Are you an auto club member?
My car is insured with the local auto club (along with with everything else . . . homeowners, umbrella, flood, fire, rental property, etc.) and their prices and service are excellent
I listed I had comprehensive and collision by mentioning that I have $500 deductibles…
Anyway, I can’t stay on my parents’ coverage because they live in Wisconsin and their insurance doesn’t cover me in Texas where I’m moving to. I am just renting so I’ll be getting renter insurance, but I don’t necessarily have anything to “bundle” with.
Geico is decent insurance but I guess it really depends on your age. My wife and I have had Geico insurance for over 30 years and have had only one claim (wife totally destroyed our Grand Cherokee). Her doctors bills were all paid immediately, the Jeep value was settled and our rates never went up. Like I said…the company has been good to us as long term customers but that may not be the same for newer customers.
I have been a State Farm insuree for many years. My claims have been few and far between but ALL have been handled professionally and quickly. Any company will take your money with a smile on their face. How quickly and fairly they respond during your most difficult times is the key. Though one example was not with my car but our home owner’s policy, State Farm was equally fair when a faulty ground, not detected by my circuit breakers, distroyed almost every piece of electronic gear in my house. All was replaced at replacement cost.
Bottom line though is, I have sent many more of their employees to the Bahamas through my preminums then they have me.
State Farm customer here. This payment peroid, I had a board fall off my truck when a tie-down snapped. (As it happened, I purchased the lumber for the purpose of constucting ramps for my lawn tractor and MC.) It broke the mirror of a parked car and scratched the paint of another.
SF attempted to deny the claim on the basis of “commercial use.” An adjuster called me; they even sent him to my house…but then relented and paid the claim anyway.
Not a happy camper…
I think there is a difference in the way State Farm handles third party claims as opposed to first party claims. The car I let my son take to college was hit head on by an older woman who was insured by State Farm. My son wasn’t in the car–he had loaned the car to a family in his church to take their daughter back to college. I had a difficult time with State Farm with this third party claim getting a satisfactory settlement on the car their insured party totaled. State Farm may do fine with first party claims. However, if I damage someone else’s property, I want them to be fairly compensated. A couple of weeks after I finally settled with State Farm, an agent called me trying to get me to switch to State Farm. I explained to him what had happened when one of their insured totaled our car and what I had to do to collect. I said that I wouldn’t want them insuring me for liability and treating a third party claim as I was treated.
All the companies for profit. Mutual, stand alone, or owned by a larger entity. You could look at it as: They don’t want your business or they do want your business, by charging you appropriately. I believe all the companies are reputable.
A $100 difference in premiums = $1200/yr after tax; ~$1600 in wages. Drive responsibly.
+1, VDCdriver.
I was told similarly.
I definitely don’t plan on going through State Farm. I’d pay almost twice what I would with USAA and I know USAA is rather pleasant to work with. I just wasn’t sure about GEICO. I didn’t know that we couldn’t get new parts with GEICO after four years. I’m definitely going with USAA due to that.
“couldn’t get new parts with GEICO after four years”
With all due respect to @MikeInNH . . . you may want to contact GEICO yourself and specifically ask them what their official policy is.
It’s possible Mike’s agent was basically just a jerk
When I bought my first car, I went with Farm Bureau insurance. My dad had always been insured with Farm Bureau and the agent was a personal friend. I had just started the first round of graduate school. I had no accidents, claims, or speeding tickets, but my rates kept going up, even though I had gotten married and had turned 25. Meanwhile, the agent at Farm Bureau had to retire because of Farm Bureau’s mandatory retirement age. The agent and his son-in-law who also was a Farm Bureau agent, left Farm Bureau and the men started their own independent insurance company. I decided to try for lower rates. They really beat Farm Bureau on the tenants’ Home owners that I had with Farm Bureau, but advised me to try Horace Mann for my auto insurance because I was teaching at the time. When I got Horace Mann’s rates and called my independent agent back, I was advised to go with Horace Mann because they couldn’t beat Horace Mann’s rates. I had Horace Mann for a good number of years, but when I bought a new car and wanted collision, the new Horace Mann agent was so flakey, that I wasn’t sure that I had adequate insurance. In the meantime, my original insurance agents died. However, my neighbor was an independent insurance agent. He was able to beat Horace Mann’s rates with a company called Commercial Union. I signed up for the insurance but knew nothing about the company. Two weeks after I had obtained Commercial Union insurance, I read in the newspaper that Commercial Union had been awarded the contract to insure the ships that were dredging the Suez Canal. I figured that they were probably reputable. Some years later, Commercial Union quit issuing policies for individuals, so we got the best quote from Nationwide by combining both our homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance. I did have one claim with Nationwide. I was hit in a parking lot by a woman who left the scene. She bumped my car and another car as she was running away from the manager of Hobby Lobby–she had stolen a dozen candles. I had the license number and had to wait for the police to arrive. I was in my 27 year old Oldsmobile and only had liability coverage. The officer who investigated told me that I had to report the incident to my insurance company. I explained that it wouldn’t do any good, but he said I had to do it anyway. I called Nationwide and explained the situation. They told me that they would try to collect from the party that hit my car. A week later, Nationwide called back and said that the shoplifter was not insured, but I had uninsured motorist coverage that applied to all my vehicles. I was instructed to go get two estimates. I guess I didn’t get the estimates fast enough (I was actually rather embarrassed to take my ancient heap to a body shop) because I received a call at work that the claim adjuster was in my driveway inspecting my car and wanted to know where to leave the check. I said I would drive home and pick up the check directly. The claims adjuster had a computer and printer in the back seat of her car and printed out the check right away. I assumed she considered the car a total loss, so I said I would go get the title. She replied, “Here’s your check, bub. That old car is your problem. I don’t want it”.
