BUT, one exciting thing that happened this week is that I saved over $200 on my car & home insurance renewal this year. My policy expires in February every year, and last year I did some research and found that I could save some money if I shopped around. So I decided that when the renewal came up, I was going to see about switching.

A little history first: I’ve been with my current insurance company for almost 7 years now, because for the longest time they were the cheapest. They gave me good discounts when I earned them, and offered me comprehensive coverage.

My university alumni association has deals with various companies to offer its alumni discounts on products, and one of them is with an insurance company. Last summer I was curious, and so got a quote. Imagine my surprise when I could get the same coverage and save almost $150 a year. I made a mental note to remember to call when my policy was up for renewal in Feb’09.

And here we are.

A few weeks ago I did the online quote thing, and got an excellent quote for my car. Since I live in the city of Toronto, I knew my rate was going to be a smidge higher than elsewhere, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how much cheaper it was. Now it was almost $175 cheaper than my current policy. Interesting. But I knew that I could get it down a bit more with my alumni discount plus adding in my home insurance. So I called them up about a week later to talk to a representative.

Would you know it, after all the discounts and such, I’m now saving over $200 a year? For the same coverage as I’ve got now? I’m impressed. Needless to say I told the rep to sign me up and I made the switch.

Chalk one up to me and my research. Boo-yah.

This is an official post from Adventures in Debt.

1. something that seduces or has the quality to seduce
2. the desire to have or do something that you know you should avoid; “he felt the temptation and his will power weakened”

This is how the dictionary defines temptation. I define temptation as the shiny new black car sitting in my driveway. Yes, you heard me, the shiny, new black car sitting in my driveway. In anticipation of my old truck’s lease ending next year, I went around to some dealerships to meet some salesmen and gather some business cards. I wanted to cultivate some relationships with them so that when it actually came time to buy, I would know who wouldn’t treat me like a ‘mark’ and actually help me make a good deal for me. But I ended up buying a car right then and there! How did that happen? Let me count the ways:

1. The new dealership was willing to help me get out of my old lease ( Here’s where good customer service will win out every single time.) The salesman listened to me and my situation, and tried everything he could to help me out.
2. I finally test drove the car. This particular model was on my short-list of cars that I wanted to test drive, so I figured I would get this one out of the way then.
3. The salesman I was speaking to was actually the Lease Manager at the dealership, so he knew a lot more about the intricacies of leases than most salesmen.

In the end, it’s actually a better deal for me than my previous car (and no, I’m not just rationalizing things, regardless of what you’re thinking right now.) Why is this a better deal?

• Since I spend a lot of time in my car, having one that is more comfortable and enjoyable to drive is important to me.
• This car is cheaper than my old one, yet more reliable than the old one (remember the mysterious starting problem that took 5 visits to the garage to fix? Or the two windshields I had to replace due to cracks? Or the broken mirror that I had to replace? Those last two set me back to the tune of over $800, so getting a more reliable vehicle will save me that money.)
• The lease rate I am getting on the new one is lower than my old car (a difference of 3%, which can be a lot over the course of the term.)

You may think this is just me wanting a new shiny car, and while yes, there is a bit of that in this whole deal, the main impetus was the fact that my supposedly new car was reliable and comfortable to drive. I am willing to spend a little more for comfort and reliability at this stage of my life. This new vehicle will not cause me to make any drastic measures in my spending habits, although it has reminded me that I need to go over everything anyways to see where I can save some money. That is the plan this weekend, and I’ll be posting about those ideas in the next few days. Stay tuned.

This is an official post from Adventures in Debt.

With the recent cold snap we’re having right now, it’s hard to keep the mirror in place with the tape because the cold just makes tape un-sticky. Today while driving home from work, part of the tape came off and the mirror rattled all the way home. As it would happen, today is one of the days the dealership is open late, so I thought I’d pop in and see what they could do for me. Buddy comes out with me after I explained the problem, he takes a look and says “Oh yeah, we can just replace the glass, no problem.”

I took a deep breath and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

What a huge sigh of relief! I knew that replacing just the glass would be significantly cheaper than replacing the whole unit, so I was glad to hear that. We then went to speak to the Parts Manager, and he looked it up and said that the glass costs all of $77. And then the Service Manager said he’d install it for me and save the labour cost! Most excellent. I am pleased about that, as it saves me about $350, which I can leave in my Emergency Fund.

This is an official post from Adventures in Debt.