Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 03.16.26 Best Auto Insurers / Discounters Go Wide About this episode Finally profitable again, the auto insurance industry has developed a renewed sense of competition for customers. Clark shares guidelines for finding companies big on customer service and value. Also, Americans are saving big bucks through “no spending” trends, and switching retailers. Thrift-centered businesses like Goodwill and Dollar Tree are thriving across all demographics. Clark admits he was wrong about Dollar Tree’s decision to move past its signature $1 price point, explaining how the transition to a multi-price range has elevated the brand across the country. Best Auto Insurers: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Discounters Thriving: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Best Auto Insurance Companies - Clark Howard Report: These 10 Vehicles Are the Best for the Money in 2026 New York Post: Dollar Tree is invading posh neighborhoods after years of catering to low-income customers— breaking ‘stigma of the dollar store’ Best Term Life Insurance Companies, Plans & Coverage How To Buy Term Life Insurance in 7 Easy Steps - Clark Howard What Is a Credit Union? - Clark Howard 16 of the Best High-Yield Online Savings Accounts in March 2026 Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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1:04 Speaker 02 I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I hope you had a great weekend. I certainly did. A lot of driving this weekend. Well, actually, my car did. And it made me think about car insurance. And how many questions and comments I've been getting about the rising rates insurers are charging? So what companies are actually the best? You see all the ads, and are those ads crazy bad? I'll tell you what I mean by that second.
1:48 Speaker 02 And later, one way Americans are saving big bucks is through no spending trends and even switching retailers. I'm going to give you the lowdown on that in the second half of this podcast. So finally, finally.
2:06 Speaker 02 Good news on the auto insurance front in most of America. Not only have rates kind of capped out, but in a lot of states, rates at renewal should be going down because insurers, as I shared with you, I think about six weeks ago, auto insurers have gone from being extremely unprofitable to with all the rate increases pushed through in recent years wildly profitable. So now insurers have switched to another thing and that's competing for your business in ways they had not in recent years.
2:47 Speaker 02 They were willing to see a customer flee just to be able to charge people much more money. And make no mistake about it, most people by inertia never shopped this around, but that changed over the last few years. People got shaken out of their inertia by the big increases that they got hit with and did shop and many did switch. But now that rates have leveled out, maybe starting to go down, that sense of urgency is gone and it shouldn't be because there are two things you got to know about auto insurance. There are good insurers and there's the price.
3:30 Speaker 02 Now, we have put in some work trying to compile a list and came up with our own scoring system, taking data that's been published by different organizations like J.D. Power and Consumer Reports and based on compiling their research, come up with a list that we call the Team Clark Score. And with it, it rates the best insurers in the country. And let me tell you what's funny. Most of the insurers on our list are not household names. For example, Regional Insure that gets the highest overall composite score, and if you're
4:14 Speaker 02 a Consumer Reports subscriber, go look at their list of the best auto insurers. It'd be a really good idea. You're not a Consumer Reports subscriber, you've got our compilation of data we came up with, but Erie Insurance rated number one.
4:34 Speaker 02 Overall, in terms of insurer quality, NJM, another regional insurer, second place, third and fourth, based on us compiling data from various sources. USAA came in third, Amica Mutual came in fourth. I want to say something about USAA. We've had a lot of complaints about USAA. A lot of people who feel that USAA is not who they used to be. I had someone on, so he's on airplanes. Am I always on airplanes? Maybe so. A person next to me was bending my ear as a military retiree, just going on and on about,
5:19 Speaker 02 whatever happened to USAA? Well, they may not be what they used to be, but the data shows overall, they still are a quality insurer. And I'll just name a couple others. Auto Owners Insurance and CSAA Insurance Group, which in some markets, it's a AAA insurer, but that varies by market. And so you've got five insurers, six actually, that are at the top of the heap, and they all in some way are some kind of specialty insurer. And really, USAA is the only one that devotes a lot of energy to advertising.
