Any recommendations for Auto Insurance Companies?

[Schema Thing]

Who's good?

Who sucks?

Any companies that take a noticeably BLUE stance?


Any companies that you can count on to be responsive even if you end up with a claim in Podunkville-rural America?

[demwing]

1. GEICO

Good rates. Good customer service.

[DJ13]

2. I've found Nationwide is cheaper than Geico

Geico wanted $123 per month for full coverage, and with Nationwide Im paying $92 per month.

[Ohio Joe]

3. I used to work for NW

As a programmer. I would suggest going elsewhere. There are changes going on there that will cause bad customer service and lots of errors. Not to mention that the people now running the place are f'ing evil.

[DJ13]

4. I've had nothing but great service, but I deal with my local agent

Had my car towed, two days later I recieved a check for the tow in the mail.

[Ohio Joe]

6. Local agents are one of the things they want gone

Agents are a pain in the ass to them, there are several projects quietly in the works to begin eliminating them. The auto insurance programming staff is being slowly and quietly outsourced. "Matrixing" is being implemented at a scary rate. Lots more going on.

"Matrixing" - This is what NW is calling their plans to include everything about your life they can into what your rate is going to be. A lot of people are hearing about things like credit rating being used to determine their rate but its going to get a lot worse. They have a list of over 200 other things that have nothing to do with driving/driving record that they plan to slowly implement. My first comment after being showed the planned list was "this can't be legal". I was told that it was not illegal and that like using credit score they will fight each item in court individually and get the rate increase income until they are ruled illegal. F'ing evil bastards.

[Selatius]

48. This is why so many laws are on the books, because of greedy bastards pushing for more money.

At some point, people get so tired that they would support a new law than rely on faith in the "free market."

[sinkingfeeling]

15. I used to 'debug' IBM software for IBM at Nationwide's HQ in Columbus, Ohio. Was way back in 1970s.

[Ohio Joe]

17. I started as a contractor in 95

Doing Y2K work for their mainframe. I joined as an employee in 2000 and left a little over a year ago. I didn't work downtown though, they had moved NAPS (auto systems) out to Tuttle in Dublin. It was great for a long time but the last year or so that I was there it got really crappy. When Chase took over Bank One, a lot of the big wigs came over to NW and began to really focus things on creating NW Bank, which they have done. All of the focus is on the bank and the insurance is going to hell. But they will probably screw it up just like they did to Bank One.

[tjwash]

21. Geico's all right. Unless someone hits you and you're not at fault...then they don't do dick.

At least that's how they act in California. I got my truck totaled while it was parked in the street in front of my house, and Geico wouldn't lift a finger to help me out. They told me that I had to deal with the guys insurance company that totaled my car.

I switched to AAA after that.

[L0oniX]

38. Esurance blows Geico, Progressive, Nationwide, Aig and all others away.

I don't work for Esurance either but the chic in the commercial is my girl friend.

[shanti]

5. Mercury

is my ins. company for auto and homeowners's and i've been very pleased with them. lower premiums than many others i checked into also.

[Schema Thing]

7. I'll look into them; I've never heard the name before

[Kaleko]

55. Check out Wawanesa

I don't know if they insure residents outside California, and they only accept good drivers. But they've been outstanding in service and low prices for the last 15 years.

http://wawanesa.autoinsurancechoices.com/2.html?source=google&kw=Wawanesa+auto+insurance

:hi:

[Greyhound]

50. They usually do have good rates, the problems start when they have to pay out.

They just won't. Their policy is strictly "so sue us". They, and many other of these parasites, have learned that most will, in fact, just go away when faced with the hassle and expense of hiring an attorney and going through the court system to get what's due them.

[recoveringrepublican]

53. I was hit by someone with this insurance, they weren't too bad.

No one was hurt, a minor fender bender in a parking lot. My husband did play some phone tag at first. Then they sent someone out to decide how much they would give us. It wasn't enough, but the place that fixed the damage said they had no problem getting the rest.

[shanti]

57. well..

based on my experience after our huge windstorm in sacramento last january, i will still stick by them. they paid to fix my fence without questions or hassles. i had farmer's before them and they were no big deal. i was originally going to go with wawanesa (like the poster above), but they wouldn't insure my teen son driver, so couldn't use them.

[madrchsod]

8. i have mine through my home owners insurance company

the rates were cheaper than any i have had.

