Book Review of “How to Beat Your Insurance Company”

I rate How to Beat Your Insurance Company by Jeff Arnold as 5 stars. While most people might not think a book about insurance types and policies will be fun to read, the author has written this book like a conversation which makes it easy to read. He uses anecdotes to break up the facts, and there are plenty of quips about geckos and such to elicit a smile.

The story begins with the author giving his background story and he often speaks to himself “Now Jeff, …” which lightens the mood. He gives a one paragraph short version, and then launches into more details. He even makes the outrageous claim, knowing his audience doesn’t initially buy it, that insurance is sexy. He then lays out why he makes this claim.

Jeff explains how his role as an insurance agent is to represent the buyer, not the insurance agency, into finding the best coverage for the buyer. He often uses himself as an example, and seems pretty relatable. He goes over some basic information like sharing everything with your agent, auto-pay, and bundling. Anyone who has ever bought insurance is familiar with these concepts. He moves on to discuss exactly what agents do, how insurance companies work (legal contracts and such) and how with all the state regulations, insurance companies are actually very efficient and without the huge profit margins that most people assume that they have.

This is an easy book to read through, and an even easier book to skim through. The writing is clear and concise in a conversational tone, never lecturing. The layout is super easy to follow with short pieces and clear subheadings. Also, whenever the lexicon is used, it is clearly defined as well as easy to understand from the context. The chapters are clearly defined and make it easy for one to jump around to find what is pertinent to them at that reading whether it be house, pleasure vehicles, or charity work. He also covers lawsuits and fraud. 

Most adults are familiar with many of the concepts in this book, but even most teenagers could understand everything in this book. I recommend this to a wide range of people looking to purchase insurance for the first time (welcome to adulthood) or looking to tighten up their current policies. Anyone who buys insurance or will be purchasing insurance can benefit from this book.