6:00 Speaker 02 On the other hand, you've got insurers that all they do is try to come up with these pithy ads so that you'll think that the only insurers out there are the ones that run these TV ads nonstop. But the reality is, a lot of people are sold products instead of buying products or services. You want to be a buyer of product or service, not be sold a product or service. So it requires a little more work, digging out, what are the diamonds in the rough you don't know about? And that's why we did our list, based on data others had compiled.
6:43 Speaker 02 And then others like JD Power, Consumer Reports, and yet others we've talked about. There's one we talked about before that was a compilation of who body shops know are the best insurers to deal with if you are in a wreck. Good stuff to know.
7:03 Speaker 02 There's a fact on that list from the body shops, not a single company on there was a big, well-known advertising behemoth, not one.
7:16 Speaker 03 All right, you ready for some questions?
7:17 Speaker 02 I sure am.
7:18 Speaker 03 This is from Paul in Ohio. I'll be returning to the office soon and will add 10,000 miles per year to my driving for the next five years.
7:25 Speaker 02 Oh, I bet you're looking forward to that, not at all.
7:28 Speaker 03 Should I buy a one-year-old car or a new car? I'd rather buy new and have the resources, but would it be better to put those 50,000 miles on a used car?
7:38 Speaker 02 Paul, what a great question. Okay, so it used to be that I talked about the advantage of buying one and two-year-old used cars because of particularities that are pretty involved. They're no longer a deal generally compared to a new one. You have to go significantly older in a vehicle and more miles before you've got a real benefit from the depreciation curve in a vehicle that will potentially have more ongoing maintenance problems and repairs, but will cost you effectively much less to own and operate.
8:20 Speaker 02 You've got to look now four years out, even as far as five years out. So if you're asking me, brand-new, one-year-old, I'd go brand-new. And I want to say it till I'm blue in the face. Passenger cars cost a fraction often what any kind of SUV kind of thing is. So if you want to get reliable transportation that's affordable, like we've got a list on Clark.com of 10 affordable vehicles under 30 grand, and almost none of them are SUVs, they're passenger cars.
8:59 Speaker 03 Okay, Justin in Virginia says, "I plan to buy a new vehicle this summer. I test drove an F-150 Lightning and really liked it. Now that Ford has announced they are stopping production of it, if I decided to go with it, what concerns would I have with it? I'm particularly thinking about replacement parts."
9:15 Speaker 02 I'm not especially worried about replacement parts on the F-150 Lightning. The warranty on it, on the key expensive component, the batteries, is really long. Unless you buy a used one that has a lot of miles on it. And you say you plan to buy a new vehicle. The real opportunity with the F-150 Lightning, with it being a discontinued model, they have dropped as used trucks like a rock. And, uh... Gosh, there's some truck commercial that says like a rock. Anyway, I don't know which brand. So, the point is that if you're interested in F-150
9:57 Speaker 02 Lightning, look at used versus new with it being discontinued. Now, you also do have a possibility that any, they become what's known as an orphan car, now that it's a discontinued model, you may find a screaming deal on a new one. And if you do, ignore my advice. If you buy new, you're obviously going to have the full warranty on it, not just what remains of the warranty on the battery system. And the F-150 Lightning, the biggest beef that buyers have had with it is that the range you actually get out of it is not close to what the stated range was that they thought it was going to be. And if you're going to
10:41 Speaker 02 tow, the range reduces a lot. So, if this is a run-around-town suburban, go close by to a lake or a mountain or something like that, great. But if it's for long road trips, the charging cycles may drive you nuts.
10:58 Speaker 03 Michael in Ohio says, "I thought I was letting the sun lower my bill. Instead, it burned my budget. Almost two years ago, I installed solar panels on my home through a company."
11:09 Speaker 02 Go ahead.
11:09 Speaker 03 You want to name them?
11:10 Speaker 02 This one, because this has been such a public story.
