Auto Insurance

[MTK]

Let's talk car insurance.

There's so much competition out there now, Progressive, Geico, State Farm, Allstate, AIG, etc.

Who do you use? Who does a great job, who does a not so great job, and who really stinks? Who has the best rates, worst rates, etc.

[BDBohnzie]

I have State Farm...my Dad's been with them since the 70s, and since I was on his policy, when I bought my first car, I just stayed with them. They've been nothing but good to me, and my insurance rates aren't too bad (It's less than $500 for the year).

I've heard that Esurance is really good too.

[Hail2theskins]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

I have State Farm...my Dad's been with them since the 70s, and since I was on his policy, when I bought my first car, I just stayed with them. They've been nothing but good to me, and my insurance rates aren't too bad (It's less than $500 for the year).

I've heard that Esurance is really good too.

State Farm is terrible, my dad has also been with them since the late 70's and recently (1 year ago may 5th) after a car accident they attempted to revoke his entire umbrella policy, thats right not just the car insurance but THE ENTIRE UMBRELLA POLICY for a family of 5, they are still trying to revoke it as we still receive letters and my dad is constantly bantering with our State Farm agent, like most insurance agencies they are scumbags, they have shown 0 respect for the fact that he has been a loyal customer for near 30 years with minimal incidents before this. boycott state farm

[TheInspector]

Originally Posted by Hail2theskins

State Farm is terrible, my dad has also been with them since the late 70's and recently (1 year ago may 5th) after a car accident they attempted to revoke his entire umbrella policy, thats right not just the car insurance but THE ENTIRE UMBRELLA POLICY for a family of 5, they are still trying to revoke it as we still receive letters and my dad is constantly bantering with our State Farm agent, like most insurance agencies they are scumbags, they have shown 0 respect for the fact that he has been a loyal customer for near 30 years with minimal incidents before this. boycott state farm

Unfortunately, that is the name of the game. Since the insurance company is a corporation, they must make profits. If they don't make profits, then the stockholders will fire the corporate officers--and the stockholders only care about their return on investment--not about ethics. This is exactly the type of behavior which gives me a terrible feeling about insurance in general.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by TheInspector

Unfortunately, that is the name of the game. Since the insurance company is a corporation, they must make profits. If they don't make profits, then the stockholders will fire the corporate officers--and the stockholders only care about their return on investment--not about ethics. This is exactly the type of behavior which gives me a terrible feeling about insurance in general.

Statefarm is not a stock company and does not sell shares of stock so they do not have stockholders to answer too.

[TheInspector]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Statefarm is not a stock company and does not sell shares of stock so they do not have stockholders to answer too.

That is my mistake. Apparently, the policy holders own the company. Unfortunately, it is not the case for all insurance companies.

Are you a State Farm policy holder? If so, do you know what kind of influence you have over the operations of the company (to prevent immoral conduct)?

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Hail2theskins

State Farm is terrible, my dad has also been with them since the late 70's and recently (1 year ago may 5th) after a car accident they attempted to revoke his entire umbrella policy, thats right not just the car insurance but THE ENTIRE UMBRELLA POLICY for a family of 5, they are still trying to revoke it as we still receive letters and my dad is constantly bantering with our State Farm agent, like most insurance agencies they are scumbags, they have shown 0 respect for the fact that he has been a loyal customer for near 30 years with minimal incidents before this. boycott state farm

I'm in the insurance business and did not know I was a scumbag. Thanks for letting me know. I do not work for State Farm but would find it hard to believe that your fathers accident was the only thing that cause them to non-renew his policy. If other family members have had accidents and/or tickets they would take those into to account. As for the Umbrella Policy it has the same underwriting guidlines as the auto and why would they keep a large liabilty policy if they are terminating the auto policy to get off the liability. I'm not saying that your family is a bad risk but sometimes things in a large family add up and the Insurance Co. has to make a decision to keep a policy or to cancel. The so called scumbag agent has little or no say in the matter and can only try to talk the underwriters into keeping the policy.

[TheInspector]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I'm in the insurance business and did not know I was a scumbag. Thanks for letting me know. I do not work for State Farm but would find it hard to believe that your fathers accident was the only thing that cause them to non-renew his policy. If other family members have had accidents and/or tickets they would take those into to account. As for the Umbrella Policy it has the same underwriting guidlines as the auto and why would they keep a large liabilty policy if they are terminating the auto policy to get off the liability. I'm not saying that your family is a bad risk but sometimes things in a large family add up and the Insurance Co. has to make a decision to keep a policy or to cancel. The so called scumbag agent has little or no say in the matter and can only try to talk the underwriters into keeping the policy.

