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Originally Posted by Rodney
Everybody else knows more than I do, but I'll second going directly to an independent agent, or two. If you're going to two, tell the second one who the first one is submitting you to.
It's worth making multiple calls, because not all independent agents are as independent as they ought to be, thanks to various incentives that some insurance companies offer. If you're young, you may find that there's just one or two companies who write in your area that offer good rates. In California, for example, independent agents routinely offer Mercury Casualty to young drivers with good records, because it offers low prices to that group and is a pretty sound company (they pay).
As always, ask your friends how much they're paying and how they like their insurance companies.
And finally, I will reiterate what others say: go far above the minimum for bodily injury and property damage. Drop the collision, though; it's $100 bucks a year for a $1300 Neon that's probably going to be worth $1100 next year and $900 the year after. On top of the $250 deductible. I'd apply the money to increased bodily injury/property damage coverage.
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This is all sound advice. A word, though, about independent agents - they are not all created equally. Some just don't have access to the same markets as others. For instance, the Smith Agency may not have a contract with Progressive or Mercury Casualty but the Jones Agency right down the street may have both. It's worth asking who they have contracts with so that you know who they will be talking to on your behalf. Also, if both Smith and Jones do have contracts with, say, Progressive, even if they are both able to get quotes, they should be equal unless one is playing games with your information (that's called insurance fraud and the agent can go to jail for it).
As another quick aside, a sound company and a company that pays are two very different things. For instance, the largest insurance company in the world, AIG, is a notoriously slow payer.