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Changing Insurance Carriers

WinniWoman

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So, in my ongoing quest to try to cut expenses, I am now tackling insurance- auto and umbrella- since I haven't had much luck with cutting anything else and have not been able to sell one of our cars.

Background: In 2011, Allstate cancelled our homeowners policy that we had with them since 1977 (both our homes) because they decided suddenly they did not like the location of our main fire dept. in terms of distance from our home (about 10 miles).(Mind you, my neighbor about 2 miles up the road continues to have her Allstate homeowners policy and the secondary fire dept is 2 miles away. 2 more fire depts. are about 6 miles away). Teh Allstate agent in town even closed up shop.

Anyway, the whole thing made me crazy and we tried to fight it but didn't win and the long and short of it was I went on line and got insurance from Progressive no problem and have that policy to this day. But- my auto and umbrella policies are still with Allstate.

I tried shopping the whole bundle a few years ago with companies like State Farm and Liberty Mutual, etc. and all the quotes were very high, so I called Allstate and they were able to rewrite our policy through a different division and that brought our rates down for a few years. But now they said they cannot do that again at this time since it was done not that long ago.

Fast forward to the past couple of days I am getting quotes and Progressive turns out to be the least expensive for both auto and umbrella by almost $500 per year. The coverage is very similar so I am comparing apples to apples for the most part.

I call my Allstate agent and he has a new person there handling things and she proceeds to tell me she can do a homeowners policy for $20 less than Progressives' and plus I would get a little over a $100 off my policies because of the bundling. This I do not get. I tell her Allstate dropped us because of the fire dept. and she says- well that was long ago. Wait- really? The fire dept, is still in the same place. She also says if we go ahead with it they would send an inspector to our home to check things out. Uh- Progressive didn't do that. The whole thing sounds weird to me. Anyway, I am shopping auto and umbrella- not homeowners! Not after what they did to us- dropping us like that- no claims- nothing! How could I even trust Allstate with a homeowners policy? What if we went along with it and then they dropped us again?

She tells me by NYS law she cannot do anything about the Umbrella Policy rate and she also tells me I have every imaginable discount on my auto policies except that thing they put in your car to monitor your driving habits. I say no thanks to that one!

Last resort now she says she is running a credit check through, which will take up to 10 days, to see if we can get a better rate. She claims this is a different type of a credit check than the ones mortgage companies use, for example. Ummm.. we have pretty great credit and that has always been the case and I am not seeing how this would save us $500 per year.

What a pain in the butt! I am not sure whether to wait to see what she comes up with or just go with Progressive and call it a day. Of course, I had just renewed our auto policy with Allstate this month, but I do not want to wait until April to make a change. The Umbrella policy renews in February and that is "attached" to the car insurance.

My husband ironically works for Allstate (not an agent, but in claims) and he says Progressive if famous for stalling claims- directing their insureds to the other drivers' insurance company first when in an accident, only to have their insured come back to them after the other drivers company directs them back, delaying the claims processing.

Anyone have Progressive for their auto insurance? We used to have them for auto many years ago and I do not recall any problems, but I am not sure if we ever had any claims with them.

Not fun this stuff. What a racket. I really hate the insurance business. Plus, when you think about it eventually Progressive will raise their rates and we will be back up again. And- we hope to move in 2 years or so to another state and that will require starting all over again! Ugh!
 

VacationForever

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You may want to check AAA, it saved 50% off our State Farm rates and we had State Farm for more than 20 years. Folks here also reported that Costco insurance is inexpensive. We are sticking with AAA as we just made the switch a year ago.
 

MULTIZ321

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Hi MPumilia,

Don't forget to check with Geico - we recently switched 2 cars to them plus adding an umbrella policy for $2,000 less than what we were paying.

Richard
 

WinniWoman

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Hi MPumilia,

Don't forget to check with Geico - we recently switched 2 cars to them plus adding an umbrella policy for $2,000 less than what we were paying.

Richard


Oh- I checked with Geico, as well as Liberty Mutual, Amica, Essurance, and a few others for the auto- all very high- more than my Allstate policy!
 

