How I saved over $1,470 on homeowners and car insurance

As an insurance reporter, I teach people how to save money on their policies without sacrificing coverage options or customer service. But I'm also a normal American with a car and a mortgage, who herself has to buy insurance.

Among my key bits of advice is to always shop around: Some experts recommend switching companies every year to get the most competitive price. I don't know if you have to be that proactive, but insurers don't treat every risk the same and prices can vary widely by location, age or even the time of year.

So, getting regular price quotes from competitors can uncover big savings.

My fiance and I bought a new house this month and, by taking that advice to heart, I wound up not just saving a big chunk of change on homeowners insurance, but on our car insurance, as well.

With only about an hour's worth of work, I saved us more than $1,470 in premiums for one year.

We just closed on a median-priced 1950s split-level in the eastern suburbs of Cincinnati. Our lender asked who we were going with for homeowners insurance, which is a pretty standard part of the home-buying process.

I wasn't unhappy with our provider but I figured it was a good time to shop around: I identified some top companies that issue home policies in Ohio, including Amica, which has a great reputation for customer service.

To get a rate quote, you need to submit basic information like the street address and what year the house was built. You also have to provide some niche details, like the building materials used and the age of the roof, but most of this can be found in the listing and inspection report.

Amica's quote felt fair, but I wanted to see if there was a cheaper option out there.

So, I checked with New Jersey-based NJM. It also has good customer service but is known for being particularly affordable in my area. As it turns out, the same coverage Amica was offering was $43 a month cheaper with NJM.

And there was a lot more customization available — like protection against water backup and coverage for sheds and other unattached structures.

My fiance and I each have our own car and they're both under the same policy with Progressive. It was about to come due for renewal and, riding high on my little home insurance win, I decided to see if we could save here, too.

We've been with Progressive for two years. The rates have been affordable and I like managing my policy on the Progressive app, which earned the top spot in J.D. Power's 2024 digital experience survey.

My next stop was NJM, our new homeowners insurance company. Getting multiple lines of insurance from the same company, known as bundling, can often result in a generous discount.

It also makes it easier to deal with one provider through one app and one customer service line.

While a growing number of auto insurance companies have switched to six-month terms, including Progressive, NJM has stuck to the 12-month model. That means your rate is locked in for twice as long — a big bonus at a time when car insurance rates are regularly increasing.

Between NJM's longer term and 25% bundling discount, my quote ended up being just 8% more for the entire year than what Progressive was offering for six months.

As a result, we'd save close to $80 a month on car insurance with NJM, or $960 over the next 12 months.

It's one thing to lecture readers on the importance of shopping around for the best insurance rates. It's another to see that cold hard cash sitting in your bank account.

Between the $960 I saved on auto insurance and $516 we netted on our homeowners policy, we were looking at an extra $1,476 for 2025.

With our wedding next month, that's money my fiancé and I can definitely use.

At a moment when tariffs, a volatile economy and climate change are making insurance costs less and less predictable, it turned out to be a small investment that paid off in spades.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every insurance review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of insurance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

Catch up on CNBC Select’s in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money. And follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.