# Shopping for insurance



## begreen (Oct 9, 2018)

We're looking to replace our home and auto insurance. Rates keep creeping up with no claims. What companies have been best to work with for claims and settlement? What companies have been the worst?


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## Dataman (Oct 9, 2018)

I have Safeco.   It's been great.  One claim in last 15 years.    Has not gone up much.   Few dollars cheaper every year.  I like the Agent and happy with them.


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## HisTreeNut (Oct 9, 2018)

Have had State Farm for years without issue for anything.  Have a good agent that is very responsive.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk


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## Jan Pijpelink (Oct 9, 2018)

When we came to the US, we got Allstate. Very expensive and poor service. We are now with GEICO since 2005 or so. Reasonable rates, great service. Had 1 claim, was done in a heartbeat without raising the premium.


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## begreen (Oct 9, 2018)

Had Geico prior to our current insurer. They were great at first and also covered well on one auto claim. But like our current insurer, each year the rates crept up until after 5+ years the increase was considerable. We dropped several hundred dollars a year by switching to our current insurer (Pemco) but every year the premium creeps up, with no claims filed.


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## bholler (Oct 9, 2018)

We had safeco for a while but rates skyrocketed when i got a ticket.  Allstate was the worst we have had.  We havd progressive now and they seem fine so far.


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## begreen (Oct 9, 2018)

Progressive has given me the best quote so far. How long have you had them and have there been major rate increases during this period? Do you have auto, home or both?


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## Ashful (Oct 10, 2018)

Jan Pijpelink said:


> When we came to the US, we got Allstate. Very expensive and poor service. We are now with GEICO since 2005 or so. Reasonable rates, great service. Had 1 claim, was done in a heartbeat without raising the premium.



I was with Allstate for about 15 years.  Never a claim, but my rates climbed every year.  I’d call them maybe every 4th year, complain or threaten to leave, and they’d give me an enormous decrease in my rates.  Then they’d climb back up over the following several years.  They had a very responsive agent when I started, but I got pushed over to another agency in the last few years, and I had a lot of trouble getting ahold of the agent when I’d have a question.

So, I switched to State Farm about 7 years ago.  One claim since, which was handled pretty well.  My agent sucks, she doesn’t like to work, but at least I’m not doing the rate game every year anymore.  I’ve had issues getting her to respond on questions and quotes (addition of wood stoves, addition of boats to policy, etc.), but she usually has a pretty good secretary that I can count on to get me answers.

I think a lot of it comes down the local agent you’re dealing with.


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## bholler (Oct 10, 2018)

begreen said:


> Progressive has given me the best quote so far. How long have you had them and have there been major rate increases during this period? Do you have auto, home or both?


4 years i think not allot of change really we ony have auto through them right now but i need to get quotes for combining them


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## lsucet (Oct 10, 2018)

begreen said:


> We're looking to replace our home and auto insurance.



Check into WAFD. Main branches/Bank is local to your state. My wife works for them here in New Mexico.


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## begreen (Oct 10, 2018)

I have only thought of them as a bank. Do they have an insurance business too?


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## lsucet (Oct 10, 2018)

begreen said:


> I have only thought of them as a bank. Do they have an insurance business too?



Yes they do.


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## peakbagger (Oct 10, 2018)

My insurance is all bundled with State Farm. Car, Home and excess liability.  I rarely have needed it but when I did they took care of it.  When I needed insurance on my Unimog the agent rep said he couldnt do it as it was commercial due to its weight. I got his manager on the line and they looked at how long I had been a customer and I had a quote on my the next day. There seems to be lot of flexibility between agents on insurance.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 10, 2018)

Hated All State . . . local agent wasn't much better. When I called him for a better rate he gave me a quote which was still quite high. I shopped around and got a great rate through AAA with Travelers. When I called the local agent and told him I was leaving all he could say was, "But your family has been with me for years" to which I thought "So you're saying you've been sticking it to the whole family for all of these years?" I held my tongue though.

Travelers has been great . . . every once in a while I check around for rates and Travelers often has the best rates for me.


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## bholler (Oct 10, 2018)

firefighterjake said:


> Hated All State . . . local agent wasn't much better. When I called him for a better rate he gave me a quote which was still quite high. I shopped around and got a great rate through AAA with Travelers. When I called the local agent and told him I was leaving all he could say was, "But your family has been with me for years" to which I thought "So you're saying you've been sticking it to the whole family for all of these years?" I held my tongue though.
> 
> Travelers has been great . . . every once in a while I check around for rates and Travelers often has the best rates for me.


