Study: Insurance discounts being overlooked

Don’t complain about paying too much money for your homeowner and auto insurance policies if you’re not exploring all of the discounts that might be available to lower your rates. That’s the core message of a new survey released by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, known in the industry as the “Big I.” It asked home and auto owners if they believed they were taking full advantage of all the discounts they qualified for on their policies and the answers collected jive with the longtime trend of consumers not reading the fine print. More than 34% of respondents, representing 53 million households, admitted they are probably not taking advantage of these discounts or didn’t know they even existed. Regarding auto coverage, more than 20% of those surveyed were on the same page. “The latest survey shows what we suspected: many Americans could be foolishly throwing money away because they fail to ask about insurance discounts for which they may qualify,” says Madelyn Flannagan, Big I vice president. “Companies often offer some unique, regional, very specific and, at times, quirky discounts.” To read the full story, click here.—Jeremy Alford