Home and Auto insurance

[cbrsurfr]

After 14 years with State Farm it's time to switch. They've been slowly raising rates on me for years and just this year they did an audit where they determined that I've been getting discounts for years that I shouldn't have been getting. Needless to say this is making everything go way up.

I currently have 4 things insured through SF. My primary house, my rental house, my daily driver (Evo) and my classic (Mustang). Clean driving record only claim is a home hail claim from last year that most say won't affect my rates.

I also nearly had to go through arbitration on the hail claim which was a very frustrating experience with SF.

I'm finding not every place has the same breadth as SF. Some won't insure my mustang and some won't insure my rental property (at least without partnering with another company).

I'm also getting wildly different rates despite trying my best to make it apples to apples in terms of coverage amounts and deductibles.

So far I'm looking at: Nationwide, Farmers, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Country Financial, Geico, and Esurance. Am I missing any?

Geico will give me great rates on my Evo but they just partner with different companies on everything else which I don't like.

------------------
Update:
Esurance for main house $704 per year instead of ~$885
Geico for Evo (maxed out all limits/options) $550 per year versus $995 (no roadside/rental).
Stay with SF for rental $592 (up from $572 I've been paying)
Stay with SF for Mustang for $196 per year.

$626 in savings per year + lower deductible on house + towing/rental coverage on car. If rental goes up again that will get switched as well.

 

[nickbits]

Progressive?

 

[zardthebuilder]

Progressive?

i use Progressive for my house and cars. i called them a few weeks ago about house rental coverage, and they transferred me to one of their partners.

OP, why does it bother you to use 2 or 3 different insurance companies if the overall rates are lower? Did you call SF and tell them that you are canceling your policies? Many Customer Retention departments have a lot of power to lower rates to keep you.

 

[cbrsurfr]

i use Progressive for my house and cars. i called them a few weeks ago about house rental coverage, and they transferred me to one of their partners.

OP, why does it bother you to use 2 or 3 different insurance companies if the overall rates are lower? Did you call SF and tell them that you are canceling your policies? Many Customer Retention departments have a lot of power to lower rates to keep you.

I don't mind the Mustang going to Haggerty or just in general being separate. I just prefer not to deal with more than 2 companies. Geico would be 3 for sure - them on the Evo, some company I've never heard of on the houses, and a 3rd company on the mustang.

I tried working with SF they basically told me to there's nothing they can do. And leaving just the houses with them isn't an option as then I lose the home/auto discount and the homes skyrocket even more. So either I move everything from them or nothing.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Progressive?

So far Flo can only match SF if I raise my deductibles.

 

[cabri]

A couple of years ago, SF pulled the plug on us due to claim on basement flooding.

Digging around in a panic for a month, I located Ameriprise Insurance Company, which actually ended up providing a lower rate than SF was doing with slightly better coverage.

Did all the paperwork via phone or email with an agent and beat the cancellation by 1 day.

Then this year, I get a $100+ check from the company due to a "quoting" error for 2013.

Have not checked to see if they will beat Progressive for our 2 Jeeps.

 

[nageov3t]

have you confirmed that you're actually getting the best rates by using the same company for both?

I don't have home insurance, but I wasn't able to find a company who beat the rates I got using Progressive for auto insurance and State Farm for renter's even as a package deal.

 

[edro]

I have bounced between Nationwide and Allstate the last 10 years.
We have 3 cars, house and rental.

 

[boomerang]

I hate insurance shopping. We've got the highest rates in the nation for car insurance in Michigan. Shopping around at B&M locations yields rates too close to one another to make a switch. It's almost like they are colluding with one another. I've even called some of the solicitations I get in the mail and tried through Costco with no luck. With FICO scores in the low eights and zero claims in like forever (homeowners only a long time ago) we should be getting great rates.

I just got a rate for our cars from the agent that has our condo in Florida and it was 20% lower than in Michigan. But moving our primary residence to FL is not something to be done on a whim. Lots of thinking to be done before a decision like that is made.

Did I mention that I hate insurance shopping?

 

[cbrsurfr]

I spent about 3.5 hours on the phone today calling places. What a pain in the ass.