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Mary Ann, you are using the names of "direct writers." If you go to an agency, they can shop the coverage with different companies. Travelers, Aetna, Hartford are all potential underwriters. I used an agency in Guilderland (you know where that is) and I have done much better than some of the names mentioned. PM me if you want the reference. Good luck. It is not a "fun" investigation.
 

WinniWoman

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Mary Ann, you are using the names of "direct writers." If you go to an agency, they can shop the coverage with different companies. Travelers, Aetna, Hartford are all potential underwriters. I used an agency in Guilderland (you know where that is) and I have done much better than some of the names mentioned. PM me if you want the reference. Good luck. It is not a "fun" investigation.


The last time I shopped insurance, a few years ago, I did go in person to some agencies and they were useless honestly. State Farm and a few other quotes. High rates and some never even got back to me.

This time I did also shop Hartford. Expensive.

Years ago I did use an agency actually for Mercury Insurance, which we had for years but then of course, the rates went up.

Believe me, I have gotten a lot of quotes in the past couple of days and Progressive (and even Allstate) beats them all.
 

VacationForever

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Oh- I checked with Geico, as well as Liberty Mutual, Amica, Essurance, and a few others for the auto- all very high- more than my Allstate policy!
Please check AAA. They are 50% lower than my State Farm policy. State Farm was cheaper than Geico, Progressive and AllState.
 

pedro47

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To the OP.. Suggestion only please check with Costco for auto and home owners policy’s.
 

Talent312

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The last time DW had a little accident, our Allstate policy included collision, so we were only out the deductible. Still, we were livid that the other driver claimed it was her fault. We told our claims adjuster that the other driver was a Parton and this was near Dollywood (no ticket issued), but he was out-to-lunch, nonetheless.

The Allstate guy went thru arbitration with the other driver's insurance (Progressive) over a who-scraped-who case with only ~$4K at issue, and he won. So, we got our deductible covered. I was impressed with Allstate perseverance, and that's one reason I haven't shopped around... although Progressive would be cheaper.
.
 

WinniWoman

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I don"t belong to Costco (no Costco here) or to AAA. When I shopped Hartford, I did so through AARP website but I don't belong to AARP either and they asked if I did- so I assume the quote I got with that one was not discounted either.
 

VacationForever

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I don"t belong to Costco (no Costco here) or to AAA. When I shopped Hartford, I did so through AARP website but I don't belong to AARP either and they asked if I did- so I assume the quote I got with that one was not discounted either.
What you can do is ask AAA for a quote for the whole bundle. If it is worth it, then pay for the AAA membership to get the lower rates. If there is a AAA office near you, you can either make an appointment or drop by and see someone.
 

WinniWoman

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What you can do is ask AAA for a quote for the whole bundle. If it is worth it, then pay for the AAA membership to get the lower rates. If there is a AAA office near you, you can either make an appointment or drop by and see someone.

LOL. No AAA office round these parts! But I will look into it online. Thanks.
 

VacationForever

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LOL. No AAA office round these parts! But I will look into it online. Thanks.
You can call them too and the agents are very good on the phone. I had given up on getting lower rates than State Farm because we shopped around and could not find something lower. Last year State Farm raised our rates by 10-20% and they said it was because we now live in a litigious state, we finally decided to check with AAA and we saved $2000 per year, and with more coverage.
 

WinniWoman

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You can call them too and the agents are very good on the phone. I had given up on getting lower rates than State Farm because we shopped around and could not find something lower. Last year State Farm raised our rates by 10-20% and they said it was because we now live in a litigious state, we finally decided to check with AAA and we saved $2000 per year, and with more coverage.


You must have been paying a huge amount in premiums to save $2000. All 3 of our policies right now total a about $3500 and we have 3 cars on the auto policy!
 

