Anyone in need of some mental exercise is welcome to try and help me figure out my auto insurance bills. I've received three in the last week. If you think that David Copperfield or David Blaine are clever magicians, let me assure you that they have nothing on insurance companies.

This past month, I took one car off my policy, leaving me with just one vehicle to insure.

Also, on the advice of my insurance agent, I took an online safety course to get a reduction in my premium.

You would think that I would be a happy camper, but you would be wrong.

All these things happened within days of each other and I ended up owing the insurance company more than when I started, and no one can seem to figure out why or how to fix it.

I paid my car insurance bill (for two cars) in full on July 1, a grand total of $2,194. Then by month's end, I only had one car, so I had the insurance company take one car off the insurance. This is where it gets interesting.

First we took the car off the insurance bill, and my total policy premium went down to $1,219. The difference between the two is $929, but the change in my premium was $853, with $76 apparently the premium for the month of July for my second car.

Then we had to take off the discount for my having taken the online safety course. This was a separate transaction. Let me blow your mind by letting you know the different credit for discounts I received between August 14 and August 20.

Thus, my discounts more than doubled in a week. Pretty neat trick, right? But although I have scoured my bills, sadly I can't figure out where any of these discounts are applied.

But guess what? In one week's time, the insurance company also raised my premium from $1,219 to $1,328! A $109 increase in seven days. So with my Accident Prevention Course allegedly giving me a discount of $106, I ended up owing the insurance company another $99.

Oh, and that credit I had for dropping the second car? The company took the liberty of applying those monies to my homeowner's policy for me, even though it isn't due until October. Wasn't that sweet of them? I would have gladly accepted a refund check, but you know how averse insurance companies are to cutting checks.

So here I sit, waiting for someone, somewhere to straighten this little mess out for me. I've called and emailed and called some more, all without any answers. I know that the point of the fine print is that we are not supposed to understand it, but I can add and subtract and if my “discounts” doubled, how can it be that my premium is higher?

Something doesn't add up, but I'm not going down without a fight.