It's looking like the Evo would have to go to Geico, my main house to Esurance, my rental to Nationwide, and the Mustang to Haggerty to save ANY money. That still doesn't get me back to where SF was 2 years ago, but at least it would get me below where it's at now.

I still have to confirm that Nationwide will write only the rental for that price. I also need to call Geico and take a look at a bundle with their partners.

 

[highland145]

And what's important is will they pay valid claims asap or cause you more delay pain.

Is there a site that will show how well the companies pay valid claims? I know SF will drop you like a rock if you file 2 claims too close together.

 

[cabri]

I spent about 3.5 hours on the phone today calling places. What a pain in the ass.

It's looking like the Evo would have to go to Geico, my main house to Esurance, my rental to Nationwide, and the Mustang to Haggerty to save ANY money. That still doesn't get me back to where SF was 2 years ago, but at least it would get me below where it's at now.

I still have to confirm that Nationwide will write only the rental for that price. I also need to call Geico and take a look at a bundle with their partners.

After you get all the individual numbers; maybe then call back to see if anyone will bundle those items for such a rate.

There are a couple of websites that will submit your info to multiple companies for house and auto coverage.

 

[cbrsurfr]

And what's important is will they pay valid claims asap or cause you more delay pain.

Is there a site that will show how well the companies pay valid claims? I know SF will drop you like a rock if you file 2 claims too close together.

They all suck if you look at the reviews. I had a post about my hail damage claim on here that I never updated. After weeks of going back and forth, SF would only pay out less than half of what they should have covered. They tried to tell me that I didn't have enough damage to pay anything out. Next step was arbitration and getting a lawyer and all this crap so in the end I determined it wasn't worth it. I worked with the contractor to do the whole roof and front fascia and I would do the rest. The whole area was declared a catastrophe zone by insurance companies. There's 105 homes in my subdivision and all but 6 got new roofs.

I've got a call in to SF to see if I can just keep the classic policy for my Mustang. It by far is the cheapest. Almost half of Haggerty.

So with Evo to Geico, House to Esurance, Rental to Nationwide, and Mustang staying with SF I can save 773 per year. That's for better coverage then I have as it includes rental loss of income, a lower deductible on my house, and a couple other things I didn't have with just SF.

Ameriprise was crap, they were like 1600/year just for the Evo.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Have had a lot of luck with Liberty Mutual in the MA area. Everything is through them: 2 cars (no Mustang though), $1M+ residence, couple of rental properties, and a personal liability umbrella on top. Our office has also been good on claims, although granted we've only had one. They beat the hell out of Geico, Progressive, and SF, we've never bothered to shop much more than that since their rate was a significant chunk lower than those.

 

[Booty]

We have Nationwide and have been satisfied, but I think I'm going to get a quote from Amica because I've heard good things about them, and we need to keep Nationwide honest - I read that many insurance companies basically punish you for being loyal - slowly raising your rates each year assuming you're too lazy/comfortable to change providers.

 

[Zivic]

I would try to find a single company to cover the evo, house, and rental property. maybe see if you have family that could get you into USAA. I have friends using that and are happy.

I have experience with Hagerty and would definitely recommend that for your mustang.

another company I have dealt with that I don't see on your list was auto-owners. I have them for homeowners and some other policies. not sure how cheap they are but I have had 3 claims (two storm damage and a theft) over various policies in the last 10 yrs and have been good to deal with.

I also have state farm and I have had mixed results with them on claims. I find the experience to be dependent on my agent. My original policies were with an agent that has since retired and my policies have passed on to a new agent. I had a claim on my wife's engagement ring about 6-8 yrs ago (having it on its own policy) that didn't go as well as I was hoping. My agent didn't represent me well with their claims department. we had a long meeting about my expectations after that.

^^ what I am getting at with all of that is I won't shop for the cheapest, more so how they treat claims.

 

[boomerang]

We have Nationwide and have been satisfied, but I think I'm going to get a quote from Amica because I've heard good things about them, and we need to keep Nationwide honest - I read that many insurance companies basically punish you for being loyal - slowly raising your rates each year assuming you're too lazy/comfortable to change providers.

That's been my assumption for years. But having said that, as I mentioned earlier it seems now that their rates are all very, very close together. At least that's the case in Michigan. But I will now contradict that by saying that I was with Auto Owners for a decade or more until their auto rates started skyrocketing. The independent agent I had the policies through was pretty exasperated herself. She said that the majority of their clientele were with AO and that they had no worthy substitute for them. She said they were losing a lot of long time customers.