11:12 Speaker 03 ADT Solar. At the time, it made financial sense and temporarily lowered our electric costs. After 15 months, our monthly payments suddenly increased by over $200. When I contacted customer service, they were dismissive and said the increase was, quote, "in the contract", sending me a highlighted clause showing a scheduled rate hike. I fully acknowledge that the language was buried in the fine print, and ultimately, it's my responsibility for not catching it. That said, we were never clearly told verbally or otherwise that a significant rate increase was coming, and had we known, we absolutely would not have agreed to the installation. Today, we're paying more than we ever did through a basic electric bill. To make matters worse, ADT has since shut down its solar division,
11:55 Speaker 03 leaving us locked into a long-term contract with no clear path out. Do we have any real options in this situation? Or are we simply stuck paying the now overpriced rate for the next 20-plus years? Thanks for helping shine a light on fine print solar traps.
12:11 Speaker 02 Michael, I mean, it's why I have never liked any kind of solar leasing at all. I like, if you're gonna go solar, you own the thing. Because how many different times over the years have we heard horror stories from people? And when ADT decided to get out of the solar business two years ago, we took a lot of questions from people at that point, and we didn't know how it was gonna play out. But what is clear is that because the panels are there, and as best I understand it, they have contracted for, even though they're out of the business and wash their hands of it,
12:53 Speaker 02 ADT is contracted for continual servicing of the customers. You were as stuck as stuck could be in that contract. In your case, it's the double whammy. The company that sold you the system no longer is in the solar business. ADT's out of it, and they're like, "Yeah, go have a nice life", and you got caught in this contract clause that made the panels in your life completely non-economic. This is like another example of why I like you to own it. So we have solar on a home that we put in. 15 years ago, and the company that installed ours went bust. We owned our system,
13:37 Speaker 02 so we were able to find another company to take over servicing it and when it needs repairs, repairing it. And they've been great. So we got lucky in an unlucky situation. But the worst is when you're handcuffed into one of these contracts, one of these leases. And a lot of these companies were better at selling things to people, selling them into contracts than they were at running solar businesses. Unfortunately, you are stuck unless and until the services required by the contract are failed to be delivered to you.
14:17 Speaker 02 See, I'm using passive words. And some lawyer comes along and is able to successfully help people break these contracts. Until that point, you gotta pay it. Coming up ahead, I want to talk about how Americans are changing how they stretch their dollars, and it's ways that you might normally not think about.
14:44 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed Sponsored Jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.
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15:46 Speaker 05 Are always legally required to put your interests first? If you don't know the answer, you need to listen to Talking Real Money. I'm Don McDonald. My co-host Tom and I have spent decades helping everyday investors understand the truths Wall Street would rather you never learn. We're consumer advocates, not industry cheerleaders. We believe in low cost, broad diversification, and keeping things simple. Because complexity is how they pick your pocket. Plus, we answer listener questions on almost every episode, so bring yours. You're already a podcast listener, which means you're just a quick search away. Look up Talking Real Money or visit TalkingRealMoney.com. That's TalkingRealMoney.com.
16:29 Speaker 05 Let us help you build a more secure future by Talking Real Money. Talking Real Money is an educational podcast. Hosts are affiliated with a registered investment advisor. For disclosures, visit TalkingRealMoney.com.
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17:43 Speaker 02 So two months ago, we were in what's become a more recent annual tradition, no buy January. This year, I think the cumulative effects of inflation, the number of people who participated in whole or in part, and no buy January, that didn't mean you don't buy groceries, but who didn't buy stuff was significantly higher. People are like, enough, enough. I don't have to have another, whatever it is, fill in the blank. That's a more extreme kind of thing that people did. But also after the ravages of inflation over the last seven years,
18:23 Speaker 02 and inflation unfortunately escalated again in the most recent report. We've got, we've got ways to go getting it really under control. People are modifying where they buy, how they buy, when they do buy. And now is a time for a confession from me. I was wrong, as wrong could be, about the changes at Dollar 25 Tree. Their signs say Dollar Tree, but it's Dollar 25 Tree now. I was really upset that they broke the buck. But then, I mean, they were feeling the same inflation pressures as everybody else.
19:07 Speaker 02 And they did something else, too. You go in Dollar Tree now, following in the footsteps of five below, and the price is not the price anymore. As a longtime Dollar 25 Tree shopper, and before that Dollar Tree, I would have my little basket, and you could put in whatever you wanted, and you just multiplied it out by one. You knew if you got 15 items, you were paying 15 bucks. Now, 15 items at Dollar Tree potentially could be 105 bucks. Because now items are priced $1.25.
