You can love fine cars, big houses and expensive toys, but sometimes we don’t consider the added expense or hidden costs of our expensive addictions. Of course a Porsche is no different. When it comes to auto insurance for your dream ride, or even just an “average” Porsche, the costs can be crazy.
I recently saw a Top 20 Most Expensive Cars to Insure for 2009 list on a web site and a Porsche 911 was parked right at #10. I think it had an average annual premium of something like $1800. That’s a hefty chunk of change. Interestingly enough, the Nissan GT-R was at the #1 spot at over $2500 per year to insure on average.
Fortunately there are lots of options with insurance these days. Shayna over at NetQuote.com asked if I would do a little review of their service and give my thoughts on the site. Before you bail on this post because you’re not looking for insurance, stick with me. There’s a little something in here for everyone and will be worth the extra 5 minutes it will take you to read the rest of the post.
When you get to NetQuote.com, you can see from the screen shot, that it’s a nice clean layout with one purpose in mind: getting you a quote for your insurance needs. To get started, all you need to do is plug in your zip code and select the type of insurance you’re interested in getting a quote for. Pretty simple.
Here’s what I like about NetQuote.com:
- Multiple companies available for quotes – I loved that commercial a few years ago about insurance companies beating down the door to get my business. In similar fashion, NetQuote.com will give you quotes for 5 or more companies to help you get the best rate.
- Great suggestions on who to think about for insurance – I tend to get stuck in a rut when thinking about things like insurance. Lots of times there other companies that should be considered that could help save money or offer better service, but they just don’t cross my mind when I go to look for something like insurance which happens maybe once every few years.
- Easy to navigate site – If a site selling a service like this can’t get their focus narrowed down to make it easy for me, they don’t even deserve a chance at providing me with a quote in my opinion. NetQuote.com was drop dead simple in my opinion.
- The commercial cracked me up – I’m sure lots of you are thinking “What the heck?!”, but this is something everyone should check out. I liked the commercial (you can view it on NetQuote.com’s site on the right hand column on the home page). I think it’s every kid’s dream (and probably every adult’s too!) to have money come shooting out of everyday places like a toaster. The kid wiping his mouth with money was awesome. Reminded me of the E-Trade Insurance commercial with the patient in the emergency room… Nurse: “Does he have insurance?”, Doctor: “What for? He’s got money coming out the wazoo!”
What I think needs to be improved:
- I had to enter info twice – After filling out the forms for a quote, I was presented with links to multiple insurance companies. Very cool. BUT… I then had to enter the same info on the insurance company’s site to actually GET the quote. That was a bummer. NetQuote.com needs to work out passing my info to the insurance company, with my permission of course, to streamline the process.
- I want easier comparisons – I love the power of pulling quotes from multiple companies easily, but I’d like a process that is more aggregated rather than having to fill out forms for multiple companies to generate my own comparison. Again, all about making it easy on the consumer.
All in all, if I were in the market for auto insurance, or any other type of insurance for that matter, I wouldn’t think twice about giving NetQuote.com a shot. I don’t know that it’d save me $500, but I can’t imagine it not saving me at least a little bit. The improvement points aren’t showstoppers, just points to be aware of if you give the service a try.
Check out that commercial and the site here: NetQuote.com.
Interesting review. Not surprising the 911 is on the list, but I think the Nissan GT-R is an obvious #1. Having a supercar that does 0-60 in the low-3’s and is within financial reach of a lot of 20-somethings (with good jobs) wanting to act out their Fast & Furious fantasies is a pretty dangerous proposition.
It’ll be interesting to see how many GT-Rs end up totaled. Especially if you could calculate it relative to that same number of other exotics.
It is something we have to think about (insurance) and you are right Ryan, We forget to consider that insurance is something to shop for,compare for pricing, service….Just like anything else.
I didnt know there were any supercars that came from Japan. All i see around here are honda civics with body kits still in primer, stock wheels and a fart can out back!…supercar in progress? lol
I’m 21, a guy [duh], no tickets, points, dui’s, etc. yet my insurance sucks!! Currently have Geico, will be checking out that site.
@Joe – I used to feel the same way. I was with one brand (major, top 5 insurer) for a long time (it was my wife’s) and so I just assumed we were getting a fine (at least market rate) deal. I did some calling around and was able to find my current insurance agent (major, top 5, insurance company) and we are now paying about 30% (yes, 70% less than I was before) for a vastly superior policy with much more coverage. And that is after I called my former agent and asked him to review our policy for any cost savings opportunities (you should start by doing that with yours because they will at least knock off a few bucks a month generally). He knocked off about 3-5% and I emailed him about 5 minutes later to tell him to cancel all of our policies with him. Key point being, do your research – whether through a site or through just calling the major competitors in your area. Be an active price-seeker as opposed to a passive price-taker. It doesn’t take that much time really (about 5 mins. on the phone with an agent) and they’ll send you a quote. Get your current policy emailed to you by your current agent first though so you know you are comparing apples-to-apples in coverage. You can just read off your current policy to a competing agent, he can plug you into his computer, and in a few minutes get back to you with the price on the same exact policy.
Boy, that post turned out to be about 20x longer than I had initially intended. And no, I am not an insurance agent. I don’t know where you live Joe, but if you are in the Portland-metro area I can give you the number of my agent’s group. He was about 30-70% less than all of the others I called. And after my accident last week I found out that they are really good at their jobs.
OK, maybe 30x longer.
just one of those increased costs people forget when making a big purchase – along with the license fee (depending on the state), premium gas, higher cost for tires, oil changes, and any kind of maintenance or parts…
you’re so right mitchell. so right.
Thanks for the advice Andrew. Unfortunately I’m a long way from the Portland area! Connecticut to be exact. I heard car insurance decreases dramatically for someone at age 25? I guess thats one thing to look forward to in four years.
Good review and they sound like it would be worth checking them out.
@Joe – it only really decreases if you ask for it. When I turned 25 I expected some windfall in savings on my car insurance and it doesn’t happen. From my experience, the squeaky wheel gets the grease (or the reduction in premiums as the case may be).