The insurance industry selling "discounts" is a red herring, in my opinion. Every commercial for every insurance company touts "we have discounts" and none of them should entice you to buy. Would you fall for it if someone advertised a free car if you bought a $26,000 steering wheel? No, you'd recognize that the car is worth $26,000.
Insurance discounts don't work the same way, but they are nearly as ridiculous because many discounts aren't related to anything you can do about anyway. Multi-car discount? You either have more than one car or you don't and you aren't going to go buy another car just to get a discount on the insurance. One of our best insurance companies has 13 auto-policy discounts and I say only 2 of them can be "pursued", meaning that you could choose to go get it versus it just being there for you if you qualify. In other words, the "discounts" are just how they are going to price you, not how you can exert control over your own insurance costs.
Instead, I say forget the marketing that is meant to fool you and concentrate on making conscious decisions about your insurance that do directly impact your total premium. Carry high liability limits, but increase your deductibles. Make sure you have replacement cost for contents, but think twice before buying bells and whistles to your policies (that aren't really insurance anyway). Choose a robust insurance limit on your home, but really question if earthquake insurance for your clothes and sofa makes sense.
The insurance industry has worked very hard over the last 10 years trying to make you believe that you don't have to think when it comes to your insurance protection (i.e. cavemen are just as capable), but it's much better for you to keep control and make educated decisions about what is important to you. Falling for the "discounts" trick is bad news if you aren't spending time on the design of your coverages first!