19:43 Speaker 02 To $7 in the store, although greetings cards often will be 50 cents. What happened from this is the nature of Dollar Tree and its shoppers changed radically. And now Dollar Tree that used to be in sad looking shopping centers and often not in more affluent parts of town is now a sought after tenant by a lot of landlords. And their big push has been into affluent areas. And their sales from going to the price band instead of a fixed price. Their sales have gone up quite a bit, not just because things cost more.
20:28 Speaker 02 I mean, their, their actual shopper base has grown. And on top of that, I mean, it's awesome. They're doing so much better as a result. I mean, it's just, it's a win all the way around because it gives people a good alternative with a wide market basket of what you can buy. And I walked the force of recently, I'd read a story about this. It was the New York Post about the change in strategy of where Dollar Trees are locating. So I go on Google Maps and I have it tell me where Dollar Trees are. And I find this, this area I know is very wealthy.
21:13 Speaker 02 And there's this Dollar Tree people are raving about and it's bigger than normal and how clean it is and all that. And so I drive to this fancy Dollar Tree and it was fantastic. It really was great. And I noticed that people were, a lot of people were using shopping carts instead of the little handheld thing because they were buying so much stuff. So they understood the marketplace much better than I did. Five Below did as well. And people are able with overwhelmingly private label, able to buy things they need. And at Dollar Tree, you can buy things you didn't really need, but you wanted. But you can buy them cheaper buying their private labels.
21:57 Speaker 02 And it's working for them and it's working for you and me. The other thing I would be remiss if I didn't talk about how much used stores have grown in popularity? And how many things you can buy used now from clothing across product lines at used stores? And how much that will help you stretch every dollar? Krista?
22:21 Speaker 03 Okay, Canton, Ohio sent in this question. My wife and I are both schoolteachers and have worked our way up financially over the many years. But our kids have only known the comfortable stage. How can we teach them sacrifice and delay gratification so they don't expect to afford our lifestyle early in their own careers?
22:39 Speaker 02 Affluenza. Affluenza is tough because you can be in a family where, like in my case, I have three kids. They're pretty far apart in age. And when our first child came along, she grew up at a time that I didn't have the resources that I had later. So the kids grew up in very different circumstances. And to this day, the oldest is much more careful with every dollar. And lives an extremely frugal lifestyle. Our middle child has now become more frugal over time. Our son isn't there at all.
23:23 Speaker 02 Maybe he will grow into being more frugal. It is a hard thing. And so when you've got more there, it's hard to really get across to your kids. Hey, you know, when you're launched in life, you're not going to be making this kind of money. You're not going to be able to buy these kinds of things, afford these experiences and all the rest. So how do you do it? It's an ongoing, not guilt trip, not a commandment. It's ongoing conversations with your kids, age appropriate, from I'd say elementary school on up, where you talk about the basics of money with them. Talk about the value of saving and investing.
24:06 Speaker 02 Versus spending. My favorite example is when I used to talk years ago, when I talked to school groups, behind me, I had two video screens and one showed like a cartoon of a family situation with a big house, a boat, fancy cars, fancy luggage to take a trip. And the other was people living in a more basic house and having basic cars and not the boat and all that. And so I'd ask the kids, and I would do this up through middle school, I'd say, okay, so which family is the millionaire family? And the kids, almost
24:46 Speaker 02 100%, every time, every time I ever presented this, would say, the picture of the big house, the fancy cars, the boat, the luggage, all that. And then that was the punchline where I was able to say, nope, it's never what you have in possessions, it's what you don't spend that matters. And so you communicate that over time, and it doesn't mean deprivation, it means careful. And I talked recently on the podcast about how there are more and more wealthy families that are taking on too much debt and pricing their lives for
25:27 Speaker 02 perfection, instead of using the opportunity, they're making more money to build more financial security.