Yeah i really hated allstate.  From working with insurance companies on claims state farm isnt much better.


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## EatenByLimestone (Oct 13, 2018)

We have liberty mutual for everything.    9 years so far.   Every 5 years I review all the policies to make sure prices haven't crept up, house coverage reflects replacement cost, etc.    We've been very happy with them.


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## peakbagger (Oct 13, 2018)

By the way, climate change and the storms associated with it are going to be cranking up homeowners everywhere. The folks in the vulnerable areas like Florida already pay an arm and leg for coverage with incredible high deductibles and other coastal states will see the same as the companies will threaten to pull out of the markets. Even us folks inland are seeing more heavy rain, tornados and heavy snow events. The losses need to made up somehow and that means everyone pays more. The only options are upgrade a home and the property to handle the heavy weather events in your area and self insure the small losses. That may mean swapping power lines to underground, cutting any large trees that could hit the house especially on the prevailing wind side and going with more wind and hail resistant roofing. New homes shouldn't be built to meet the code which tends to lag weather events and should be built to be above code for the type of weather that is expected to be around for the indefinite future.

If you are in an area in a 100 year flood plan either move or jack the house up, 100 year flood events are happening every 5 or 10 years and politicians are playing games to keep the the flood plain maps out of date as it potentially impacts development. They just assume when it happens they will be long gone or the fed will bail them out. Talk to anyone in a area prone to hurricanes and getting fed assistance is a nightmare with many folks walking away with nothing. Fairly soon some real estate agent gets their hands on the federal money and they build the place right back to the way it was and then it happens again.


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## Ashful (Oct 13, 2018)

One piece of advice I’ll give, for all of you folks who’ve never placed a claim, and are unlikely to do so for minor stuff.  Why are you carrying a typical $500 deductible?  That is costing you money.  If you’re never going to submit a claim for anything under $10k, then raise your deductible to $10k.

My boss has a $500,000 deductible on his homeowners’ policy, but he is in a special class.  I would think a $10k deductible may be more appropriate for many people, as the DIY types may often choose to fix problems smaller than that themselves, anyway.


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## blades (Oct 13, 2018)

Hxxx fire, if I was running a 10k deductible there would not be any reason the to be paying them in the first place. I can understand a $1000 deductable perhaps that is what you meant? each area is different though.  If you didn't know it already your rate quotes are tied to your credit scores ( more BS) If you are self employed for some reason they nick you harder.  if looking at home insurance take the sq ft of home x$175.00 ( my area) for a rough estimate of the amount to cover house. Now that $175 is going to vary some by area like California ( Closer to $1750.00 guesstamit) or East Coast ($750+ guesstamit) basically it is the cost per ft to build a new home of similar quality. Insurance is just a legitimized version of what Guido and Vinny sold on the corner. course they don't show up and smash the place like the aforementioned duo did just your wallet. Sometimes I think I would rather deal with Vinny and Guido. At least I knew exactly where they stood in plain English well except for the heavy accents.


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## Ashful (Oct 13, 2018)

Great post.  I meant $10k, but everyone’s threshold will be different.  I’ve had $3k-$5k repairs more than once, and just cover them myself, usually always DIY.  Often it’s just easier than dealing with contractors, esp interior work.

As to the $10k deductible making it not worth carrying insurance, my interest is being covered for the $100k catastrophe, while hoping I never need it.


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## Highbeam (Oct 15, 2018)

Ashful said:


> Great post.  I meant $10k, but everyone’s threshold will be different.  I’ve had $3k-$5k repairs more than once, and just cover them myself, usually always DIY.  Often it’s just easier than dealing with contractors, esp interior work.
> 
> As to the $10k deductible making it not worth carrying insurance, my interest is being covered for the $100k catastrophe, while hoping I never need it.



Homeowners is about liability too. When some friend of your kid comes over and chokes on a cherry pit.

We jacked up our deductible recently and it made a big difference in premiums. You could quickly determine how many years it would take to come out of ahead. Same with automotive. So many average people can't come up with 500$ for a deductible so it scares them when you select a higher number.  

I use farmers for all but I have no claim experience. Happy with the price and agent though.


