I got GREAT News…

August 1, 2007 By Troy
Posted in Veteran Benefits

…I saved a lot of money on my car insurance.

You may think I am kidding here, but I am serious. And the reason I saved so much money is because I am in the Army. I will get back to this later in the blog. The point of this entry is to point out all the different benefits of being in the service and where any service member can save money, get extra benefits, etc.

Every person in the military knows about the benefits that are given to them in while they are in the service, like VA loans, education benefits, etc. However everyone may not know about the “hidden” benefits that are out there by virtue of military service.

There is not a restaurant I go in where I don’t ask if they have a military discount. Many do, especially local non-chain restaurants, and there are some that don’t but when you ask it makes them think and they give it to you on the spot. It does not end with restaurants either, try any business where you are paying for a service or product. I don’t mean a Wal-mart or anything like that, but something like a auto-repair shop or the local hot tub dealership or the marina where you store you boat. All of those are personal examples of places that I have received military discounts. In fact my wife and I are shopping around to have central AC installed in our house and two of the places have promised to give us a military discount. Other places that give small to sizeable discounts are hotels, car rental agencies and even airlines. Southwest Airlines gives discounts to military, but you have to call them to get it. Most hotel chains have a military/government rates also.

There are also other benefits to serving in the service that are not specific discounts by a company, but are companies themselves that only cater to the military. USAA is an insurance and banking company that many years ago only catered to military officers. But at some point they opened up to all military personnel, active and retired. When we purchased the house we are in now, we shopped around for home-owners insurance with several companies. One of them was a company we had been with for over 15 years on auto and life insurance policies. We figured they would have come in the cheapest since we had been long-term customers, but they weren’t. In fact they were double the price of USAA when we got the quote from them. I was amazed that USAA could offer the same insurance for so much cheaper of a rate. Right before I deployed to Afghanistan I was telling my wife that we should look at moving all of our insurance needs over to USAA or at least get quotes from them. I mean, if they are that much cheaper on home owners insurance I could only imagine how much cheaper they would be on auto. Well, my deployment orders came faster that we thought and I never got around to calling for the quote.

Last week I called and after spending some time with a great customer rep I got more than I bargained for and in turn I kicked myself in the butt for not doing this before I left. I have been with the same insurance company for over 15 years and paying for much more than I needed and paying more than I needed to pay. When it was all said and done, I am now saving a little over $200.00 a month in auto and personal articles insurance. I was paying over $300.00 a month for years and now I am paying right at about $100.00 a month for the same insurance. If I would have made that call before I deployed I could have saved $3000.00 over my 15 month deployment.

The bottom line is that there are many places and individuals out there that will give you military discounts, preferred treatment, upgrades, etc. if you simply ask for them. You don’t have to beg or use the “puppy dog eyes” , just simply ask if they have military discount or upgrade or whatever. You should not feel guilty or feel like you are asking for a handout. As a member of the military you live of life of service to your country, and there are many people in our great country that want to do their part in order to show you that you are appreciated and thanked.

**NOTE, Troy is a 1SG in the New York Army National Guard and writes several blogs on his website at http://www.bouhammer.com**