I made a pretty big financial mistake for four years straight. What I did was go with the first car insurance company that gave me a quote, since the quote sounded reasonable. Of course, I didn’t know what reasonable was, since I had no idea that cheap auto insurance in Texas is actually really cheap. Much cheaper than I’d expected, actually. So what I ended up doing was paying $65 a month for liability on one old car.

I finally decided to compare rates. After looking at rates from several insurance companies, I got liability AND uninsured driver for under $35. And who knows? There may even be a car insurance company out there who can beat $35. I’m sure that if I did enough online research, I could beat it.

So, over four years, I basically overpaid $1200, just because I didn’t shop around. My monthly rate didn’t seem like much, but you can see how easily those amounts add up. I could have bought a new flat screen television or a refrigerator for that price!

So the moral of this sad tale is that one should always, always compare insurance prices. This is best done online, unless you particularly enjoy receiving the hard sell in numerous insurance offices or waiting on hold forever on the phone. Online insurance quotes are fast and easy, and hey, if you sock away what you’re saving, perhaps you can buy a new refrigerator!