Most consumers know that they aren't going to get a courtesy call from their service providers telling them they qualify for a better deal. Yet they still fail to review their policies or contracts each year to make sure they're getting the lowest rates possible.

The money car insurers spend on their ubiquitous advertising campaigns is breaking records annually....To reach potential new customers, property-and-casualty insurers' marketing expenditures - overwhelmingly focused on auto insurance - jumped 21% in 2010, to $5.1 billion, rose another 16% in 2011, to $5.9 billion....some carriers are spending heavily for brand recognition and have little to show.

The way insurance companies barrage you with television ads promising to save you money, you might think they were paying you instead of the other way around.

When you strip away the quirky characters and calamity warnings that highlight insurers' pitches... you're likely to find the auto-insurance market as opaque and confusing as they come... Behind the scenes, the insurer is applying a complex calculus that takes into account everything from your zip code to daily mileage... If you want to save money, perhaps as much as $1,000 or more a year, the only answer is comparison shopping.

Auto insurance expenditures nationwide rose 43.3 percent from 1989 until 2010, the latest year for which data is available. The states with the highest increases were Nebraska, Louisiana, Montana, Wyoming and Kentucky.

You may have noticed an acceleration in your car insurance costs recently. For the average driver, premiums are up 23% over five years vs. 7% for overall inflation. A 40-year-old man now typically pays $1,510 and up to $2,700.