Last year, I graduated from UCLA. A big accomplishment for me, being the first in my family to even go to college.
I was definitely in the feels of everything. I was excited to be finished school and step into the next stage of life. I was proud of myself and what I had accomplished. But, I was also terrified that I had to be responsible for myself, move out of the comfort of my dorm and live on my own! Not to mention, the dark cloud of $50K in student loans that I had to pay off.
Thanks to my Communications Major and my summer work experience, I was able to get a pretty decent job. I was going to be a Social Media Manager at a tech start-up in Santa Monica.
Sounds pretty fancy huh? Well it is…sort of.
It was a great position especially out of college. I believed in the business itself. I felt inspired by my boss’s enthusiasm, and they gave me a lot of freedom with my schedule. The biggest perk was I would have a lot of responsibility. I could gain really great work experience right out of college.
Unfortunately, something had to give and that was the pay. Start ups don’t particularly pay well, especially at the beginning, but there was so much future potential. I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity. I was determined to make it work.
So I let go of the beachside living dream and decided I needed to live on the cheap, at least for a little while. I started couponing, eating at home and cut TV (not entirely – I still had Netflix).
A major decision I made was to move to the economical Mar Vista community in LA. From there, I commuted by bus and metro to work. I saved a lot by not spending money on gas or parking. But, I still had my hand-me-down 1999 Honda Civic I didn’t want to let go of. I wanted to keep the car so I could enjoy the weekends with friends and visit my Uncle’s family in Anaheim.
The biggest car expense for me now was my car insurance. At that time, I was spending about $1600 a year on car insurance! Doesn’t help that LA has one of the highest car insurance costs in the country.
I had to get the cost down to keep this car. I mean, I wouldn’t even be driving the car to work. Why should I pay so much when I only drove it 2 days of the week and maybe a grocery shop during the work week?
I started googling like crazy to find a cheaper alternative to my current insurance. After 3 hours in the google rabbit hole, I found the company Metromile and learned about their insurance policies. I didn’t even know this type of policy existed, but it was exactly what I needed.
Metromile charges based on how many miles you drive. Since I was using transit to go to work, I didn’t drive very far at all. I drove, at most, 500 miles per month. So I went ahead and got a free quote from Metromile (I also got quotes from 4 other insurance companies that didn’t even compare).
The quote showed I could save almost $800 on my car insurance per year. That’s half of what I was paying! I was pretty pumped so I signed an insurance policy with them the following month. That was last year and I have been a very satisfied customer. What I like the most is that I am in control of how much my car insurance will cost. Some months, if I know I will be driving more the next month, I drive less and my bill is a lot lower.
“What I like the most is that I am in control of how much my car insurance will cost.”
I’ve been so happy with Metromile that I have been telling all of college friends. A lot of them don’t use their cars as much since moving to the city for work. They live all over the country: Portland, Seattle, Sante Fe and Philadelphia. They are all saving at least 30% on their car insurance. I even told my co-workers who have made the shift.
Bottom Line:
Anyone who is looking to save money (everyone!) and is driving less than 1000 miles a month, get a free quote from Metromile. You will be pleasantly surprised by how much you can save. Take charge of how much you are paying on your car insurance, like I did.
