Do You Like Your Auto/Home Insurer?

I have had Nationwide Insurance for Home/Auto/Umbrella for years. I am about to embark on the nasty, time-consuming, confusing task of comparing what we are paying with what else is on the market.

I don't know whether Nationwide is a good insurance company to have. We've never had a claim.

Are there any insurance companies that have a poor reputation? Are there any that are a little better about not giving their customers the shaft?

Did I mention that I detest insurance companies?

If you're eligible for USAA, they're far and away the best I've dealt with.

I've heard lots of negative things about Farmer's.

Personally, I have my auto through Progressive, and have nothing by positive things to say about them. Had a total loss in February, and the experience was top-notch all the way around, and previous to that had had a break in and they called to follow up with me after the glass was replaced to be sure that it was done to my satisfaction. To me, customer service trumps price when you're talking about insurance, but then again, my renter's insurance is next to nothing, and my auto is awfully cheap as well.

Ask Ralph Nader about car insurance , he is an expert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ycR36N68R8

angharad said:

If you're eligible for USAA, they're far and away the best I've dealt with.

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I agree with you.

State Farm. Basthards are charging me $900 for car insurance because hurr teen male driver hurr parents are bad drivers. It's not my fault that my mom can't back into a driveway without hitting another car.

My State Farm experience has been great. I've had to file a couple of claims over the years and my premiums have never gone up and the service has been exactly what I wanted.

angharad said:

If you're eligible for USAA, they're far and away the best I've dealt with.

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I thought so too, until I got a call one day saying "Oh, you moved back to California? We're going to have to charge you another $600 a year."

Agent Orynge said:

I thought so too, until I got a call one day saying "Oh, you moved back to California? We're going to have to charge you another $600 a year."

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Still better than others. Hell, I can't get them to insure my home because I live in Florida and very few insurance companies offer homeowner's insurance in FL now. Their customer service is the best of any company I've ever dealt with. I've had to file a claim with them and they were prompt, professional, and actually cared about me and not just my car. I won't be switching to anyone else.

Have had USAA since 2000 for auto and since 2009 for home. Also do my banking with them. never really compared auto against anything. But I did have a state farm guy quote me for my homeowners. He came in 10 bucks cheaper a month for with a higher deductible and less overall coverage.

Had a claim when I blasted my car against a tree in a snow storm. The compensation was more than ample to replace what i had, and my rates did not increase.

I have no copmplaints with USAA.

I had GEICO for years with great service (one suicidal deer and one stolen vehicle). They do have some offices, but few and far between. The only problem I had with them was not getting the supposed dicounts for age and years of safe driving. Whenever I hit one of those "milestones", I'd check my bill to see if anything changed. When it didn't, their response was "well, you just didn't get the next increase."

I've been with AMICA for the last 3 years. No claims, so don't know about their service. Supposedly one of the highest rated per JD Powers. They're not the cheapest, but they're kind of like a credit union or electric membership corp. they pay dividends back to the customer every year, so every October we don't have a payment, and get a check back.

If you haven't made an expensive claim, then you aren't in a position to evaluate your Ins company.

Agent Orynge said:

I thought so too, until I got a call one day saying "Oh, you moved back to California? We're going to have to charge you another $600 a year."

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That's normal. Rate is also determined by the area you live in. You might be a good driver, but having bad drivers around you means that the chances of an accident increases on both ends.

Holy smokes.

Nationwide was charging me $2600+ per year to insure two 2004 vehicles.

Geico says they will do it for $1400. Homeowners/umbrella prices are comparable.

Talk about a phone call worth making . . .

Cindy -- about to call State Farm now

Wwo , thats amazing .. make sure to read all the small print,

LuckyR said:

If you haven't made an expensive claim, then you aren't in a position to evaluate your Ins company.

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I was just going to say that my company is great at collecting my premiums. They never miss. And that is all I know about my insurance company.

chrischris said:

Wwo , thats amazing .. make sure to read all the small print,

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Yeah. He pushed hard for me to sign on the dotted line. Puh. Like I'm dumb enough for that.

I made him email me something that I can compare. It may well be a deal that's too good to be true . . . .

Cindysphinx said:

Yeah. He pushed hard for me to sign on the dotted line. Puh. Like I'm dumb enough for that.

I made him email me something that I can compare. It may well be a deal that's too good to be true . . . .

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Make sure the company obtains the "consumer reports" before you purchase. Your rate may change after the reports are pulled and the insurance company has up to 60 days in most states to pull the reports after you buy the policy.

Cindysphinx said:

Holy smokes.

Nationwide was charging me $2600+ per year to insure two 2004 vehicles.

Geico says they will do it for $1400. Homeowners/umbrella prices are comparable.

Talk about a phone call worth making . . .

Cindy -- about to call State Farm now

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I don't know if this matters to you but Geico doesn't directly write home insurance or umbrella. Ask what company they are using. I believe in many states Geico goes through Travelers or ASI(American Strategic Insurance)

I will call AllState tomorrow.

I called State Farm, and the agent told me to send him an email with all of my information and he would get back to me with a quote. Nice way to try to bring in a new client, pal.

I have Geico for both - home they do under Travelers.. I pay large premiums, they collect on time, been doing that since I can remember. Kinda like tax.
They tell me its all good stuff...

Bump!

OK, I finally made a decision. I ditched Nationwide in favor of Allstate.

For basically the same coverage, I will save $854/year for home/auto/umbrella.

Worth the trouble, I think.

Imagine how much you'd save if you didn't insure your umbrella.

So I signed on with Allstate. I then wrote to my former insurance agent, who is now frantically sending me estimates from other companies. One from Safeco and one from a company I have never heard of (Encompass Insurance?).

Trouble is, I am kind of unhappy with her. So she will only help me save money when she is about to lose the business? I think we probably overpaid for years. I don't know if this next agent will be better, but it is worth a shot.

Cindy, I'm in the process of doing what you had done with getting quotes. I made copies of what coverage I have now and I'm going to fax/ or have faxed that info to them, without the prices I pay now of course. I have heard, from my old agent (he's retiring so that's sort of why I'm looking to switch) some companies lure you in with low rates for the first year or so then bring them back up to what their regular rates are. I have sort of odd car limits I need and have the same with my house limits so that's why I fax what I have now. I want to compare apples with apples. So far I've checked with 4 different agents ( different companies and some that are independent ones that carry different company products). So far ( three weeks later) I've only gotten one quote. One big issue I had with Allstate was the fact when you have an auto accident and need parts it is in their policy to have the damaged parts replaced with USED parts not new ones ( if available). I had a deer hit my car and the insurance company told the auto repair place to get used parts since that was all they would authorize them to use. They had three doors delivered that were horrible they told me. So it was a big round and round mess for about two weeks. My repair shop would not use anything like that and they ended up getting a new door for me via the work of the auto shop owners. That is one thing I am definitely going to checkout on the next auto insurance policy I get. Just a FYI for you. Good thing the auto shop was where I wanted to take it. If it had been one of their "preferred" shops they would have just put on the used parts. I'm not sure if they all have that clause but it's pretty pitiful when the car is less than a year old to have used parts on it instead of new ones.