Progress in Paradise...

Progress in Paradise...  Three hours – that's what it took to work out all the changes required for our insurance yesterday.  I (naively) thought that transferring our car insurance from the carrier we used in California to our new carrier in Utah would be simple and easy.  Oh, no.  No way!

First, there are about six zillion options on car insurance.  It's been many, many years since I last reviewed car insurance in detail – I've just sort of been on autopilot while I was working.  It never seemed like it was worth bothering with.  After a couple hours of working at it, we've now got coverage that's better suited to our needs – and we're spending less money to get it.  Win! 

That was only part of the complication, though.  Another twist was my discovery that standard car policies don't cover the use of a trailer.  Adding coverage for the trailer was cheap – but I had no idea I even needed it!  Then there was the coverage for the shed.  The structural coverage was easy enough, but the contents are another story.  There are different coverages needed for tools, ATVs, and tractors.  Tractor attachments fall into a gray area.  This all took time to sort out. 

Then there were a bunch of discounts available for certain combinations of coverage (especially basic homeowner and automobile).  When I left, there were still a few unresolved issues – liability umbrella and some details around tractor coverage.  So I'm not quite finished with the insurance mess yet :)

One thing that surprised me: the agents were unfamiliar with high deductible rates.  On talking with them, I found out that nearly all their clients want policies with the lowest possible deductibles, apparently unaware of just how much more expensive such policies were.  Even the agents seemed unaware of how much less expensive high deductible policies were.  For someone like us who very rarely make claims on homeowner or automobile policies (two claims in 45 years!), the savings on high deductible polices is substantial.  We did the same thing on healthcare insurance, for the same reasons.

The rest of the day Debbie and I installed new fixtures in the upstairs bathroom.  We didn't quite finish, but we'll do so today.  The new stuff looks way nicer than the old!  The faucets operate with a satisfying smoothness and solidity; the old ones were creaky and felt like you were sliding pieces of plastic against each other (which probably is exactly what they were)...