Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

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stessier
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by stessier »

Couldn't find a better place -

Has anyone had to renew auto insurance recently? Ours renews at the end of Feb and is going up 25% year over year. Nothing changed on my side - they just said rates went up. I'm going to start looking at other options, but wondering if I'm going to have any luck.
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stimpy
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by stimpy »

stessier wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:26 pm Couldn't find a better place -

Has anyone had to renew auto insurance recently? Ours renews at the end of Feb and is going up 25% year over year. Nothing changed on my side - they just said rates went up. I'm going to start looking at other options, but wondering if I'm going to have any luck.
Who is your carrier?
Let me guess.....Allstate?
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stessier
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by stessier »

stimpy wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:31 pm
stessier wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:26 pm Couldn't find a better place -

Has anyone had to renew auto insurance recently? Ours renews at the end of Feb and is going up 25% year over year. Nothing changed on my side - they just said rates went up. I'm going to start looking at other options, but wondering if I'm going to have any luck.
Who is your carrier?
Let me guess.....Allstate?
Safeco
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by Smoove_B »

There were some regulation changes that increased auto insurance rates in Jersey last year, but my understanding is that across the boards in many states rates are increasing "for reasons".
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by Kraken »

Yeah, rates need the blessing of the state insurance commission. I believe they're going up modestly across the board after being artificially depressed by the pandemic lockdowns and subsequent lack of commuting.

I just got a questionnaire from GEICO yesterday asking about our odometer readings. Our mileage is still quite low, so I hope that means our rates won't budge much. I only drive about 2,000 miles per year and Wife is at 4,000-5,000.
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by coopasonic »

I'd suggest USAA, but ya know, it's not for everyone.
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stessier
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by stessier »

coopasonic wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:46 pm I'd suggest USAA, but ya know, it's not for everyone.
I actually have access, but last time I checked they were significantly higher than my (then) current price. Guess they are back in the mix.
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coopasonic
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by coopasonic »

stessier wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:49 pm
coopasonic wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:46 pm I'd suggest USAA, but ya know, it's not for everyone.
I actually have access, but last time I checked they were significantly higher than my (then) current price. Guess they are back in the mix.
Yeah, it depends on too many factors to always be the best for everyone, but 16 years ago I got into an accident with a USAA policyholder and their insurance treated me better than mine (State Farm), so I made the switch and have been with them ever since.
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disarm
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by disarm »

We've been with Amica for our home and auto (two cars) for close to ten years now and they've been great. Our rates have barely changed despite always having two cars of above-average value (Audi and Volvo SUVs), and the couple times we've had to make an auto claim couldn't have been easier. My wife's car took a direct hit from a sheet of ice falling off a truck at highway speed last year (responsible driver had no idea)...about $5k worth of damage to the front end of a leased XC90, repaired in a couple weeks with no hassle.

Prior to Amica, I spent several years hopping around popular every time they decided to raise their rates without reason and just got tired of the game. Geico, Progressive, Allstate...maintained perfect, accident-free records with all of them, but they would inevitably try to screw me with a massive rate increase at some point. Amica has been flawless for service and consistently fair-priced... would recommend them to anyone.
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by FishPants »

Are insurance brokers a thing in the states? In Canada you can buy direct from the carrier, or through a broker - and brokers will shop it around, and find the best bang for the buck (usually far cheaper than direct).

The key is to find a broker that is independent - a lot of brokerages here in Canada have been purchased by big P&C carriers; but they don't tell you that. It's still arms length (a lot of regulation, they can't just buy their parent insurance, but obviously they are usually going to get the best price there).

Source: Work for a very large global P&C. Irony is as an exec with the insurance company, my affiliate policy from ISACA (audit certification of all things) is still 30-40% lower than my employee rate at work. I'm at the level now though I should probably move everything over to the company regardless, but now that I have a new boss I'm going to wait and see if he's a total dipshit or not (i.e. I leave right when I buy expensive policy).

(He's already showing signs of being a complete dipshit)
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telcta
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by telcta »

We have insurance agents that should shop around looking for a good deal. My independent agent, who I’ve been with for 30 years usually does not proactively look for better deals each year. It’s up to me to ask when it gets ridiculously high (like with Safeco last year). So I’m basically calling or visiting him every year now.