VacationForever

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You must have been paying a huge amount in premiums to save $2000. All 3 of our policies right now total a about $3500 and we have 3 cars on the auto policy!
I think our issue was that State Farm went from under insuring our condo to over insuring it, and that knocked off about $800 in itself when we moved to AAA. The other thing is that our umbrella policy cost more than double under State Farm and we got that reduced by a good amount when we moved to AAA for the same amount of coverage. AAA required 500K liability insurance coverage on auto in order for them to underwrite umbrella policies and we had 250K under State Farm. So we bumped that up on auto and the premiums were still 30% lower than State Farm's rates. All in all, we are pretty happy with the switch. I had called Liberty Mutual, Geico, Allstate and Progressive through the years and they were all much higher than State Farm.
 

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Hi MPumilia,

Don't forget to check with Geico - we recently switched 2 cars to them plus adding an umbrella policy for $2,000 less than what we were paying.

Richard

When I compare auto insurance costs Geico always comes in the lowest but it could be because I'm been with them 20 years. I have Progressive for home insurance
 

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I don"t belong to Costco (no Costco here) or to AAA. When I shopped Hartford, I did so through AARP website but I don't belong to AARP either and they asked if I did- so I assume the quote I got with that one was not discounted either.

AARP costs about $15 a year, so get the AARP quote and then get the membership if the savings are significant.
 

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If anyone in your family was or is military, try USAA.

When I priced them their price was high. Our neighbors recommended USAA but he is retired military so they get a better price plus they have been with USAA for years.

Something to be aware of before you think someone is crazy for recommending a company because when you priced their company it was high. Where you live can make a huge difference in what you pay. Rates vary from state to state and even in different areas of the same state. For instance if we lived in the Miami area we would pay a higher rate than we pay here where we live in Tamarac, FL only about 35-40 miles from Miami. Just this week I heard that a couple who are both 50 and both have clean driving records pay $9000 a year for insurance on a 2006 Impala with a $1000 deductible. I would hope that included collision but it might be only liability. They live in Detroit. I wouldn't think a 12 year old Impala would be worth more than maybe $2500 at the most so how could the insurance be over 3 times what the car is even worth? Again, Detroit.
 

bluehende

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When I priced them their price was high. Our neighbors recommended USAA but he is retired military so they get a better price plus they have been with USAA for years.

Something to be aware of before you think someone is crazy for recommending a company because when you priced their company it was high. Where you live can make a huge difference in what you pay. Rates vary from state to state and even in different areas of the same state. For instance if we lived in the Miami area we would pay a higher rate than we pay here where we live in Tamarac, FL only about 35-40 miles from Miami. Just this week I heard that a couple who are both 50 and both have clean driving records pay $9000 a year for insurance on a 2006 Impala with a $1000 deductible. I would hope that included collision but it might be only liability. They live in Detroit. I wouldn't think a 12 year old Impala would be worth more than maybe $2500 at the most so how could the insurance be over 3 times what the car is even worth? Again, Detroit.

As with anything in this day and age it is health care that makes it so expensive. It is the injuries more than the damage that runs up that cost. 9000 though does seem insane. I know living in a city adds a lot but man that is rough.
 

DaveNV

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Mary Ann, you can join Costco via their website. You don’t need a local warehouse. If you are an Executive member, you can get Ameriprise insurance. I have it with my house and three vehicles. The rates are cheaper than I’ve found anywhere else.

The cool benefit is you can order things from Costco.com, and if you do happen to travel to a location that has a Costco, you can use them. If you decide it’s not worth it, you can cancel the membership and get all of your money back. Win-win. :)

Dave
 

Jan M.

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As with anything in this day and age it is health care that makes it so expensive. It is the injuries more than the damage that runs up that cost. 9000 though does seem insane. I know living in a city adds a lot but man that is rough.

Yes that is insane. I thought I was hearing it wrong! I wondered who they were with and if all insurance companies would charge about the same in their area. I know I'd be shopping around.

We had Erie Insurance Exchange for years when we lived in Pennsylvania but they don't insure in Florida. We knew before we moved to Florida that the auto insurance rates would be higher. Erie Insurance rates are so good that when you call around to compare prices as soon as they hear you're with Erie Ins. they tell you they can't do better.
 
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