Insurance companies are not in the business of losing money. Hurricane Sandy was several years back but maybe we're seeing the fallout from that. We'll never know.

 

[cbrsurfr]

I can't find a company that will do both houses and the Evo for a reasonable cost.

For example Farmers will do all 3 but they want 1552/year to insure the Evo. I was paying 770/year and am now up to 993/year.

Liberty Mutual same thing, houses are OK but they want 1353/year for the Evo.

Ameriprise was 1532 for the Evo.

And with any of those if I remove the Evo the house insurance goes up about $400/year.

Liberty Mutual doesn't make sense as I briefly owned a 2007 GT500 and only paid like $400-500/year.

Esurance was the only one that gave me a decent quote on the house that was not dependent on the Evo.

 

[cbrsurfr]

I have not looked into USAA. My grandfather was in WWII, I wonder if that counts.

 

[cbrsurfr]

I have not looked into USAA. My grandfather was in WWII, I wonder if that counts.

Just checked, I don't qualify.

 

[sphenodont]

We've got the highest rates in the nation for car insurance in Michigan.

I think New Jersey's more expensive, but yeah, Michigan's not pleasant. No-fault plus a depressed economy and high fraud/theft all add up to high rates. It's unfortunate, but that's what it is.

And it's damn near impossible to get away from PIP. It's sounds great on paper, until you have to actually pay for it (and the unintended consequences of it).

 

[sphenodont]

Many Customer Retention departments have a lot of power to lower rates to keep you.

Most insurance companies don't have a whole lot of power to lower your rates just to keep you as a customer. They have to have a consistent rate plan that is filed with the state regulators, which precludes any special pricing incentives.

There's only two real ways you can "get a better rate" from your existing provider:

One, some carriers calculate your insurance score when you first quote, and then adjust your rate based on experience. In this case, you might be able to convince them to re-run your IS, and it might be enough to improve your rate.

Two, most insurance companies write business in multiple companies, to segment their lower-quality or non-standard business from their preferred customers. Some companies go even further and start new programs in new companies, and then maintain the old ones while offering new discounts and new rating plans in the new ones. If you've been with a company long enough, you might be written in a renewal-only company and might benefit from being rewritten in a new one, or you might be a good enough risk to qualify for a preferred company.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Well I'm running out of time as my car policies are expiring shortly.

So this is what it's looking like:
Esurance for main house $704 per year instead of ~$885
Geico for Evo (maxed out all limits/options) $550 per year versus $995 (no roadside/rental).
Stay with SF for rental $592 (up from $572 I've been paying)
Stay with SF for Mustang for $196 per year.

So three companies instead of one, but it saves me $626 per year. I could move the rental but the difference is minimal and it's less hassle to just leave it for now.

 

[Binky]

Try Mercury insurance. I've had good luck with them for about 20 years, and they show that they are in your state.

 

[zardthebuilder]

Most insurance companies don't have a whole lot of power to lower your rates just to keep you as a customer. They have to have a consistent rate plan that is filed with the state regulators, which precludes any special pricing incentives.

There's only two real ways you can "get a better rate" from your existing provider:

One, some carriers calculate your insurance score when you first quote, and then adjust your rate based on experience. In this case, you might be able to convince them to re-run your IS, and it might be enough to improve your rate.

Two, most insurance companies write business in multiple companies, to segment their lower-quality or non-standard business from their preferred customers. Some companies go even further and start new programs in new companies, and then maintain the old ones while offering new discounts and new rating plans in the new ones. If you've been with a company long enough, you might be written in a renewal-only company and might benefit from being rewritten in a new one, or you might be a good enough risk to qualify for a preferred company.

in Atlanta, there are tons of TV commercials from Progressive, Geico, etc. about how 15 minutes can save you hundreds. i spoke with a Progressive rep, and she told that there was nothing she could do with my rate. i told her that i will cancel my policy and to transfer me to the Customer Retention department. they lowered my rates a few hundred dollars. it is a PITA, but i need to make it habit to do it every few years. each state is different, so maybe there is little leeway in your state?