Car/home insurance... do you like your company

[GreatLakes]

I have Allstate and have been very happy with them. I have only had car claims and I've been very happy with not only their handling of them but with the subsequent rate increases. I've had two at fault accidents and the amount my rate went up were reasonable for the claims.

I think a big part of it for me is the agent more than the company. I use an agent my parents have used for decades and it feels like he really knows me and my needs and makes sensible suggestions. I've stayed with Allstate despite my wife working for three different competitors in the industry.

 

[mamamary]

We've had Allstate since about 1994. We had one house claim 5 years ago and 1 car claim 2 years ago. Was very happy with the process/outcome.

 

[nkereina]

As a claimant against someone else's insurance, State Farm was a breeze to work with. I was very happy with their entire claim process, even though I am not their insured.

My previous home and auto policies were with Farmer's. They had a great web site, easy process for claims, but my premiums went up each year despite no claims or tickets and they had no explanation for it. When I switched to New York Central Mutual, my insurance broker was pretty shocked at my Farmer's rates. For NYCM, I have been happy so far and also find they have a great claims process, but did have a bad experience with my escrowed homeowner's premium when I initially switched over. Its been fine since.

 

[soccerdad72]

We're with USAA - have always been happy with them.

 

[DopeyDame]

For years and years (like decades) I had Geico car insurance with Travelers home insurance through Geico.
We had two car claims over the years, both were fine. They weren't complicated, but things got paid quickly and easily. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Travelers - we had one minor claim (something stolen) one year, and then the next year we had a relatively major claim when a tree fell on our house. Travelers paid for the tree damage after lots of arguing, and then dropped us completely. I was super pissed, frankly. True, we had two claims in two years, but we also had two claims in 20+ years of paying renters and then homeowners insurance through them.
Anyway, we switched everything to Nationwide after that.

Just a few months after we switched, I totaled my car. I was really, really happy with how Nationwide handled it. Within literally less than an hour of the accident, they had a rental car all set up and waiting for me, someone had called me to walk through the medical payments (fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but they told me how to get paid if I needed anything), and the next day they'd appraised the car and determined it was totaled. A few days after that, we had the quote for what they valued the car, which frankly was significantly more than I expected.

So... Nationwide was great and Geico/Travelers can go pound sand.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Also another State Farm customer for part of my insurance products. It really frustrates me that the Canadian side of the company absolutely doesn't care one little bit that I was insured through State Farm with a number of products in the USA for over a decade, they still won't "merge" my records and give me the long-standing customer service/discounts that goes along with that...

Vehicle insurance is a different company because State Farm refuses to consider my previous history and wants my rate to be a brand-new customer rate. I am frustrated with this other company because due to rising costs in our province, they can't offer a lower rate despite the fact that they are supposed to be able to offer them to long-time customers...

 

[nene0182]

We have American Family for both homeowners and vehicle insurance. My husband has been with them for years but I just joined his policy in 2009. We had 3 claims in a year and a half (hit by uninsured driver, windows shot out of my car with a BB gun and a stolen motorcycle) They handle each claim great (except the uninsured driver claim which just annoys me) and didn’t raise our rates for any of them. I’m not sure if we could get anything cheaper as I have found it hard to get quotes that will include a 15 Year old driver. I tried to do an online quote with Progressive last week and my vehicle was too new for their drop down menu and I’d have to call but I really haven’t had time for that.

 

[tvguy]

We have American Family for both homeowners and vehicle insurance. My husband has been with them for years but I just joined his policy in 2009. We had 3 claims in a year and a half (hit by uninsured driver, windows shot out of my car with a BB gun and a stolen motorcycle) They handle each claim great (except the uninsured driver claim which just annoys me) and didn’t raise our rates for any of them. I’m not sure if we could get anything cheaper as I have found it hard to get quotes that will include a 15 Year old driver. I tried to do an online quote with Progressive last week and my vehicle was too new for their drop down menu and I’d have to call but I really haven’t had time for that.