25:33 Speaker 03 Okay, Chelsea in Minnesota says, I'm now a 10-year listener of your show. Thanks for all the financial advice you've given me as I drive around town and cook dinner every day.
25:42 Speaker 02 Thank you.
25:42 Speaker 03 20 years ago, a financial advisor friend signed my husband and I each up for a $400,000, 80-year term life insurance policy. We thought that the amount would cover us for a decade or more if one of us died. Now we're in our 40s, make more than double what we made in our 20s, and have several kids. The youngest is five. We are both in good health, but have a same-age friend die of a stroke recently.
26:05 Speaker 02 Oh, I'm so sorry.
26:06 Speaker 03 Sorry about that. If one of us died unexpectedly, would that $400,000 life insurance policy still be enough, considering the mortgage has less than $100,000 to go, the kids are all in school, and social security survivor benefits could help out? On the flip side, when the kids are all gone and the house is paid off, should we decrease or eliminate life insurance coverage, as the monthly premiums are projected to go way up after 50?
26:28 Speaker 02 Oh, now I understand what.
26:30 Speaker 03 When should you reevaluate your life insurance coverage?
26:33 Speaker 02 All right, so Chelsea, I get what you were saying now. So you bought something long ago from this friend that was very common years ago called ART, annual renewable term. And every year you reset the premium based on your increased mortality risk that steadily goes up more like a straight up curve after age 50. So ART is really more designed for a very short term window, not a long term. You're both in good health, right? So what I want you to do is I want you to can the policy maybe, or if you want to
27:14 Speaker 02 keep it in for a few more years, that would be fine too, while the kids are all in school. And then when they're out, then you don't renew that annual renewable term and replace it with a level term insurance policy. And you pick the term. I recommend that it be till you're both in your 60s. You can buy level term for 15, 20, 30 years. You buy a policy and we have a guide to buying level term insurance at Clark.com. You buy it from a financially strong company. These policies have no games, no gimmicks. You just buy it, pays nothing, except if somebody dies. Now, how do you decide how much to own? So you did this years ago, you ended up with this $400,000 policy.
28:00 Speaker 02 You each need a policy on yourself. You each buy a level term insurance policy. Buy it for 10 times your annual income. That would be a good number to buy. You don't worry so much about what the outstanding debt is with the mortgage and all that. What you want is you want replacement of income. And you'll be stunned with good health, how crazy cheap buying big numbers of level term insurance will be.
28:28 Speaker 03 Doreen in North Carolina says, "I've been listening to you for years and when you spoke about Navy Federal Credit Union and USAA, I decided to become a member based on your recommendation. You've always spoken very highly of both institutions. That said, I'm struggling with the savings and money market rates. From what I can see, there's no better than and in some cases, the same as the large banks you often advise people to avoid. If I'm a member of Navy Federal and the savings rates are relatively low, can you help me understand why you continue to recommend them?"
28:56 Speaker 02 Okay, what a great question, Doreen. Let me explain. Credit Unions, which Navy Federal is, USAA is a federal savings bank, but is there for the benefit of the members. They are both what's known as borrower-friendly credit unions, more than saver-friendly credit unions. Their big business is offering rates on loans, vehicle loans, mortgages, home equity lines of credit, interest rates on credit cards, that are vastly better than you're going to get it from a typical bank. On the other hand, on the savings side, neither
29:36 Speaker 02 is anything special. And if you're sitting with a pile of cash, you want that in a high-yield savings account with an online bank, or you want to place the money if you're doing CDs through a discount broker like Schwab Vanguard or Fidelity, if you have accounts with any of them. The overall experience with Navy Federal and USAA, serving a closed market of people related to the military, or people who are relatives of somebody in the military, has, over the years, provided a good environment for people. And so they are good places to
30:18 Speaker 02 have your money, because in the case of Navy Federal, it's a co-op, USAA Federal Savings Bank, not exactly a co-op, but generally considered to be customer-friendly, more so than traditional financial institutions. So I hope that explains where my head is on that. And I want to thank you so much for joining us today. We're going to be back at your service on Wednesday. And know that every day, every night, all week long, we serve you every way we can to empower you with knowledge so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.
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