Raising the deductible is one of those things I keep circling back to. I get tempted by the lower monthly bill, but then I imagine getting into a fender-bender and suddenly having to cough up $1000 or more out of pocket. It’s a trade-off, for sure. What I’ve done before is actually run the numbers—like, if I save $20 a month by going with a higher deductible, it takes over four years just to “break even” if you never file a claim. But if you’re accident-prone… it might not be worth it.
I’ve also noticed some insurers push the “bundle and save” angle pretty hard, but when you break it down, sometimes the added stuff (like rental reimbursement) costs more than if you just paid for a rental yourself once every few years. There was a time my old car broke down and I used the roadside assistance—turns out my credit card would’ve covered it anyway. Kind of felt silly paying double.
Has anyone actually tracked how much they’ve spent on these add-ons versus what they’ve used? Sometimes it looks good on paper, but reality can be different.