I discovered from personal experience how easy it is to save money on this. When I first bought insurance, I shopped around and ended up buying 21st Century, one of the worst companies on the planet. They lost my paperwork for THREE MONTHS, overcharged me, and sent me about 3 letters per week in the mail. Leave me alone you horrible company.

If you qualify, USAA is the way to go. My insurance quote from them was 20% less than the next lowest I got (Geico). Unfortunately, you can only get it if you're in one of three categories:

* Active duty officers and enlisted personnel; National Guard, Reserve officers and enlisted personnel; Officer candidates in commissioning programs

* Adult children and former spouses of USAA auto or property policyholders

* Former USAA auto or property policyholders

I qualified because my parents use it. USAA's service is truly unbeatable. Phone is: 1-800-531-8080. It might be worth it give them a call to see if there is any other way to qualify.

Anyway, I feel ridiculous saying this, but I saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico. Seriously. I called up a bunch of places and ended up saving about $175 per 6 months, or $350 per year for a few hours of calls. Plus, I’ll save that much every year, making it a pretty good rate.

Now, to today’s way to save money: Here are the phone numbers for some of the biggest auto insurers. (I included only phone numbers on purpose, because clicking around all their shiny websites is a great way to get distracted and do nothing. Plus, the best deals come from talking to someone on the phone.) Call them up and spend an hour figuring out which is the best value. Switching is easier than you think, and it’s a one-time thing.

Geico: 1-800-861-8380
State Farm: 1-877-734-2265
Allstate: 1-877-572-5268
Progressive: 1-800-776-4737
AAA: 1-877-323-4222

PS–The best line to use is not, “Is that the best price?” but “What other discounts are available?”