If your car insurance has your budget strained, chances are it’s because you haven’t tapped into the key to successfully buying insurance. If you’re like most people, you made a trip to a local insurance agency (maybe even the one you have your home owners insurance through) and asked them to set you up with auto insurance.

That’s the wrong way to go about it for a couple reasons.

First, insurance agents make their living off commissions. That means that the more you spend, the more money they make. An insurance agent isn’t necessarily going to set you up with the best deal for you when they have bills to pay. The insurance agent is just another middleman you have to pay.

Plus, they generally only have a few companies they work with to provide insurance. That means that insurance companies aren’t really competing with each other over your business so they can charge you more.