Insurance--Primo Ripoff

I have two cars. My wife drives one, and I drive the other, but only when my wife is out with the other car and I can't get where I need to go by bus or bicycle. Why am I paying for insurance on that other car? Because it's illegal for me not to.

That shouldn't stop me from paying the absolute minimum necessary to cover myself in the event of an accident. Let's face it: if I get into an accident where I really need insurance, a really low deductible is pretty worthless. So this weekend, I plan on raising my deductible and decreasing my monthly premium. I realize that's not especially groundbreaking.

I am however going to see if I can convince my insurance carrier to retroactively refund me the difference in the premium for the last couple months. Sound a little brazen? Maybe, but it's based on a real experience I had with them a couple years ago...

My car was totalled, and it took me about three months to cancel the insurance on the old car (we prepay our policy in six month increments). When I finally got around to it, the thought occurred to me that I'd paid for three months of insurance that really wasn't needed; would they refund me? I asked, and they complied. The kicker is that the rep asked me how many months back I'd like my refund for. I'm not sure how far back I could have gone--I didn't pull any fast ones or anything.