It’s pretty astounding how car insurance costs have skyrocketed. And now that most families have more than one car, the burden is multiplied even further. And, of course, the insurance agents are often looked on as just trying to sell you stuff you don’t really need. Fortunately there are good agents that keep the customer’s interests first.

Imagine then having your monthly car insurance premium jump over $75 when the first six month renewal comes around. I had specifically asked the agent if we were getting a teaser rate when we were shopping for a new company in February. He said no, this is what it will be unless there’s some change. Great. Then why was I being hit with such a big increase? I didn’t change anything. What was going on?

I knew there was a big discount for automatic payment, but we enrolled in that right from the start and it was in effect. I called the agent. After checking the account, he said you aren’t enrolled in e-billing. You need to go online and accept paperless bills and notifications. I thought I had that but I didn’t! Pretty big bite for paperless policy.

Well, ok, I signed up. Now can I get the discount? No, not until the policy renews again in six months! What? Yep, it’s right there in the small print. No changes until renewal.

But my agent didn’t settle for that and really wanted to help me out! He said call my supervisor and she will take care of it. So I did and I’m glad I did because as we spoke and she was telling me she was going to re-write the policy, I said, you know we really appreciate you doing this because we’re seniors and this is a big hit. And besides, my wife has had her car for seven months and it only has 1,600 miles on it. Even the other car is over two years old and has less than 18,000 miles. The national average is 12,000 miles per year.

The agent was listening and she responded. She picked right up on that comment and said, you should be in the pay-by-the-mile program. We spoke some more, and it became clear that we could save a lot.

A few days later we received a device to plug into the onboard digital port of each car and our savings began. We’re averaging under $5 per day, including the daily charge and mileage, for two cars. At that rate we’ll save over $100 a month. Even if we take a trip or go someplace special, we’re going to be way ahead.

If you don’t drive a lot of miles day to day, ask about a pay-by-mile program. At Allstate it’s called Milewise. The device reports the miles and the app tells you how much you’ve spent and when your account will be charged. It also can let you know about service needed and even where you parked.

Pretty awesome and saving big time. I am very grateful to my Allstate agent. God bless you big time as well!