about getting life insurance? Do you clip coupons? Buy in bulk? Tend to wait until something you want goes on sale before buying it, and take advantage of multi-line discounts for your insurance needs?

If so, congratulations on being a dedicated bargain shopper. You're not cheap, but want to get the most for your money, so you're smart about how you spend it.  

Multiple line discounts are a great way to save money when you're dealing with home owners and auto policies, but when it comes to life insurance it's a very different story.

Life insurance premiums have been dropping for a decade, and they're expected to fall another 3 percent this year, according to the Insurance Information Institute.   But to take advantage of these discounts, you need a little industry know how or help from experts.

"Life insurance isn't one of those policies that you get a discount on from your auto/home insurer!  In fact, most life policies offered through your property/casualty agent are typically overpriced relative to the competitive products offered by life insurance specialists like AccuQuote.com," says Byron Udell, founder and CEO of AccuQuote, a Web based life insurance company that offers free online quotes from multiple insurance carriers.    

Take a look at the following example.  

Let's say you're age 42, in very good health, and are looking for $500,000 of 20-year level term insurance.  If you went to one of the well-known national insurance companies that specializes in auto and homeowners insurance, you would pay about $680 per year, or $13,600 in total over the 20-year term.

If you worked with a multi-carrier broker, you would likely have found that the same exact coverage could have been purchased for only $460 per year or $9,200 in total over the twenty-year term.  

Savings: $220 per year, or $4,400 over the 20 years.

"Life insurance is such a bargain right now," says Udell, "you can buy three times as much coverage as you could in 1994."

Bottom line:  unless you want to overpay, before you sign on the dotted line for life insurance with your auto agent, shop around and you'll find out that you can do better --  a lot better.  

Related Sites of Interest:

Insurance price war, low rates spell savings

Life Insurance- How Much Do You Need?

Understanding Life Insurance