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## begreen (Oct 15, 2018)

Farmers is advertising heavily in our area recently. I haven't gotten a quote from them yet. Will check on it if they are good about not jacking up rates constantly.


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## blades (Oct 15, 2018)

ins co and rate increases = sop


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## begreen (Oct 15, 2018)

blades said:


> ins co and rate increases = sop


Thus we reevaluate and switch about every 5 yrs.


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## blades (Oct 15, 2018)

exactly- even that is getting a lot harder - I have had 3 quotes on my home all within apx $100 of each other. I did notice that they are getting quite crafty about how they present things - so much so that you have dig to find the true cost. So read the fine print.


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## begreen (Oct 15, 2018)

Yes, some like Safeco quoted higher than we are currently paying. So far Progressive has the best quote.


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## jharkin (Oct 16, 2018)

The same companies always rank at the top in customer service and claims satisfaction surveys:

USAA (have to be a veteran)
Amica
i.e.
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/jd-power-2018-us-property-claims-satisfaction-study


I have never heard of a bad experience from either, and since i don't qualify for USAA, I am a 25 year satisfied Amica customer (for everything - life, auto, home & umbrella). I've been though claims with them multiple times, never had my rates go up from a claim, never had to wait or fight for compensation, never even had to handle a settlement check.

I'll agree with @Ashful on the big deductibles as well.  Typically your best value is to carry the largest deductible you can afford out of pocket from your emergency funds paired to the biggest liability limit they offer.  10k deductable might be a stretch for lots of folks, I carry $5k myself.   But don't forget it doesn't take a total loss to dip into the insurance - 3 years back a snowstorm dropped a tree on my garage, ended up being a $20k + double claim (homeowners and auto)...  Which Amica paid no questions asked with zero impact to my renewal


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## jharkin (Oct 16, 2018)

blades said:


> Hxxx fire, if I was running a 10k deductible there would not be any reason the to be paying them in the first place. I can understand a $1000 deductable perhaps that is what you meant? each area is different though.  If you didn't know it already your rate quotes are tied to your credit scores ( more BS)



Not everywhere.  The laws vary by state, and my state (Massachusetts) does not allow insurance companies to look at your credit score.

Our rates are also heavily regulated and it would not surprise me if I am paying less than most of you...Been through that discussion many times with lots of folks.......



blades said:


> if looking at home insurance take the sq ft of home x$175.00 ( my area) for a rough estimate of the amount to cover house. Now that $175 is going to vary some by area like California ( Closer to $1750.00 guesstamit) or East Coast ($750+ guesstamit) basically it is the cost per ft to build a new home of similar quality. Insurance is just a legitimized version of what Guido and Vinny sold on the corner.



Your numbers are all over the map...   Rebuild costs are NOT the same thing as the market cost per sq ft to buy an existing home.  I.e. where I live market costs can be anywhere from 200-400/sq ft or more (much more in Boston and NYC). The insurance company I think uses a number of around $200/sq to figure contractor rates and calculate the rebuild cost.  I doubt in CA where houses sell for 1k/sq  that contractors are getting 1k for renovations 

Give you an example.
Market value of my house is probably about 450k
Insurance company puts the rebuild value around 325-350k
I pay an annual premium of about $1200 with a $5k deductible.


When the tree fell on my garage, the insurance payout  paid for almost 15 years of premiums...  and that's a pretty small loss. Seems like a good deal to me.


EDIT to add: I feel for you guys getting jacked on the rates... just don't have the same experience - which is shy I suggest calling Amica and/or USAA if eligible I think in the 10 years I've lived here my annual was risen from $950 to $1200  but the coverage amount has gone up about 75-100k in parallel to reflect increased rebuilding costs.  Basically right in line with inflation...


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## Ashful (Oct 16, 2018)

I’ve always had my policies listed at “full replacement value”.  The rebuild cost on my house, following historically-accurate methods in the event of a total loss (eg. earthquake), would be substantially higher than the sale price of my house + property.  The “full replacement value” clause does cost more than cash-value coverage, but it’s the only way to go if you are in this situation.

Lots of comments, and some complaints, about credit score affecting premiums.  Why not?  It has been very clearly demonstrated that the low credit score population is higher risk, demographically speaking.  It’s simple math, you can’t expect a company to not use whatever few tools are available to them, to make broad judgements of risk.


