Shopping For Insurance

The only thing worse than shopping for insurance is an appointment with the gastroenterologist and talking about an endoscopy and colonoscopy. Yeah, it's that bad.

I had been with State Farm for almost two years, and when I started with them, they were less expensive than any other company, including the current one at the time, USAA. Keep in mind that to have insurance with USAA, you had to be a service member, or be in the family of one. I became one because my late mother married one, so my sister and I became automatic members.

USAA touts there service and prices, and at the time they were the best prices. However, their prices kept going up, and I shopped around, and State Farm beat them by a country mile. At the first renewal in 2023, their prices went up, but were still lower than anyone else. In 2024, there was yet another price increase, and I called my local office, and all they said was it's because New York allowed a price increase to go through. 

So when I got my 2026 documents a couple of weeks ago, there was yet another price increase! Enough was enough, and I started to shop around. Those comparison websites like Insurify, Jerry, etc are a total waste of time. They are limited to show prices only in your geographic area, so the same companies started showing up, and the prices were different. 

I called USAA, Amica and The Hartford by AARP for auto and home prices. All of them were higher than what I would be paying State Farm even with new increase. Boy, was I disappointed.

I tried to get a quote from Allstate, who dropped me about 10 years ago, but couldn't do it online for some reason, and an agency in Valley Stream tried called me numerous times, but since they are nowhere near me, I didn't answer and blocked them.

Then I called Progressive, and even though Flo wasn't available to talk (just kidding) I did speak to a couple of very nice customer service reps who gave me quotes. Home insurance would be $100 a year less than the new State Farm rate, and about $1200 a year less on the cars. So yes, I went with them.

Then the fun starts with cancelling my policies with State Farm. All I was told I needed was proof of insurance, so emailed them the ID cards. I got a reply back saying I needed the Declarations page, so I called and emailed the girl I spoke to on Friday asking for it. Hopefully it will show up sometime today.

So my advice when shopping for insurance; don't bother with any of those comparison sites, they are a waste of time. Wouldn't you rather save money by making some phone calls than sitting on your computer and getting eye strain?

 

Old Friends

How long do we keep friends for? My longest tenured friend is Irwin, who I met when I moved from Spring Valley, NY to Long Island around 1974 (That's him on the left, I'm in the middle). I recently found his cell number, and left a message, and last night he called me back.

He claimed the message was staticy, and couldn't understand it until he listened several times. We hadn't talked for over 5 years, so I thought it was time. Hopefully we'll make lunch plans for next week. 

My other long tenured friend is Danny, who I met sometime in the 1980's when we worked for the same company. My wife and I became good friends with him and his wife, and we always went out together. (That's Danny on the right)

The three of us guys also went out to lunch, and our favorite place was Pizza & Pasta in Westbury, NY which no longer exists. They had $5 personal pizza's and pasta bowls, so it was a great value.

Danny and his wife moved to North Carolina several years ago, and though we talk on the phone, it's simply not the same as being together. He recently got hurt at work, and is home for awhile, so I gave him some advice on hiring a lawyer to handle is Workers Compensation case, and applying for Social Security Disability. Neither of those should be done without a lawyer.

Finally, there's my friend Steve who lives in Florida. We knew each other in high school, even though we went to different schools. We became friends because we both had CB radios when it was a thing in the 1970's. One of the good things about Steve was he was the manager of movie theatre. I have no idea how many movies I got to see for free, but it was quite a few. After high school, we lost touch.

Let's fast forward to around 2002 when MySpace was thing. I was sitting at work, looking around the site when I see a picture and name. The name looked right, but this guy was bald, with a full beard and mustache. The guy I knew had a full head of hair and no facial hair. So I moved on and didn't think much of it.

Lo and behold, the next day, Steve sends me a friend request! It was the same guy, and we've been in touch ever since. He is a private detective, and I occasionally ask him to find other old friends for me.

Just today, I asked him to find a guy I knew when I lived in Poughkeepsie, NY in the early 1970's, Jack Greenblatt. I remember so much about him, such as his family and even his dog. He had two younger brothers, Harold and Gary, and an older sister, Diane. I don't remember the dog's name, but she had some sort of kidney issue that had her smelling like urine all the time.

As we were on the phone, he messaged me some information he found. Unfortunately, none of them were good leads, except for MAYBE one for his sister. I left a message, and maybe I'll get lucky.

If I'm lucky, I get to keep friends for a long time. Recently, I wrote about the people we met on our recent cruise, Dorothy and Mark and hopefully they will be life long friends because we get along so well, and Dorothy says Mark and I were separated at birth because we have so much in common. I agree with that!

Remember, good friends are like a well built house. You'll have them forever.