[Auggie]

44. Same here. I got a discount. I checked my rate against

Geico, AAA and what was available at COSTCO and it beat them all.

[truebrit71]

9. GEICO. Whatever you do do NOT use "progressive"...they are bait and switch artists...

...and a bunch of dishonest liars to boot (I know this from VERY recent personal experience).

GEICO gave us a much better deal and handled all of the paperwork necessary for us to switch our insurance from the Bait and Switch artists at progressive.

[Schema Thing]

12. Thanks for the warning, I was in danger of falling

for their advertising.

Guess I'm too much of a sucker for the word "progressive", lol.

Would you mind saying what your experience with them involved?

[truebrit71]

14. Glad I was able to help...What happened was....

..we switched to them from our old insurers that we had been with for a donkey's age when our teenage child get her license. Our old insurer gave us a stratospheric quote to add her and we said that we would shop around.

My wife went online and got a quote from progressive that was incredibly low. So, to make sure it covered everything, and the system was picking up the fact that there was a rookie driver being added she called them to confirm. The computer system requires DL#'s in order to process the quote so she gave them that info again. (remember this for later). After spending 15-20 mins on the phone she got the same quote so we signed up for 6 months straightaway.

That was 5 months ago.

Last week we got a renewal notice from progressive indicating that our insurance for the next 6 months was going to increase by 100% because there was a new driver on the policy. Needless to say my wife went ballistic. She got on the phone and read them the riot act in very polite, short and clipped sentences. She went through two reps and a supervisor who fed her all sorts of baloney about how the new driver info must have been omitted by us, and that we must have mis-led them on the new driver's status when we started the policy. (not a wise move on their part) My wife asked them how it was possible to have not known about the new driver's status if they had her DL# SSN etc etc and where did they get that info from if not provided by us?

No answer.

Resolution from them was 'we're really sorry we could lower the rate a little bit' but that was about it. My wife said she had a better idea, we would cancel the policy, inform our State's Insurance watchdog about the bait and switch and that we would do exactly what I'm doing today, and that is telling people that are in the market for insurance to NEVER, EVER use their services.

GEICO were amazingly easy to talk to, handled everything very professionally, and mentioned that this wasn't the first time they'd heard this sort of story about progressive. They made sure that progressive were informed that they would be taking over insuring us and not to bill us any more.

Our rate has stayed the same and everyone has the same coverage.

Gotta luv the Gecko!!

[Blue_In_AK]

20. GEICO gave us the best rates

with the young driver. I switched from Progressive because I got a much better deal, although it's still pretty outrageous.

[LiberalEsto]

10. Erie

Had them 18 years, but they are not in all states.

[JackintheGreen]

11. I was with Nationwide for years and years

worked with my local agent, first in CT then in PA, both who knew me by sight and name, and who moved heaven and earth for me.

I switched to Liberty Mutual last year because it saved me close to $600 dollars/year. I was heartbroken, and my agent did everything she could to try to match LM's rates but for some reason couldn't even get within $150 (which was my limit - I'm willing to pay more for good service, but $600/year is a lot of money).

I haven't had any problems with LM, but it just isn't client dynamic.

[Schema Thing]

13. yes, 600.00 for the same coverage IS a lot of money.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. I had Nationwide for about 40 years. Then found AIG could save me about $550 a year. I was

pissed! All that 'brand loyalty' and 'good driver' records and they'd been ripping me off.

[flamin lib]

18. I'm with AMICA Mutual Insruance. Have been for 30 + years.

Cost on my first car for everything including towing is $86/month. They discount each additional car, but for a single car that should be close for a 2005 Nissan Sentra.

They also pay a "dividend" every year they make money as a company. Last year it amounted to a 15% "rebate" on my premium. They are a MUTUAL company, ie, they are owned by the policy holders. Anything above operating expenses and reserves is returned to the policy holders.

Good people, they have my life, health, cars and sail boat. Lost three roofs in 6 years to hail. On the third loss they just sent a check, didn't even send an adjuster.

[Fireweed247]

19. Is this a joke?

"They also pay a "dividend" every year they make money as a company. Last year it amounted to a 15% "rebate" on my premium. "

Now that's a great insurance company
:toast:

www.peacecandidates.com

[Tesha]

41. No joke; it's a mutual insurance company so we policyholders own it.

So they deliberately don't actually make any profit each year;
all excess premiums are "rebated" back to the owners, the
policyholders each year.

