Unfortunately I have yet to find a way to barter for insurance. It’s not because it’s illegal to barter for insurance (don’t get me started). I think it’s simply because insurance is sold by brokers that are paid on commission. There isn’t enough of a margin for a broker to sell insurance on barter.
Anyway…regardless of that I have found a way to use barter to save on insurance. What I do is quite simple: I buy less insurance. Now that I have auto mechanics and auto-body shops that I can barter with, I am not worried if I reduced the amount of auto insurance that I carry for repairs on my own car. I know that if I get in an accident I can get my car fixed without having to pay for everything in cash out of my pocket. This is true for my home appliances too. A while back I bought my wife a nice front loading clothes washer and I was told that it’s smart to buy the extended warranty with those. Well I did that for a while but then I realized…I can always barter to have the appliance repaired if it breaks. I dropped the insurance, keeping my cash and if it breaks the barter appliance repair guy is just a call away.
Clearly there are risks in going this route. If my car is totaled in an accident my barter repair shop doesn’t really help. And of course you still need liability insurance on your car to cover everyone else on the road. What this strategy does allow me to do though is reduce the amount of insurance that I’m paying for and still be able to sleep at night knowing that I still have a way to repair my cars if needed.
Barterfanatic.com 