Insurance companies usually don't charge for drivers under age 16 with just a learners permit.

 

[kdonnel]

Insurance companies usually don't charge for drivers under age 16 with just a learners permit.

That is my understanding as well.

When my first child got their learners permit I called to add them to the insurance and was told that it was not necessary. They can only be added when licensed but are covered while using their permit.

 

[StephMK]

For years and years (like decades) I had Geico car insurance with Travelers home insurance through Geico.
We had two car claims over the years, both were fine. They weren't complicated, but things got paid quickly and easily. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Travelers - we had one minor claim (something stolen) one year, and then the next year we had a relatively major claim when a tree fell on our house. Travelers paid for the tree damage after lots of arguing, and then dropped us completely. I was super pissed, frankly. True, we had two claims in two years, but we also had two claims in 20+ years of paying renters and then homeowners insurance through them.
Anyway, we switched everything to Nationwide after that.

Just a few months after we switched, I totaled my car. I was really, really happy with how Nationwide handled it. Within literally less than an hour of the accident, they had a rental car all set up and waiting for me, someone had called me to walk through the medical payments (fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but they told me how to get paid if I needed anything), and the next day they'd appraised the car and determined it was totaled. A few days after that, we had the quote for what they valued the car, which frankly was significantly more than I expected.

So... Nationwide was great and Geico/Travelers can go pound sand.

We had a similar situation with Travelers. Someone just quoted me Travelers and even 15 years later, I refused to look at them.

 

[camreesmom]

Insurance companies usually don't charge for drivers under age 16 with just a learners permit.

Allstate wanted to. It's the reason that we switched to USAA.

DD19 wants no part of driving but they wanted to charge us for her because she was old enough to get a license if she wanted to.

 

[tvguy]

Allstate wanted to. It's the reason that we switched to USAA.

DD19 wants no part of driving but they wanted to charge us for her because she was old enough to get a license if she wanted to.

Yes, they DO charge is you have someone 16 or older in the household. OP was talking someone 15, which is too young for a license, but old enough for a learners permit. Allstate does NOT charge for that.

 

[Hrhpd]

We had Liberty Mutual for years and they were so easy to work with when we had to replace the roof after a hailstorm. I just switched to Allstate because the premium was jumping quite a bit the last few years.

We have had Liberty Mutual for over 30 years and our premium started going up too. I just called our agent and he reworked the quote to actually save us money. Same thing for our auto insurance. Just last week I called to get a quote on a new car we are looking at and the agent started looking at our policy and noticed that some of our discounts had dropped off when renewed. By the time I got off the phone, our policy was cut in half with better coverage and adding another car to the plan.

Needless to say, I LOVE Liberty Mutual and have no plans to switch.

As for the claims, they have been tremendous. They have fully covered weather related damage that neighbors' insurances wouldn't touch for similar damage, the most egregious was the State Farm insurance by our neighbor who had the exact same damage as us. Witnessing all the neighbors' struggles with their different insurance companies, I decided then and there we would stay with Liberty Mutual for the foreseeable future.

 

[Klayfish]

Yes, they DO charge is you have someone 16 or older in the household. OP was talking someone 15, which is too young for a license, but old enough for a learners permit. Allstate does NOT charge for that.

Most carriers want to know ANYONE living in your household who is of legal driving age. Whether they charge a premium and/or how much is their discretion. Even if they are unlicensed, be sure to let the carrier know.

 

[tvguy]

Most carriers want to know ANYONE living in your household who is of legal driving age. Whether they charge a premium and/or how much is their discretion. Even if they are unlicensed, be sure to let the carrier know.

Yeah, when I dropped my daughter off my insurance last year when she bought her own car and got her own insurance, I was surprised that my Allstate agent wanted all her new policy and car information. My response was it was none of their business, but the agent said the underwriters have to have that information to drop her form the coverage.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Allstate wanted to. It's the reason that we switched to USAA.