I think for the OP with just an automobile, she might want to check with an independent insurance agent. My first independent agent, in addition to recommending I try Horace Mann also did me a real favor on health insurance. I had gotten married and returned to graduate school. I had no health insurance coverage. I checked with different agents in the town where my university was located, but no company wanted to write a health insurance policy. In desperation, I called my independent agent 125 miles away. He came up with a health insurance policy we could afford. When I asked if I had to drive back home, he said, “You are insured right now. I’ll send you the policy and you send back the premium”. The OP may want to consider health insurance needs as well as auto insurance.
Just a few comments. I get mail from USAA all the time and have never heard anything bad for vets or folks in the service. In about 1967 my first 6 month premium on my 1960 Morris Minor was $26. I thought it was a little high but my Dad and the agent just laughed. I’ve been with SF ever since with a number of different agents. You get used to a brand, an agent, a company and just tend to use them UNLESS they try to mess with you. Two of my cars now run somewhere around $450 every 6 months, and the other one that sits is $121 for 6 months. I don’t know what all that is a month without the calculator.
My BIL is an independent and they will try to find the best deal but tend to use just a few companies. I used to sell for AAA and we would just about kill for a health insurance prospect so don’t know what they were smoking. The only thing with an independent is to make sure the insurance actually gets paid. They like to get the money themselves and pay the insurance company in turn and you are out of the loop. In town, we had one guy a few years ago that failed to pay the company and instead put it up his nose. The folks involved were not insured during that time at some peril.
"couldn't get new parts with GEICO after four years"With all due respect to @MikeInNH . . . you may want to contact GEICO yourself and specifically ask them what their official policy is.
It’s possible Mike’s agent was basically just a jerk
Re-Read my post. I don’t have GEICO insurance…never have…never will. This wasn’t ONE isolated GEICO problem…but reoccurring problems a golfing buddy of mine who owns a body-shop has had with GEICO. That’s why he won’t deal with GEICO anymore (Or Progressive). Too hard to deal with…and they have a lot more restrictions then other insurance companies.
“may want to contact GEICO yourself and specifically ask them what their official policy is. It’s possible Mike’s agent was basically just a jerk.”
Does GEICO actually have local agents?
I was under the impression that you can only deal with them via phone calls to a central office.
Because I own stock in Berkshire Hathaway (the parent of GEICO), I can actually purchase GEICO insurance at a discount of 10% below what other folks would pay, and I still don’t want it. Instead, I insure my car with NJ Manufacturers Insurance Company (NJM), which is consistently rated #1 in the US for its customer service and its payment of claims.
Unfortunately, for most folks in the US, this company is not available to you, as they only write policies in NJ & PA, and will only write policies if your employer is a member of the NJ Business & Industry Association, thus leading to a lot of restrictions. However, their rates are almost impossible to beat in my area, and they are second to none for the way that they treat their customers.
The same surveys that rate NJM at the top of the heap also rate USAA very highly.
State Farm usually is rated in the middle of the pack, even though few people in my neighborhood would consider State Farm anymore as a result of their refusal of so many claims from Superstorm Sandy.
And all this banter reinforces my initial opinion ;
Most companies are generally good enough and …internet or not…it still boils down to
WHOM you are dealing with.
Yes…PEOPLE still matter , hence the major differencences of opinion ,good to bad, for the same company in different regions .
We may find that each agent knows…or doesn’t know…how to work their systems, and the resulting major difference in customer service is sorely evident.
This is why I stick with my State Farm.
PEOPLE
I drive by their office every day. Agent brings his cars to me for service.
Pretty much any insurance agency is going to try and go with the cheapest solution that shuts you up–that’s what they do. I had GEICO for years. When I had a collision claim (and it was deemed my fault), they paid everything with no complaint and gave me a fairly reasonable check for my wrecked vehicle. It was perhaps a little undervalued based on the work I’d done to it, but naturally they’re only going to pay what the blue book says it’s worth. I had a check in my hand within a few days, no real hassle, and never saw a bill for the other guy’s car or the ER visit I had for a minor injury from the airbag. So I really don’t have any complaints with GEICO.
I ended up switching to Nationwide when it became much cheaper to lump the auto in with my homeowners policy. If GEICO had had a homeowners policy available, I would have likely stuck with them. As a side note, I had a car stolen with Nationwide covering it. They also were reasonable, quick to pay for the damages when the car was recovered, and the overall experience was as positive as any insurance claim ever is.
When I first started driving, I had State Farm, and they too were very good. My car was broken into and they paid immediately and with no hassle. It was just how expensive their coverage was that drove me away from them.
I have not heard anything good about Progressive or Allstate…
All the companies for profit. Mutual, stand alone, or owned by a larger entity. You could look at it as: They don’t want your business or they do want your business, by charging you appropriately. I believe all the companies are reputable.
A $100 difference in premiums =$1200/yr; $1600/yr in gross wages. I’d take the least costly and bank the difference.
Geico here. No issues. Couple of claims on older vehicles. Last incident Ineeded a tow when the car I hate to drive, died but was resurrected with a new ignitor. They called the tow company and paid, I never saw a bill,
I was told that P&C companies will change their premiums charged to adjust their risk and profit. You could look at this in a couple of ways: They want your business by charging a low premium or they want your money by charging higher premium.
A $100 difference in premium =$1200/yr;$1600 gross wage. I’d go with the cheaper company and bank the difference.
All the companies you mentioned are profit making companies. They are a Mutual, stock, or owned by a larger company.
A $100 difference in premiums =$1200/yr; $1600/yr in gross wages. I'd take the least costly and bank the difference.
In some states like MA - insurance is regulated. So no matter what insurance company you use…the price is pretty much the same.