Maybe it's just me, but I think he is calling the "agency" a scumbag. Either way, he is most likely pretty angry and may have said it in different terms otherwise. I'm not trying to speak for others, I am just taking a guess because I have done the same thing before.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by TheInspector

Maybe it's just me, but I think he is calling the "agency" a scumbag. Either way, he is most likely pretty angry and may have said it in different terms otherwise. I'm not trying to speak for others, I am just taking a guess because I have done the same thing before.

No he called all insurance agencies scumbage and that what I took offence to.

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I'm in the insurance business and did not know I was a scumbag. Thanks for letting me know. I do not work for State Farm but would find it hard to believe that your fathers accident was the only thing that cause them to non-renew his policy. If other family members have had accidents and/or tickets they would take those into to account. As for the Umbrella Policy it has the same underwriting guidlines as the auto and why would they keep a large liabilty policy if they are terminating the auto policy to get off the liability. I'm not saying that your family is a bad risk but sometimes things in a large family add up and the Insurance Co. has to make a decision to keep a policy or to cancel. The so called scumbag agent has little or no say in the matter and can only try to talk the underwriters into keeping the policy.

True, it DOES help to read fineprint. Sometimes the customer is just as much or more at fault for having crappy insurance.

[BDBohnzie]

that's not right man...that certainly sucks.

[Monkeydad]

State Farm is bad from my experience (a person who hit me head-on had it and they screwed me on the payout).

Erie is the WORST.

I've always had Allstate and they are THE BEST.

A person t-boned my wife's car and had Erie. It was OBVIOUS that it was his fault (the front of his car into the side of hers) but the jerk who was driving someone else's car lied and said it wasn't his fault. His company refused to pay. Allstate offered to pay us (which meant a $500 deductible for us) and fight for our deductible back by taking Erie to an arbitrator. A few months later, we received a check in the mail from Allstate for our $500. They also kept up informed all throughout their battle with the crooks.

YESTERDAY, some jerk in the ghetto where I work smashed my car window and stole my stereo which (since it's a Ford with the big oval radio) included my heating and A/C controls. It's 105 degrees, you jerk.

2 hours after it happened, they had my appointment set up to replace my window AT MY HOUSE in 2 days and have a vendor working on replacing my stereo.

They're awesome. I also have my homeowner's insurance, life insurance and roadside assistance through them, so I get TONS of discounts. They're FAR cheaper than anyone else for me, including the ghecko.

My whole family has Allstate, as does my wife's family. They're simply the best, at least here in PA.

[Schneed10]

I'm with Allstate. I like them. Never filed an auto claim with them, but I filed a homeowner's claim with them this year and they were fast at coming out to take a look at the problem, and very fast at getting the check out to me.

I like the car insurance features. They have this thing called accident forgiveness. If you get in an accident, even if it's your fault, your premiums don't go up. Then for every year of driving you do without getting into an accident, your deductible drops by $100 without having an increase in premiums.

To get those features, you pay a little more on a monthly basis than you would for an equal Allstate policy without those features. But the peace of mind knowing I'm not going to get drilled with huge premiums if I rear-end someone is pretty nice.

[That Guy]

my family had AFI (armed forces) for 30 years. I got t-boned once when i was 16 and they dropped us instantly. talk about crap.

[saden1]

I have Geico and I've always had them. They gave me the lowest rate when I bought my car and they still do cause every six months I get quotes from everyone else to see if I can get a better deal. One thing I do like about them is their mechanical breakdown coverage. It's basically a warranty for new cars up to 100K. It adds about $17 to my policy which is still a very good deal (about $210 for 100k). I have never made a claim and I suppose all auto insurance are good so long as you don't make a claim Still, I'm paying about $1400 (includes mechanical breakdown) a year for insurance for a 3 year old car and no one else has a better deal.

I have Allstate for my home insurance. They give me a nice rate but the bastards wouldn't give me a worth while multiple discount for both home and auto. Plus I would have lost my mechanical breakdown coverage.

As for Progressive, I don't trust them because I don't think their "we'll give you a quote from other companies" accurate. No two drivers are alike and it just seems like a PR thing that doesn't really give you a meaningful quote from other companies.