Tesha

[magellan]

30. On your recommendation we just switched to AMICA

They'll be saving us over $500/year on our car insurance compared to Hartford. Incredible! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We'd never even heard of AMICA, but I'll be telling all my friends/family about them now.

[Schema Thing]

31. I'm thinking I'll switch too.

I just did a quote on their web-site, and it looks like I can save almost 700.00 per year just on liability, compared to StateFarm.


I'm going to go for full coverage and see what it looks like cost wise.

[magellan]

32. Don't hesitate to give them a call

I spent quite a long time on the phone with one of their reps to make sure we were getting the same coverage we currently have. (The savings really had us wondering.) He was extremely thorough, spoke to us both, and we really couldn't be more impressed. Knock on wood, I hope we don't ever have to find out if that thoroughness extends to how AMICA responds to claims...but we can't speak to Hartford on that account either.

[flamin lib]

45. It does apply to claims as well. I once totaled a car and had it

towed to my garage. I left the door open so the adjuster could see it. My neighbor did a good deed and closed the door for me before the adjuster got there. He called me and told me he couldn't see the car but asked if it were really totaled. I described the condition of the car and he said it sounded close enough and approved the claim.

When my roof was destroyed so many times in the early 90s I had a check before most other people even saw an adjuster.

[magellan]

46. Can't thank you enough, flamin lib

I think you've really put us onto something good in AMICA. Just a shame they don't write home policies in FL anymore, we'd have given them all our business.

:hi:

[flvegan]

34. Been my mom's ins co for...God, 50 years now?

And my grandmother before her.

When I applied with them here, they weren't writing new policies, so I went with what I have.

[old mark]

22. AIG!!!!!

Geico screwed me - I would not recommend them to anyone.

I called them for a rate quote several years ago, and was given a rate nearly $400 higher than what I was paying. Salesman said,"Yeah, but it will go down over time". I told him to forget it, eventually getting a policy with Progressive, which was OK, not great.
BUT-when I called Progressive, I was told that Geico had informed them-and all other insurance companies-that THEY HAD REJECTED ME, and that this would increase my rate with any other company.

We had progressive for several years, but recently got a mailer from AIG, called and was able to reduce our insurance cost by about 40%.

They have been great so far.

mark

[recoveringrepublican]

54. That's what we have. So far we love them, but we've haven't had to make a claim yet.

They were by far the cheapest for the same coverage.

[Mountainman]

23. Progressive is good and I think it is blue too.

I have progressive for my motorcycle. They come to my rescue when ever I need them. My rates don't go up if I call for help.

[truebrit71]

24. Progressive suck. See my posts upthread. Bait and switch.

... :thumbsdown:

[Mountainman]

27. I think we all have different experiences. They never treated me wrong.

No matter what I call them for, a flat or my bike rolled over and I can't pick it up or out of gas the send someone to the rescue. Nice to know I have that protection. And it is not an add on, it comes with the policy. My rates have never changed in three years.

[flvegan]

33. I have had a positive experience with Progressive as well.

Been with them for a few years now.

[AlCzervik]

25. i'm sure will disagree with me but....I have Farmers on my cars and casa and they have

been nothing but reliable, helpful and the rates are good. My car got stolen in 2004 and they actually gave me a good settlement, no bullshit, no problems just cut me a check after 30 days or car not returning, also my rates didn't go up. I really like my Agent as well and maybe thats the difference, when i need something he's in the same town so i can run over and see him or he comes to my house.

[babylonsister]

39. That's who we have and are very satisfied, have been for years

after AllState ripped us off for years.

[Andy823]

40. I guy backed into me

A couple of years ago who had AllState insurance on his car.

I called my insurance company then I went and talked to his insurance rep within a 1/2 hour of the accident. He had not been there yet to report it, but his rep told be that if I didn't hear from the company in a couple of days to call them. I didn't hear from them so I called, got a claim number, talked with a rep who was very nice who said they would get back to me. A week later I called them again, and they still had not heard from the guy who hit me. They said they would call back within a week. Well a week later no call, so once again I called them. They told me they had not gotten hold of the guy yet, that they had left messages, and written him a letter. I asked what they were going to do if they did not hear from him. They told me that they would get the police report and take it from there. Bottom line is that m company paid for the repairs, minus my $500 detucable. Allstate refused to pay because the guy never reported the accident. My company went after him and said if they did get the money they would refund my $500. So far nothing. My company told me there is a clause in "all" insurance coverage that the company is not liable to pay if the person does not report the accident, even though they insured him, and they admitted after reading the police report that he was at fault! Really ticked me off.

