Insurance Rant

[lincolnshibuya]

This is just a rant on how frustrated I am with insurance companies..

Been with American Family Insurance for years and the local agents are nice people to deal with, unfortunately it's the time of the year where the policy needs to be renewed. I was surprised that instead of my rates going down because all my cars (I have 7 of them) were all a year older and 5 of those are liability only they went UP instead! The cars have depreciated badly why are they raising my rates up, excellent credit score, no tickets for the last 5 years and bundled with home.... just time to look for a new company..

 

[boominXplorer]

Price state farm. They have local agents to give you the personal feel with a good price. I had geico for 8 years and they came in cheaper. I have 3 vehicles all older than 2007 with full coverage and it is around $700 for 6 months for me. No tickets in 7 years

 

[imp]

This is just a rant on how frustrated I am with insurance companies..

Been with American Family Insurance for years and the local agents are nice people to deal with, unfortunately it's the time of the year where the policy needs to be renewed. I was surprised that instead of my rates going down because all my cars (I have 7 of them) were all a year older and 5 of those are liability only they went UP instead! The cars have depreciated badly why are they raising my rates up, excellent credit score, no tickets for the last 5 years and bundled with home.... just time to look for a new company..

@lincolnshibuya
Had the same crap with American Family after many years with them. Tried AAA and like them. imp

 

[Number4]

My rates doubled with AAA a few years back. Went with GEICO, now have 5 cars insured through them for less. Just go in and watch/remove a the add on's. And that's with $50 comprehensive deductibles.

House is insured trough Ameriprise via Costco. Costco is too far to use, yet it's $500 cheaper/year to pay the $60/year membership to get the Ameriprise discount than any other home insurance.

 

[IIGood]

Prices increasing seems to be the trend lately. Guess more people are forgetting how to drive, causing more wrecks, and everyone is left to pick up the pieces on soaring repair costs.

I was with Safeco until last fall. When it came time to renew then with them, my monthly premium would've gone up by $20. That was ridiculous. I immediately shopped around and the 3 companies I called were significantly cheaper (also have homeowner's insurance) all around. I went with Geico as they were the cheapest of the three...I have the exact same coverage AND my collision deductible is lower on the cars. When I had to renew the car insurance back in April, it did go up a little bit, but only by $4/mo.

Overall between homeowner's and car insurance, switching to Geico saved me about $500 per year vs. Safeco.

 

[Josh P]

I've been with geico for over 20 years. My rates never change at renewal and they have lowered my rates over the years for being a long term customer. I have homeowners insurance through them as well. Each year the coverage goes up by $3K and the premium has gone down twice in 10 years. Cell phone providers on the other hand I have had the worst luck but this thread isn't about that.

 

[Number4]

Every 6 months GEICO increases my rate by about $5 or so. Brought me in at $120/month and it was up to $160 before adding two more cars. I checked around and they were still cheaper than anyone else.

But I get their ploy.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

Thanks guys, looks like GEICO has the better rates and options (a difference of roughly $600 if I remove road side -- i could get AAA with that). American Family agent didn't return a call yet for the new quote she promised me.

 

[Number4]

After I set Geico up, I went in and removed towing (because I have AAA) and rental car (because I have 4......that run) and that saved me quite a bit, allowed me to lower deductibles to 500/50 and still be cheaper.

 

[imp]

Every 6 months GEICO increases my rate by about $5 or so. Brought me in at $120/month and it was up to $160 before adding two more cars. I checked around and they were still cheaper than anyone else.

But I get their ploy.

