Insurance switching

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Burt

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I stayed with the same insurance company for years, but they got pricey. I've been using an broker for the last few years and they get great prices but I have to switch companies every year because it seems like the companies play the game of first going for market share and then later jack up rates. House insurance is worse, but auto does it too. And its big money. The range in quotes for home insurance this year was from $1,700 to $4,400. $2,200-$2,500 seems like the market price.

My questions are: do you think being loyal to an insurance company means anything to them? The broker I have been using is $200 more than the least expensive. How price sensitive are you?
 
Originally Posted by Burt
My questions are: do you think being loyal to an insurance company means anything to them? The broker I have been using is $200 more than the least expensive. How price sensitive are you?

Yes, it means more money in the insurance company's pocket and less money in your pocket.
But hey, whatever floats ones boat...
 
Means nothing at all to them. I had Liberty Mutual for 8 years. No claims no missed payments. Kept going up every year due to "the rates of all of the drivers around me". I shopped Geico, cut it in half, and Liberty couldnt care less. Its really crappy that they give out better rates to new people just ot get the sign ups, and absolutely nothing for long term use.
 
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Agree, gotta switch around. My house looks like a mansion if you go off the square footage, floor coverings etc but if you stepped inside you'd realize that the whole is worth less than the sum of its parts.
lol.gif


I had one dumb insurer and they couldn't get it through their heads. Had to call every year and then say yeah I have 35% oak floor, 30% tile, the rest softwood. Can imagine that going in my "permanent record" vs the previous year I said 30% oak and 35% tile, information that could only be used against me.

But switching homeowners companies, they asked about 50 invasive questions. It's ridiculous. And they sent someone out to take pictures and measure stuff, which must have cost them decent money.
 
We bought Liberty Mutual house insurance for a rental property last year at a good price. We had no insurance claims at all. This year Liberty Mutual went up 21.57%. Liberty Mutual will have one less customer by the end of this week. Best thing a person can do is shop around for insurance.
 
Originally Posted by Burt
I stayed with the same insurance company for years, but they got pricey. I've been using an broker for the last few years and they get great prices but I have to switch companies every year because it seems like the companies play the game of first going for market share and then later jack up rates. House insurance is worse, but auto does it too. And its big money. The range in quotes for home insurance this year was from $1,700 to $4,400. $2,200-$2,500 seems like the market price.


Insurance Broker? - that shops home and vehicle for us?... Good idea. I'll have to do a Google Search for one. Personally, I'm fine with switching companies every year or two.
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
You can get an on-line quote from Costco Ameriprise and Geico. 5 minutes of your time.
Good luck.

I was just in Costco yesterday. Must have walked right by Ameriprise on the way out, waiting for the receipts-thief check...... Shucks!
 
I would have no problem switching if the rates were going up significantly, without any claims. I went with Farmers for several years for home & car, and then found that Mercury would give me both, for a hundred or two less than what I was paying Farmers for car alone. So it was a no brainer.

Rates with mercury have stayed fairly low.

If you are going with a broker and find the same problem occurring, I'd shop AAA or Costco or other venues (companies) for insurance. I know that insurance doesn't have to keep rising substantially without any claims after the first couple of years.
 
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
You can get an on-line quote from Costco Ameriprise and Geico. 5 minutes of your time.
Good luck.


I was just in Costco yesterday. Must have walked right by Ameriprise on the way out, waiting for the receipts-thief check...... Shucks!



I went the Costco route, but they wouldn't even give me a quote! Why? I had a leak in my shower. I thought I'd call the insurance adjuster even though I expected it was below my deductible because I thought hey, he's probably seen a lot of this and can give me his thoughts on mold treatment etc.

So even though the insurance company had paid out ZERO in the last three years, there was a technically a claim on my record and Costco's insurance company won't touch me.

That's one more reason I despise insurance companies. They can run their business the way they want, but I guess they don't want my money.

P.S. Many people find Geico to be low priced, but I've never found that to be the case. I must live wrong.
 
Originally Posted by Audios
Means nothing at all to them. I had Liberty Mutual for 8 years. No claims no missed payments. Kept going up every year due to "the rates of all of the drivers around me". I shopped Geico, cut it in half, and Liberty couldnt care less. Its really crappy that they give out better rates to new people just ot get the sign ups, and absolutely nothing for long term use.

Lots of people justrenew policies without shopping around. Too busy to get quotes.

Many companies have a teaser rate and a year later jack up your rates....
 
I had an umbrella policy for many years with AAA (which is technically supposed to bring down rates) and they kept inexplicably raising my premium. I switched to another company and my rates significantly went down. Called AAA to cancel and they couldn't care less. So, no, "loyalty" means nothing to these companies.
 
Here's why I don't think it matters: I had all my insurance with Safeco from 1972 to about 2008. I thought that having a record of any claim I did or did not make mattered. They had insured me my whole adult life. Then they decided they did not want to do business in Va.. anymore so jacked up the rates aggressively. I called my agent and asked him if that history and loyalty mattered. He basically told me it didn't. I now have Allstate with a local agent. I call her if I need anything and she handles it. I shopped around recently and could have saved a $100 a year but stayed with her because of her value to me. Small town, small agent. I may be wrong again but I think she would be on my side if any issues come up. She will at least be honest with me.

That said. Insurance keeps going up and up with no claims. Guess we have to pay for those disasters in Fl and Ca.
 
I am OK switching insurance every year to get the lowest rates. If the insurance companies are going to play games with me, I'm going to play games back.
 
Originally Posted by zzyzzx
I am OK switching insurance every year to get the lowest rates. If the insurance companies are going to play games with me, I'm going to play games back.

Yep. I think they're just like the credit card companies, who will cut each other's throat to get your business, but once they have it, they want to stick it to you and break it off. I just left Liberty Mutual for Progressive and saved over $1K annually. More importantly, I signed up with gabi.com, and the guy told me they compare rates with a # of different companies FOR you, and they do it every 6 months...

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5037132/1
 
How loyal is the insurance company going to be to you when it comes claim time? Exactly right. Zero loyalty. They'll be looking for any possible thing that allows them to deny your claim.
 
Originally Posted by hatt
How loyal is the insurance company going to be to you when it comes claim time? Exactly right. Zero loyalty. They'll be looking for any possible thing that allows them to deny your claim.


Geico doesn't seem to care, I filed a claim 11 months after the incident. No police report or anything, just hit a deer... no questions were asked beyond that and I had my car looking better than it ever did in about a week.
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by hatt
How loyal is the insurance company going to be to you when it comes claim time? Exactly right. Zero loyalty. They'll be looking for any possible thing that allows them to deny your claim.


Geico doesn't seem to care, I filed a claim 11 months after the incident. No police report or anything, just hit a deer... no questions were asked beyond that and I had my car looking better than it ever did in about a week.


Any previous incidents on your your CLUE report?

CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange)

What is CLUE?
CLUE is a claims-information report generated by LexisNexis®, a consumer-reporting agency. The report generally contains up to seven years of personal-auto and personal-property claims history.
 
Originally Posted by Ihatetochangeoil
Originally Posted by zzyzzx
I am OK switching insurance every year to get the lowest rates. If the insurance companies are going to play games with me, I'm going to play games back.

Yep. I think they're just like the credit card companies, who will cut each other's throat to get your business, but once they have it, they want to stick it to you and break it off. I just left Liberty Mutual for Progressive and saved over $1K annually. More importantly, I signed up with gabi.com, and the guy told me they compare rates with a # of different companies FOR you, and they do it every 6 months...

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5037132/1

Is gabi.com an online insurance broker?
Never mind, I clicked on the link.
 
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