[AlCzervik]

42. I had Allstate for a few years when i lived in Ma. and they were the Suck!

and check out this bullshit, they pulled out of california except for---you guessed it, car insurance.

[tammywammy]

47. I have Farmers as well

I had homeowners with them and after Progressive just raised my rates (no accidents, no tickets, it's because I applied for and got a mortgage with in the last year :eyes:) I moved my vehicle to Farmers too.

This is the same agent that my parents used for years. He gave me a good rate. And he's always taken care of the family well.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

26. I have been very happy with AAA

Been with them for about 15 years. A few years ago my truck was totaled and they paid way more for it than I expected with no grief at all. Someone contacted me almost every day to keep me informed while my claim was being processed. They may not be the cheapest but they were there when I needed em.

[Schema Thing]

28. I may have to take this topic all the way to the convention

lol, I'm not finding a consensus here!

[Schema Thing]

29. Sub-Topic: Has anyone ever used one of the online multi-co quote websites?

[magellan]

35. Had to for health insurance. Car/home insurance we used a local broker

...which is essentially the same thing. That's how we got Hartford. They all lead to brokers I think, and that's where some of the additional cost comes into play.

[Xolodno]

36. The Industry is expected and projected to....

turn around the end of the year. Right now SEVERAL insurance companies are lowering their rates (so you will buy with them) in the hopes that when the claims start rolling in and they raise the rates....you will stay with them due to the hassle of looking for an insurance company.

I would avoid a newer or smaller insurance company....otherwise if you have a claim, it may be the state guaranty fund thats paying you...and good luck in getting all monies owed to you.

So don't shop by rate right now, go with the expectation of it shooting up. Look for companies known for service and paying their claims. Companies with their own agents tend to provide better service vs. Independent agents who just want the commission.....most of the time.

[L0oniX]

37. Esurance ...I have 100/300 w/ uninsured and 100k damage and 10k medical and 500 deduct on collision

Only $356 per 6 months on a $5000 value Dodge van.

[CRF450]

43. I think it depends on where you live.

Here in my area in NC, State Farm has been great.

[VotesForWomen]

49. just hope you don't get hit by somebody with Hartford ins; you won't get crap. nt

[mnhtnbb]

51. We've had USAA for years and never had any trouble with auto claims

But we also have USAA for homeowners and boy,were they a pain in the a$$ about the structural component
of our house when it burned down last summer. They were ok on contents portion of the claim--but we got lucky and had receipts and photos for a lot of stuff.

[uppityperson]

52. I use State Farm 'cause local office helps get claims settled well.

The big main office is there to deny claims and make money, but the local guys have really helped get things through. They have not increased our rates, except when the teen started driving, and didn't complain when we used them to get money. Their part of the deal is keep customers happy so they stay customers, and do a pretty good job of it.

I thought of switching, but have a locked in rate (or rather tier sort of thing) so they can't increase our rates unduly.

Find a company who has a local office with people that you like, as they will be working for you.

[Lady President]

56. Nationwide Political Contributions-- 55% vs. 45%

In the past couple years Nationwide has shifted their political contributions and 55% goes to Republicans with the goal of 50-50 by 2009. Not great, but not too bad for an insurance company. I also have to disagree with the other poster about customer service. They have hired teams of people to improve the customer experience. That is the primary company initiative for the next few years. With that said, my guess is that there will be some glitches with the website the end of this year while changes occur.

Personally, I have State Farm. They were inexpensive in my area and responsive.

[haele]

58. I've actually had really good experiences with Esurance -

If you have to make changes in your policy, as soon as you do it online it counts for that day, even if you changed it around 2pm. Many insurance companies make you wait 3 to 14 days for a policy or policy change to take effect, and that's often a problem if you have to prove something to the DMV "that day".
(we had to make a claim one day on a vehicle where one driver wasn't on the insurance in a no-fault incident, and we had no problem adding that driver to cover the claim the same day.)

The claims department were prompt, and they covered everything - even recent repairs that were damaged during the incident - with no problem, even though their investigator had to come down from 250 miles away to look at the vehicle. She was down "the next business day" as soon as we found out where our totaled vehicle had been towed.

And they're very reasonable, I could possibly find cheaper, but for the value, I've found them the best.

Haele