@Number4
You have 3 vehicles insured for $160/ month? Your location does not sound particularly urban (high rates), but may be near Atlanta? Our semi-rural area is a bit better, maybe, $76/ month, 3 vehicles, but no Comprehensive Coverage. imp

 

[Mbrooks420]

When I had 2 cars on my policy I was paying $110 a month through progressive. Full coverage 50/250 deductibles. Tickets galore, and several accidents. (Not me)(well.......I had some of the tickets)

 

[dgr6853]

working for larger broker in CA, I can tell you that a few of our carriers have told us that the CA Department of Insurance has asked insurers admitted to do business in CA to raise their rates to ensure that they stay solvent. In short the cost of smaller fender benders have gone up because of all the sensors and fancy stuff are built into body panels....cameras, radars sensors in bumpers, and other things. This affects us all even if all we have is liability because your insurance company still may have to repair other peoples vehicles.

as a result I have had many customers come to my store at renewal time stating that their rates are going up with their carrier and we shop the market for them and can usually find something less expensive for them.

just some observations.

 

[TechGuru]

USAA is the cheapest if you're eligible.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

Well I finally switched my home and auto to GEICO. Saved $300 and $1000 on my home and auto annually.. Funny thing is I called my American Family agent and she just run me a new quote within an hour just to win me back because I'm terminating the policy (She promised to give me a cheaper quote last week but never received until I called back)

She asked me "what we did wrong?", I answered back that increasing premiums for no good reasons to a long time customer means goodbye... there are other companies that want my business..

 

[extra-medium]

I had Geico and when I got married a could years ago Esurance came in cheaper. A friend of mine is a State Farm rep and he asked if he could do a quote on me for my Mountaineer and wife's Honda Fit. The quote came in cheaper and with much better coverage. I recently picked up a beater Honda Civic and it only raised my premium 30 bucks a month. I'm paying the same now with State Farm covering 3 cars (2 full coverage, 1 liability) and renters insurance with up to 3 times the coverage than I was with Esurance.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

I bet switching insurance every year is better than sticking around, you get the benefit of being a new customer.

 

[08EddieCA]

I bet switching insurance every year is better than sticking around, you get the benefit of being a new customer.

That's what they do. They raise rates and hope people don't care about the modest increase. Most people, myself included, find it a complete waste of a day to call 10 insurance companies to see if I can get back to my expiring premium or better. Finally decided to call an independent broker that shopped all of the carriers for me. Ins Co's can really screw you if anyone in the household has a major violation. Or, they exclude that person and force them to get a non-standard insurance policy. Now, those are expensive. Add living in a brush area and pretty soon you're insurance poor.

I had Safeco for a long time. They were great. We used to call them Payco. No wonder they were purchased by Liberty Mutual/Golden Eagle.

 

[TechGuru]

I bet switching insurance every year is better than sticking around, you get the benefit of being a new customer.

Kinda hard to earn accident forgiveness doing that though.

 

[Josh P]

Kinda hard to earn accident forgiveness doing that though.

Prevention is cheaper than forgiveness.

 

[IIGood]

I had Safeco for a long time. They were great. We used to call them Payco. No wonder they were purchased by Liberty Mutual/Golden Eagle.

Same here...but I was overpaying for homeowner's and didn't fully realize it. When I first bought my house in 2013, a townhouse, they quoted me at $1300/yr for homeowner's insurance. The lender thought that seemed rather high but me being uneducated still stuck with it. I found out my parents were paying much less in insurance for their house and heard the same from some other people. Then I just assumed mine was higher because it was a townhouse...other houses directly attached, more liability, etc. I went with them just because I had renter's insurance through them via Esurance (had that for auto insurance at the time). I eventually moved my car insurance over to Safeco as well and the multi-policy discount brought my homeowner's down to just over $1000 a year.

They did the same thing with my rates...over time, my premium crept up, all while coverage stayed the same. Last fall my car insurance was going to get hiked up yet again and I'd had it. I shopped around. My Safeco agent called after I had the new policy with Geico and asked how much cheaper it was and I laid everything out for him and he said, "Oh. Yeah, we wouldn't be able to go that low." I even have some better coverages!

On the flip side though for Safeco, my agent was great and provided good service. Probably helped that his son and I went to school together. So having ONE person to call for my insurance needs was much better than a catch-all toll-free number where it's a crapshoot as to who I'd be talking to.