You mean the 6 month renewal or when the monthly payment goes through? My renewal this year isn't due until December.
You can still cancel earlier. Would probably be easier to have the cancelation date right before your next payment so you don't have to wait for a refund.
You can set it up all now. Just call them and cancel your policy starting August 15 (or whatever) and buy your new one starting the same date.
Not sure about Arkansas law, but in Texas the customer has the right to cancel at any time. You can cancel today if you want to. Insurance is paid a month ahead, so any premium left over that you haven't used will be refunded to you. Another poster on page 1 said he cancelled his policy then bought a new one after receiving confirmation. No disrespect to him, but I would NEVER do that. I would buy the other policy and have that agent send over a letter of cancellation to your previous insurer with your name, date, policy #, and signature. If you cancel and then buy another policy, you're left uninsured for however long it takes for the new policy to go into effect (I'm a "what if" person ). Lastly, remember you will have to make a new down payment to start a new policy. Some companies charge a month and a half, some only a month, etc. Then there are policy fees or other charges a carrier might add to the down payment. Check to see what the down payment is and see when you are comfortable paying that.
Not sure about the law (see post above), but I know with homeowners insurance, sometimes some portion of your policy is paid even if you cancel. For example, if you bought a year of insurance, you might not every be able to get back the first 3 months... so if you canceled after one month, you'd still have to spend 3 months worth. Not sure if it works similarly with car insurance, but you might want to make sure before you cancel that you aren't going to get charged another month or two at a minimum. Otherwise, I agree with everyone. Geico was the cheapest when I shopped around. What they quoted was what I bought, exactly. That said, they have inched up a bit since I swtiched a couple years back - it's not a big jump every renewal, but it's jumped a few times. IMO, there is no reason to not shop your insurance around. This doesn't mean shop it around every renewal period - if you found a good rate, definitely keep it. But after a few years, it never hurts to shop around again. Relationship used to be more important, imo, and can definitely still be important for large commercial insurance needs, but even then, you shoudl get requoted every few years.
Before cancelling, contact your agent, tell him about the Geico quote and ask why your insurance is so much higher. Obviously price matters, but loyalty can be rewarded at times. All things being equal (or close to equal) it tends to be better staying with a company you have been with for a while.