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## jharkin (Oct 16, 2018)

Ashful said:


> I’ve always had my policies listed at “full replacement value”.  The rebuild cost on my house, following historically-accurate methods in the event of a total loss (eg. earthquake), would be substantially higher than the sale price of my house + property.  The “full replacement value” clause does cost more than cash-value coverage, but it’s the only way to go if you are in this situation.



Excellent point, and our situation is similar to yours, give the age of our house a partial rebuild keeping it historically accurate could cost more than a full rebuild from a total loss using all modern methods.

They way Amica handled this for my policy is we have some special rider allowing up to 150% or such of the formula calculated replacement cost due to the age of the house.  I don't recall the exact language as the policy is at home but I could look if anyone is interested.




Ashful said:


> Lots of comments, and some complaints, about credit score affecting premiums.  Why not?  It has been very clearly demonstrated that the low credit score population is higher risk, demographically speaking.  It’s simple math, you can’t expect a company to not use whatever few tools are available to them, to make broad judgements of risk.



True - and such calculations would likely be to my personal benefit... I was just pointing out that my state doesn't allow it (at least not for auto, i have to double check on home), and yet our rates don't seem to be sky high as a result...


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## Ashful (Oct 16, 2018)

jharkin said:


> Excellent point, and our situation is similar to yours, give the age of our house a partial rebuild keeping it historically accurate could cost more than a full rebuild from a total loss using all modern methods.
> 
> They way Amica handled this for my policy is we have some special rider allowing up to 150% or such of the formula calculated replacement cost due to the age of the house.  I don't recall the exact language as the policy is at home but I could look if anyone is interested.


I may ask you for that at some point, I’m due to start re-shopping.  It’s been 7 years on the current policy.



jharkin said:


> True - and such calculations would likely be to my personal benefit... I was just pointing out that my state doesn't allow it (at least not for auto, i have to double check on home), and yet our rates don't seem to be sky high as a result...


I suspect the weighting on this single factor is always relatively low.  It’s just one of probably several dozen variables, that goes into their equation.    Also, I suspect the weighting of this factor would be different for homeowners, auto, and life insurances.  Just as my life insurance co. cares if I race cars or skydive, while my homeowners insurance co. has never asked those questions.


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## Dobish (Oct 16, 2018)

i have gone though a local agent who shops around and sees what the best deal they can get is. I have been with Safeco for a number of years, and state farm as well. With all of the recent hail storms here, rates for home and auto jumped, even though I didn't submit a claim.

Every so often I will call around just for a sanity check, but my agent is looking out and always gets the best rates.

I have found that sometimes I have to ask about available discounts (education, state employee, good driving, military, etc.) because they often get missed. IF you can can, USAA has great rates.


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## Montanalocal (Oct 16, 2018)

I have had the same insurance for over 30 years.  I have been reluctant to change insurance companies because of the fact that I have large firewood stacks close to my house.  I do remember that back when I signed up, they came and took pictures of my house.  I am concerned that if I sign up with a new insurance company, they will either mandate I move my firewood, or that they will refuse to insure me.  Anyone else have any experience with this?


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## blades (Oct 17, 2018)

Montanalocal said:


> I have had the same insurance for over 30 years.  I have been reluctant to change insurance companies because of the fact that I have large firewood stacks close to my house.  I do remember that back when I signed up, they came and took pictures of my house.  I am concerned that if I sign up with a new insurance company, they will either mandate I move my firewood, or that they will refuse to insure me.  Anyone else have any experience with this?


never with ins.  now with the local takeamint and long nosed neighbors that  was another matter. solved that by moving to between nowhere and nothing.


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## Highbeam (Oct 17, 2018)

Ashful said:


> The rebuild cost on my house, following historically-accurate methods in the event of a total loss (eg. earthquake), would be substantially higher than the sale price of my house + property.



Are you really able to get earthquake insurance on your old home? I couldn't get it for my 1963 place.


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## Ashful (Oct 17, 2018)

Highbeam said:


> Are you really able to get earthquake insurance on your old home? I couldn't get it for my 1963 place.



No, sorry, that was a bad example.  Earthquakes are so uncommon here, I haven’t even checked my policy for that.


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## blades (Oct 18, 2018)

Not common here either but we have been rattled a few time in the last 10 years enough that it made the news locally any way.


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## Ashful (Oct 18, 2018)

The one that closed the Washington Monument for a few months in late summer 2011 rocked us well enough that everyone felt it.  That’s the only one I can remember in four and a half decades of living here, though.


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