Shopping for insurance - how often?

[glitzy07]

How often do you shop around for your home/auto insurance policies?  It's been a few years since I've done so and am wondering if I should look into it to see if we're getting the best prices for our coverage.  
If you do this frequently, do you have an agent with a specific company or an insurance broker who works with several companies?  I know that our agent has quoted us through several different companies before, but obviously can only do so with the companies she represents so maybe I'm missing out on a better deal elsewhere.

FWIW - We have Encompass right now for home and auto, but have never had to make a claim on the policy so I really don't know how good or bad they are.  I've heard that you can get insurance through Costco and thought I'd see what the rates looked like.  My mom also works in insurance and moved to another company recently, so maybe I'll check out her agency.

[crashgizmo]

I usually check around once a year. Right now we're with Geico for auto and USAA for renters. We only insure one car (DH has a company car) and I have a clean driving record so most of the time the price is about the same everywhere I look.

[kaylie]

I only do it if I have good reason. The first company we got homeowners from when we bought tried to jack my rate 20% after the first year (we hadn't filed a claim or anything) so I ended up shopping around then. My current company (State Farm) kept me pretty much even so I didn't bother.

[megstoo]

I shopped around 2 years ago when our auto rates went up almost $300 for 6 months for NO reason - no claims, no tickets nothing and our agent couldn't explain why. Our 6 month premium would have been $800 if we stayed.

We switched to nationwide and now pay $900/year. I also pulled my homeowners insurance as well even though the rates were the same.