Best Home and auto insurance companies

[msefren]

My DW and I are seeking information you fine folks may have regarding your experiences/opinions on home and auto insurance companies. Premiums, rate increases, customer service, claims issues, etc. We have been with Hartford for 13 years and had a hail damage claim last year which resulted in a new roof and gutters. The process was generally handled very well. I compare insurance providers yearly during renewal to check premiums and coverage's but have been pleased with our provider. Companies I interviewed will offer lower initial premiums to entice you to purchase their product but we are concerned that coverage's and customer service may not be equivalent to what we currently have.

If similar posts have been submitted already, I apologize for the redundancy.

Thank you

 

[nash031]

USAA if you have access. Good for banking and insurance. Not so good for most of their third party sourced stuff, like mortgages.

 

[COcheesehead]

https://www.auto-owners.com

For the time being

For auto, home and umbrella.

Used an independent agent.

Bid it every 2 years.

The insurance industry does not reward loyalty. The longer you stay the more they weasel out of you.

Move often and save.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Take a look at what Clark Howard recommends. I had USAA for a number of years but after unrelenting premium increases, I switched to Amica. I have been very happy with the customer service with Amica but have had no claims. Most recent experience with them was dealing with the house my Dad owned...when he passed I needed to make sure the insurance would remain in force and they were able to help...they did an excellent job.

 

[RAE]

The insurance industry does not reward loyalty. The longer you stay the more they weasel out of you.

This is true in my experience also. We've had AAA for several years now, and have been generally satisfied, but they raised our rate significantly this past year. So I have been shopping around for a better rate, but no luck so far. Got a quote from USAA the other day, and it was even higher than AAA. There are only certain companies I will consider buying insurance from...........I will not deal with companies like Progressive (despite their lower rates), as we had a very bad experience with them a while back on a claim.

 

[COcheesehead]

This is true in my experience also. We've had AAA for several years now, and have been generally satisfied, but they raised our rate significantly this past year. So I have been shopping around for a better rate, but no luck so far. Got a quote from USAA the other day, and it was even higher than AAA. There are only certain companies I will consider buying insurance from...........I will not deal with companies like Progressive (despite their lower rates), as we had a very bad experience with them a while back on a claim.

Use an independent broker to shop for you. Its their job.

 

[Badger]

I have used Progressive for 4 motorcycles for 4 years. I used them for about 10+ years when I had 3 motorcycles. If I take one off and back to 3 motorcycles again then my rates go up. If 2 it goes up again. When asked why their response was "too bad". Im looking for another insurance company.


Cheers!

 

[pacergal]

We also have Hartford via AARP for auto, home, umbrella. No problems so far. Switched from Nationwide about 5 years ago. Less expensive, better coverage and far better service, both online and in person(at least from what we have experienced)

 

[REWahoo]

I had USAA for a number of years but after unrelenting premium increases, I switched to Amica.

YMMV.

I've been with USAA for 48 years and occasionally tested the waters with quotes from other insurance companies. Never found anyone who could provide better rates, including Amica. Got a quote from them last year on our auto policies and they were over $1K per year more than I'm paying USAA, not counting the several hundred dollars per year USAA returns to members who insure through them.

 

[Rianne]

We've been with Allstate for over 25 years. We have homeowners, umbrella and car insurance with them.



We kept them because of this incident:
DH rear ended a pizza delivery guy in cloudy, rainy weather. He was going maybe, less than 5 mph at a middle island intersection. Short story, we were personally sued by the boys father for major injuries to neck and back and they of course, sued through insurance.


Allstate sent spies to boys activities. They filmed him drumming in a band downtown Chicago and getting into and out of a monster truck with ease. Hardly activities one can do with such injuries. Short story, they went to court and presented this evidence and judge threw the case out.



Our insurance did not go up and we get all the discounts available. Long time customers because of that loyalty and prices are comparable, for us anyway.

 

[COcheesehead]

YMMV.

I've been with USAA for 48 years and occasionally tested the waters with quotes from other insurance companies. Never found anyone who could provide better rates, including Amica. Got a quote from them last year on our auto policies and they were over $1K per year more than I'm paying USAA, not counting the several hundred dollars per year USAA returns to members who insure through them.

Super hard to compare one person's insurance premium with another without the details. Apples and zebras.

