Yeah, totally worth shopping around—I saved a good chunk just by switching insurers last year. About defensive driving courses...honestly, it depends. My insurer knocked about 5% off for completing one, which isn't huge but adds up over time. I'd say call your insurance first and ask directly. Better to spend 10 mins on the phone than waste an entire Saturday on something that barely makes a dent in your bill, especially here in Hawaii where every dollar counts.
Totally agree on calling first—no point losing a weekend for peanuts. Couple things I'd add:
- Check if your insurer bundles discounts (home/renters + auto). Saved me more than the defensive driving course.
- Also, ask about mileage-based discounts. With Hawaii traffic, we rack up hours, not miles...might help!
Bundling definitely helped us too. Funny story—when we first moved here, we had separate policies for renters and auto. Thought we were being smart shopping around, but turns out bundling them saved us way more. Wish I'd known sooner, would've covered a few extra shave ices a month, haha.
Mileage discounts didn't work out for us though. We live on the Windward side, and between school pickups, errands, and weekend beach trips, those miles add up quicker than you'd think...even with all the time spent sitting in traffic.
- Bundling's definitely the way to go, especially here. We did the same thing—thought separate policies would save us money, but nope, bundling shaved off a good chunk of cash every month.
- Mileage discounts didn't help us either. Between driving from town to North Shore almost every weekend and daily commutes, we rack up miles like crazy too.
- Curious if anyone found luck with defensive driving courses or something similar to offset the "high-risk" label? Heard mixed things about that...
- Defensive driving courses didn't do much for me either—barely made a dent. Honestly, the only thing that really helped was switching to a car with better safety ratings. Insurance companies seem to love that stuff...