best homeowner and car insurer.

[frank]

I just recently had a fender bender with a car that is insured with state farm. I am also insured with state farm for my houses, cars, and umbrella liability. It was the worst customer experience I ever had. you never talk to the same claim person twice, they lie to you. I had a body shop send an estimate for my repair and they said they never recieved it, but the body shop had a confirmation email from state farm that said they did indeed recieve the estimate. they send out an adjuster and he estimated the damage to my car at about half of the body shop cost, but told me to take it in to get fixed and they would deal with the body shop on costs above their estimate. now I see on their website they must be sending me payment in the amount their adjuster says is enough. if I cash the check I know it will acknowledge full payment so not going to do it. has anyone else here had problems with state farm? are they as bad as I am seeing? anyone got any recommendations as to a good all around insurance company? I have been with state farm for 40 years and am being treated very poorly.

[DrRoy]

We have SF insurance, have had a couple claims over the years on our son's cars, and have not had any of these problems. You should have a local agent that can help with these problems.

[Texas Proud]

I have Progressive and they seem to deal with car and boat accidents pretty well and quickly... I have had zero problems with them on repairs...


Now, the problems... Both me and my son has 'totaled' out a car in the last 4 years... they do not give you FMV for the car... they do look at what cars are advertised and make adjustments, but those adjustments seem to go in their favor... also, it looks like at the end they take off 9% to get to and actual sales price even though there is no evidence that the cars would be discounted that much....

Adding this.... they were also quick to 'total' my son's car... it was a 2010 Hyundai which had his airbags deployed (big expense!!!) but had only 18K miles.... they were so low with the replacement cost estimate that we had it fixed... paid a couple of hundred more than my deductible, but we could not get another car even close to what we have for the same price...


Another problem.... I thought I was fully covered on my house... we had a hail storm and my roof was damaged... I come to find out that there is a clause in the policy that an old roof is not covered for replacement even though I am paying for replacement costs!!! AND, (and I am to blame some) I find out that my deductible for hail is twice as much as for other claims.... so, for a $20,000 estimate for a damaged roof I get a check for just under $5,000... I still have not replaced the roof.... it still is working OK, but will not last as long as it should...

[euro]

I think that, following a general trend, customer service in the insurance industry has declined. I also think that your experience is probably duplicated many times with any of the other companies as well. Personally, I have had a good run with StateFarm, so I don't think your experience is necessarily typical for them. That said, what you describe would definitely be enough to get ME to move to a different company. Moreover, if you have been with them for 40 years, they take you for granted and you are almost certainly paying too much.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud Another problem.... I thought I was fully covered on my house... we had a hail storm and my roof was damaged... I come to find out that there is a clause in the policy that an old roof is not covered for replacement even though I am paying for replacement costs!!! AND, (and I am to blame some) I find out that my deductible for hail is twice as much as for other claims.... so, for a $20,000 estimate for a damaged roof I get a check for just under $5,000... I still have not replaced the roof.... it still is working OK, but will not last as long as it should...

Sorry for the thread-drift, but wow, 20k for repairing a roof, Texas Proud? You must either have an extremely large house, or some highly specialized roofing material. The 5k they offered would probably be enough to fully replace MY asphalt roof. Wondering if they balked at the estimate (maybe it was high because of local scarceness of roofers after the big hail storm?) and that's why they lowballed?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro Sorry for the thread-drift, but wow, 20k for repairing a roof, Texas Proud? You must either have an extremely large house, or some highly specialized roofing material.

Doesn't sound out of line to me. The total cost to replace our asphalt shingled roof a couple of years ago was north of $16K.

High roofing costs - another reason not to move to TX!!!

[Fedup]

I have AAA and I think they are decent including customer service. But I have never claimed any thing on the house. For car insurance, they paid me almost the same price that I paid for my new Honda, 2 years early.
I think perhaps they are not for profit, membership only type of club.

[Aerides]

I had a good run with SF but their rates were no longer competitive. As a 30 year customer with no claims in over a decade, I expected them to at least want to keep me. Progressive and Geico were both cheaper.

When I bought my new car, we had to call my agent from the dealer, wait for her to call back.. and fax papers back and forth for coverage. The car dealer recommended Geico, said far easier to deal with, more modern, all online, and that the car lot used Geico for all cars on their lot.

DH and I just switched, so no claims yet. But was easy to quote and setup.

As far as house, can't help you there since I'm in S.Fla and basically we take what we can get.... (and yes a shingle roof for a 3/2 home is going to be over $15k.)

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Doesn't sound out of line to me. The total cost to replace our asphalt shingled roof a couple of years ago was north of $16K. High roofing costs - another reason not to move to TX!!!

I think it's a bargain. The tile roofs here in Fl cost a lot more to replace!

[eytonxav]

Been insured with Amica for over 50 yrs for both auto and home, never a problem with claims.