One thing I learned working for an insurance company many years ago is agents could get a better commission for themselves if they steer you to a favored company. Not sure if that’s still a thing but definitely have an agent you can trust to have your best interest.
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by Jeff V »

I use a broker (one who lives in my 'hood). Every year I ask him to see if the company we're with is still the best option.

After everything that happened last year, that our insurance hasn't hit the eject button is probably an answer in itself.
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by Jeff V »

BTW, last week, my wife got an email from our current (as of Jan 1) health insurance company stating they overpaid a "recent claim" and we owe them $138. Upon further review, this "recent claim" was in 2020, when they previously were our insurer. The claim itself purports to be $24,000, of which nothing my wife would have had done at that time was anywhere near that ballpark. Not sure what this $138 is about, but I'm gonna have to say "nope" for now.
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mori
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by mori »

I am sure you are all aware of this by now but insurance rates directly coincides with your credit rating. A buddy was just starting out in being an insurance broker so I went to him when I bought a new car and he set me up with Progressive. He told me they are the best for the customer but worse for the broker because they don't pay them as much as other insurance companies. I was with them for around 10 years. I had one accident caused by the other driver. The other driver was insured by Liberty Mutual and when I told the Progressive agent when I reported the accident he was like, "ugh, this is going to be an adventure, they just fly by the seat of their pants". Turns out he was right as they paid the body shop for the repairs then paid Progressive the same amount and Progressive cut me the check for the amount that they were paid. So they paid for it twice and I got a 3k bonus that year. I got tired of all the Progressive and Flo commercials on TV and thought, why am I paying for this? so I switched to State Farm.

Since I switched to State Farm I have been involved in two accidents. The first I say was a 50/50 but had to go through a lawsuit. I thought State Farm handled everything very well and did not hang me out to dry. It ended up being settled and I was not held fiscally responsible. If you are involved in an accident with someone make sure they are not married to a local celebrity and that they do not have "eggshell head". The second accident was totally my fault but luckily no lawsuits and everything was handled through normal channels. My car was unfortunately totaled in the process and was not able to be replaced so I just had to take a check. My rates have not gone up at all besides normal inflation thanks to my stellar credit rating.
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by malchior »

I haven't used Progressive since they tried to screw me. A truck had a tire blow out on the highway right in front of me and it did about $3000 damage to my vehicle. I had the license plate number and got a picture of the container it was hauling. That wasn't enough to identify them. :roll:

I ended up out of pocket the $1000 deductible. At the next renewal they jacked my rate $2000 a year. "Insurance". I noped right out of there. Scummy. I suspect they couldn't just drop me so they instead "got me to quit".

I've since had Esurance for years. One time I returned from a flight overseas to a car with the front-right fender and wheel well absolutely demolished in the PHL parking lot. It was worth it to file a claim despite the high deductible. Another time a tractor truck totaled a car at my wife's office parking lot and pushed that wreck into my wife's parked car. The trucker managed to not get cited because it occurred on private property, and then we found out his insurance policy was suspended. We ended up not having to pay that deductible and they haven't substantially raised our rates over the years.
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Re: Insurance Company Battles - Advice? Success Stories?

Post by Jeff V »

So yesterday, mother nature gifted us a hail storm. We got the deluxe package with golf ball sized hail. And I was driving in it.

There's at least 6 dents on the car, the deepest on trim next to the driver's side window. At least 2 on the roof, and 2 on the hood. Wife reported at least one, but she's too short to see what the roof looks like. Her car was parked in it, and will be going to the body shop next week to finally get damage repaired from November's accident.

I wonder what the going rate for pulling hail dents is. There's two more dents wife discovered on my car a few days ago, appear to be parking lot dings, one of them leaving a white scrape. There's also a scuff on the hood where an apparent shingle glanced off it after flying out the back of a pickup truck on the expressway. I thought it was just cardboard, but the scuff marks are consistent with shingle or sandpaper.

And to cap off the day, I was driving my son home from taekwondo and heard an odd noise. Pulled over and sure enough, one of my tires is mostly flat. I pump it up enough to fetch my daughter from dance class, then slightly over fill it to get some necessary shopping done. The leak is slow, but I can't work with it like this. I need to take it in tomorrow morning.
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