DD19 wants no part of driving but they wanted to charge us for her because she was old enough to get a license if she wanted to.

I ran into this issue a lot when I was working at the insurance company. In pretty much all states we wrote in if you had a 16 year old regardless of license or not they were rated on the policy as such. It made a lot of parents upset that's for sure. But on the flip side couldn't tell you how many times people 'neglected' to notify of driving exposures and then wanted the insurance company to cover the loss.

It will depend on the company and how they are filed with state's DOIs but just know that it's not abnormal to rate for individuals 16 and older.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah, when I dropped my daughter off my insurance last year when she bought her own car and got her own insurance, I was surprised that my Allstate agent wanted all her new policy and car information. My response was it was none of their business, but the agent said the underwriters have to have that information to drop her form the coverage.

Normally when I had that kind of request it depended on the household history and driving exposures. If someone was living in the household still or had frequent exposure to the household we had to rate or exclude depending on the state (because some states don't allow drivers to be excluded unless for very specific reasons).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To answer the OP normally I like to stay with an insurance company. Chasing the lowest premium can be a never-ending game. That said when my step-father-in-law became my insurance agent and my husband and I got married he, my husband, wanted to switch more often than I had done in the past. The absolute first question I ask my insurance agent is "how are they with claims" because despite having not filed many claims so far *knock on wood* it's an important part of the decision with me. Being cheaper doesn't equate to better.

Maybe because I grew up in the insurance industry I get it that it doesn't matter if I don't have claims or accidents my rate isn't just determined by that not by a long shot especially with renewals in mind. Doesn't mean I don't actually like the increases I get but that I'm not storming the gates demanding why my rate is going up despite me not doing anything. And on that note not doing anything can still have an impact as people age, cars age, homes age, resources and materials and labor costs, and crime statistics and availability of parts, etc change and as natural disasters and CAT losses, etc. There's just a lot of variables.

There isn't any harm to switching and moving around but I would ask about claims processes, ask about types of payment options and any applicable fees associated with those, even term policies (for instance even though for years I had 6 month policies I have found that I prefer for the last 8 or so years 12 month policies and that started when I switched to AAA back when I moved out of the house (I've since then had several other companies), etc. The other thing to keep in mind is that I would say on average you're going to be better off bundling (meaning home and auto or renters and auto) but that may not necessarily be the case. Some insurance companies have better rates on autos at a particular time and some insurance companies have better rates on homes at a particular time. It ebbs and flows.

This is just my take on it but I appreciate that my step-father-in-law is an independent agent. He has a multitude of companies he can write with and can help find the product and company at a given time for me.

 

[nene0182]

Yes, they DO charge is you have someone 16 or older in the household. OP was talking someone 15, which is too young for a license, but old enough for a learners permit. Allstate does NOT charge for that.

My 15 year old does have a valid license not a learners permit. In our state a 15 year old can get their license on their 15th birthday if they have completed drivers ed and have had their learners permit for 1 year.

 

[Toolulu22]

I've been with Allstate for my auto insurance for many years, my husband switches his around. Right now his has his truck, motorcycle and our home listed with Liberty Mutual. We put in a small claim to Liberty Mutual recently when our neighbors tree limb fell on our roof and a year before when we had a theft. Liberty paid quickly, but our rate went up just as fast, and significantly. He was hit pulling into our driveway by a distracted driver who blew a stop sign and totaled his old truck. Also paid that claim very quickly.

I have had one minor accident and one ticket (knock wood) over all my years driving and was ready to switch from Allstate a few years ago, because I felt that my rate was ridiculously high. I called them and they switched me to Allstate Fire and Casualty. My rate went down, but now they can drop me whenever they want, whereas under my old policy they couldn't. My rate has again been creeping upward and so I am going to look into switching to Liberty Mutual. For my one minor fender bender, I drove it down to be inspected and they cut me a check. Personally, for a good driver though they pay out with no problems- they will likely drop me the first major incident I have and after all these years of paying in, I'd be angry at that.