[Gumby]

I've been happy with USAA for the last 37 years (auto, home and umbrella). You or someone in your family needs to have a military connection to become a member.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro Sorry for the thread-drift, but wow, 20k for repairing a roof, Texas Proud? You must either have an extremely large house, or some highly specialized roofing material. The 5k they offered would probably be enough to fully replace MY asphalt roof. Wondering if they balked at the estimate (maybe it was high because of local scarceness of roofers after the big hail storm?) and that's why they lowballed?

Lots of roofers here.... I do have a lot of roof and parts of it has a pitch of 12 to 1 or even steeper... the rest is steep... not like my normal roof on my old house... it also included the garage which IS a normal roof....

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Doesn't sound out of line to me. The total cost to replace our asphalt shingled roof a couple of years ago was north of $16K. High roofing costs - another reason not to move to TX!!!

In areas subject to hail I recommend metal roofs. My house has one after having 2 roofs replaced in 16 years. Since then there have been 2 roof replacement cycles by my neighbors due to storms. Now metal roofs do cost more first time, but do also save on homeowners insurance, if your willing to live with dents. Also the metal roof seems to keep the house cooler as well. Metal roofs in general are supposed to last 50+ years so once installed replacing it will likley not be your problem.

[jollystomper]

I've had Geico for auto since college, and for homeowners and liability (homeowners is actually Travelers policy but through Gecio) since we bought our first house, and have not had any issues. We have never had to place a homeowners claim so I do not know how the service is for that area. It has been about 20 years since we last had to file an auto claim but the times we did it went very smoothly. A couple of times when it was the other drivers fault they initiated working with the other insurer to get our deductible covered, we did not have to do anything.

The administrative actions - adding/dropping cars, drivers, updating policy info, etc. - has always gone smoothly. Several times they pointed out discounts we were eligible for that I was not aware of (such as kids away at college and kids maintaining a high GPA).

[Breedlove]

Sadly but truly we had problems with Snakefarm , we tried Allsnakes and not any better for us .Now we had local agents within a five mile radius . A friend of ours a lawyer explained that these two companies were the two worse for him to deal with . He recommended Travelers and that is who we have used for years . They have ALWAYS been there for us.

[walkinwood]

I don't know if these are the "best", but I've had good experiences with both
Geico for my car. I got rear ended in a parking lot and geico handled it effortlessly. They gave me a choice of getting 3 estimates or taking it to their location. I chose the latter. They gave me a loaner and 3 days later called to ask me to pick up my car. Work was perfectly done. One person to deal with through the process.

Liberty Mutual for my home. We had to replace the roof due to hail damage. We have solar panels so that increased the cost & coordination. No issues. They paid for everything that the roofers and solar contractors asked for. Single person to deal with through the whole process.

A friend of mine who used to have a Farmer's insurance business told me that these two companies have some of the lowest premiums in our area - Denver CO.

[rdy2go]

I have also had a terrible experience with State Farm's claims service when one of their drivers rear-ended my daughter and totaled her car. They tried to low-ball us on the vehicle value and we ended up filing a bodily injury claim and they got to pay for an orthopedic surgeon's visits, physical therapy and monetary damages that they could have avoided if they had just paid a fair amount for the car in the first place.

No one company is best for everyone and not all companies operate in every state or writes all lines in every state. I always recommend that people should find a good, respected local independent insurance agent that represents multiple companies. They can place you with the best company for your needs and give you the personal service you may need when a claim occurs. They can't always be the cheapest every year but you will do fine over a period of time. The company with the lowest rates this year may have the highest rates two years from now. I've seen it many times over my thirty five years in the bidness.

[Bamaman]

You are on your knees to the local adjusters in most cases--if the claim is large enough to be assigned to an adjuster. Some are better at handling claims than others.

I have 2 cars with State Farm and 2 cars with Allstate--and had okay experience with both. I do understand the local Allstate adjuster is the favorite (of all companies) for our favorite auto body shop.

We also had great experience with a large claim on a RV accident a few years ago.

Amica and USAA are supposedly tops of the industry as insurance companies.

[Happyras]

I had a brief encounter with State Farm, they settled our claim, but charged it as an at fault moving accident when my camper tipped over due to a failed weld (defective). I dropped them and went back to American Family now for everything personal. I had a bunch of branches crush my jeep during the winter storms, AmFam not only covered it quickly, but everything was done right through their preferred shop, which was highly rated on Yelp. This time it was a comprehensive coverage as it should be. I not only have the lowest rates, we also got great service and follow up.

[Newventurer]

Just had a State Farm insured back into my truck. My company, Allstate, wasn't interested in helping me resolve the liability issues as their estimate, which was wrong, would have been under my deductible. I went to State Farm and got terrific service from them to get my truck repaired and rental car, with no out of pocket to me. I fired Allstate this week and went to an Independent Agent and now have Hanover. I am a Independent Agent fan now. Saving $1300 a year over the big advertising firms.