Especially when it comes to car insurance. I insured my cars with State Farm from 1989 till last year when we purchased a second car. I decided to shop around when State Farm quoted a much higher rate than I was expecting. I was paying around $85/month for our 2000 Honda Odyssey, but adding a 2000 VW Passat would have raised the premium to nearly $170/month. That didn’t seem right so I called my rep at State Farm and she confirmed the quote was correct. That still seemed high so I made a few calls, researched several companies and gathered a number of quotes based on the same coverage I was quoted from State Farm.

I eventually decided to switch to GMAC Insurance last year mainly because doing so would save me just over $600/year. I don’t understand all the intricacies of how policy premiums are established but a $600 difference was too much to pass up. Under State Farm I had three or four windshields replaced over a 15 year period, but that’s it. No accidents or moving violations.

This past month we got rid of the Passat (long story) and purchased a 2002 BMW 325i. I called my rep at GMAC and was happy to find out that my premium wouldn’t change much. But I figured it wouldn’t hurt to shop around again given the previous savings still fresh in my mind. As I was reading one of the many BMW forums, someone mentioned the excellent service and price they had received at Response Car Insurance. I’d never heard of them before but several other contributors to this message board chimed in with similar positive experiences with them so I figured it was worth requesting a quote.

I didn’t save the $600/year like I did when I left State Farm but I’ll save nearly $500/year by switching from GMAC to Response! It’s definitely taken some time to make this happen. I’ve spent maybe 30 minutes on the phone and another 30 minutes gathering information and filling out forms. But it’s time well spent given the savings. It certainly pays to shop around when the internet makes it so easy to compare quotes from multiple companies.

“And the road got angry….”

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Top Gears sets out on a mission to find out which is the baddest of all. My favorite quote? “The performance figures really are biblical”

–Link to GT
–Link to SLR

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Kim was sorting through a stack of photos last night and came across this picture I took back 1998 when I was in Stuttgart on a business trip. I went out for a walk and suddenly heard the unmistakable exhaust sound that could only come from the 911. I didn’t realize it was the 50th anniversary of the 911 and Porsche had invited a number of 911 owners to parade through the streets of Stuttgart to celebrate. I believe they ended up at the factory where a big party was thrown.

Sorry the scan isn’t the best quality. I snapped this picture with a cheap point and shoot camera.

I enjoyed this interview I came across at the I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog. It tells the story of Courtney Kingston, who left a cushy technology job to run a vineyard in Chile.

“When you come to a crossroads, whatever you do, just don’t stop. Go right, go left, go straight. Whatever way you go…go forward”

The Department of Homeland Security has released a new set of signs to help US Citizens react properly to terrorist threats. For a look at the new signs and someone’s parody of what they mean see this site.

If the weather is overcast with dark skies, look for worms in the grass.

I’ve been using two registry cleaners lately on Windows Vista, but both will run on XP too. For quick clean-ups I still use the excellent CCleaner. For a more extensive cleaning including searches for duplicate and unnecessary files I’ve been using a free product called EasyCleaner. It does the following:

1. Cleans registry
2. Finds/Removes duplicate files
3. Find/Removes unnecessary files
4. Removes invalid shortcuts
5. Clears out IE cookies/history
6. Clears MRUs.

I was reminded yesterday how much I dislike doing business with companies that make it difficult to cancel service. This time it was Scotts Lawn Service which we’ve been using for just over a year. A few days ago a rep from Scotts called to schedule aeration service. I told the guy that I wanted to cancel the service. He said he’s take care of it and enter that information into his computer.

Well, maybe his computer crashed or isn’t connected to the Scotts scheduling system because the next day the aeration team showed up ready to go to town on my lawn. Kim was home and was able to stop them before they began. I made a phone call to Scotts and they brought up my account and mentioned they had no record I’d canceled the aeration or all services. I nicely asked for all service to be canceled and was told nobody would show up again ready to work on my yard.

So the good work Scotts did on our lawn (it does look much better) gets overlooked a bit because it took a lot of hassle on my part to stop the service. I was happy with the service but don’t know if I’d call them again or if I would recommend them to friends.

I wonder why some companies make it so difficult to cancel service? I especially can’t stand companies who make it easy to sign up online but require a phone call, during specified hours, to cancel service. I once called Sprint to cancel cell service and was told they didn’t have the technology to schedule my service to end at the end of the month and I’d have to call back on the very day I wanted to cancel. Sprint’s computers can manage dozens of different calling plans but can’t post date a service termination? AOL is famous for making it very difficult to cancel its service. I had a similar experience dealing with Comcast a while back. Companies like those BMG CD/DVD clubs seem to be built around a business model where they make canceling service a chore, yet make it really easy for merchandise to show up on your doorstop. Do nothing and this months “feature” CD will be sent automatically.

The good thing is that I have a choice for high speed internet service. I have a choice for television and lawn service. If a company makes the choice to give me the runaround, I will take my business elsewhere.

A friend told me about this cool little script called Clipboard2Phone he found on LifeHacker. I installed it this morning and have already used it several time. It’s one of those little things that simplifies my life in a big way. Very cool.

Description from Lifehacker:

“Clipboard2Phone is a simple script that emails the contents of your clipboard to your cell phone with a key combination you define. Especially useful for sending phone numbers to your mobile – which will most likely make that number callable in one click – Clipboard2Phone comes in handy for quickly transferring any kind of information you need on the go, like a todo list, shopping list, driving directions or just a reminder to your future self”

I’ve used this website to polarize a few pictures like the one below. You just upload any image and it gives it that Polaroid look.