 

[MRG]

Be diligent about pricing. We were with an American Family agent for years. They're rates were always better. DW finally pushed a competitor on why they were higher. "Well cause your husband was at fault for an accident last year". Only I was rear-ended? How can I be at fault?

Well, when your insurance agent, intentionally, sends the wrong information to LexisNexis, that's how. He refused to correct the situation. I ended up talking to the adjuster who provided the correct information to LexisNexis. It's not smart to be loyal.

 

[REWahoo]

Super hard to compare one person's insurance premium with another without the details. Apples and zebras.

Guess you missed the "YMMV" I opened with. Not trying to compare, just stating my personal experience.

 

[Cobra9777]

We were with GEICO for much of the 80s and 90s. In recent years, we've switched around between Farmers, Liberty Mutual, and Progressive. Progressive had the lowest premium for auto by far, but the highest for home. So for several years we used Progressive for auto and Liberty Mutual for home. That made sense for a while even without the multi-policy discount. Later we consolidated everything at Liberty Mutual and added umbrella. After some big rate increases, we moved everything to Farmers. I really enjoyed working with the Farmers agent, but again their rates started going up as well. We're now back to Liberty Mutual and pretty happy with the rates. We also agreed to use their telematics device (RightTrack), which saved quite a bit... something to consider for retirees like DW and I who don't drive very much, rarely drive at night, and drive conservatively.

Claims and customer service have been fine at all three. Farmers website is not very good. I think they want you to interact with the agent more than the website. We had two home claims at Liberty and they were both handled promptly and professionally.

I generally stay put as long as rate increases seem reasonable (low single digit percentage). Otherwise, I shop around. I've used a couple independent agents in addition to my own shopping with the big national companies. The independent agents always come back with small companies I've never heard of and rates that are the same or higher than I can get on my own. I'll keep using them when shopping but so far it hasn't yielded anything.

 

[SumDay]

We've been with State Farm for decades. I've shopped it once or twice, and with their multi-line discounts, no one can come close. We have our homeowners, two cars and umbrella with them. I used my umbrella coverage once for a frivolous lawsuit, and I'll probably be a customer for life. They were bulldogs.

 

[Newventurer]

Moved a year ago from Allstate to an Independent Insurance Company who placed us with The Hartford, very pleased so far with price and service - of course we haven't had a claim so they like us too

 

[Beldar]

I've had USAA since the '70s. Naturally the premiums always rise but they send a rebate check each year for a few hundred dollars that offsets the premium increase somewhat.

I've only had one claim (last year) and "surprise" this year's premium rose 20%.

They were pretty good at handling the claim however.

Just one POV.

_B

 

[ransil]

I have gotten quotes every few years from USAA and others, still with State Farm .
Maybe its new customers USAA is hosing with higher rates they are never competitive.

 

[travelover]

Currently with Amica, was with AAA - both were satisfactory. One year I did the independent agent thing and got hooked up with the company from hell, whose name I've fortunately forgotten. This company jerked me around constantly, even though I never had a claim. I fired them and they insisted I had to sign a statement that I was dropping them or they'd continue to bill me and send it to collection. Like scraping dog poo off my foot to get rid of them.

 

[hopefullyoneday]

State Farm here, switched from AAA to them about 15 years ago. I get AAA mailers every few months telling me I could pay considerably less for my homeowners. So I call them up and give them my current insurance specs and of course they cant touch State Farm. State farm also will not increase rates because of a claim as I had to make a claim last year. I asked if my rates would go up and she said no as long as you are not making the same type of claims over and over. I have used them for a accident claim, towing, lockout and have yet to get a raise in premiums. Funny, when I left AAA they said if I drop them I can never go back. I guess they meant I WILL NEVER GO BACK because they cant get me a better deal.

 

[Scuba]

We used to be with AAA but found their rates expensive so we switched to Allstate about 15 years ago. I had a broker do a competitive bid for me this year and was very surprised that we are still getting the best deal from Allstate. We haven’t had any large claims but they’ve been great helping with a couple of smaller claims over the years. My agent has an office in the neighborhood. I really like that I can call or email him or even stop by and get his advice, vs having to call an 800 number and talk with someone I don’t know.

 

[Henry Lili]

Erie for four years now. Auto, HO, umbrella. Shopped around last year and they still had the beat deal
This year, my rates actually went down a tick. Never have had that pleasant experience before