Shopping home & auto insurance - what budget friendly (ha!) company do you use?

[Tink113]

Our auto bill came in the mail and it seems crazy that we have two older vehicles (2008 & 2015) and paying as much as we do.

Would like to shop around for home & auto insurance.

Who should we avoid?

We currently have 2 drivers, don’t drive much because hubby works from home and I stay home with the kids. We have State Farm now.

No military in the family so can’t use that avenue.

 

[barkley]

we use farmers (got a much lower offer from them vs. state farm who we used to have). that said, we maximize our discounts by-

capping the mileage on the cars b/c we don't commute anymore (i think it's called something like 'low mileage discount'),

multi-policy discounts,

pay in full discounts (pay home/atv/umbrella 1x per year, auto 2x per year)-this also results in more savings b/c on top of a discount you do not get hit with the monthly fee for billing.

 

[tvguy]

I gave up on price shopping insurance.
I have my auto, homeowners and umbrella through the same insurance company.
Price shopping I found the final total of all my premiums was the same no matter which company I checked. The auto might be cheaper with one, but the homeowners was higher by an amount equal to the savings. Or the homeowners was cheaper, but the auto more expensive. Or the umbrella cheaper....you get the picture.

 

[DisneyTexan]

we use farmers (got a much lower offer from them vs. state farm who we used to have).

Same here! We were with State Farm forever, and then switched to Farmers a few years ago.

Believe it or not, the homeowner's insurance with Farmers went down by 21% for the annual renewal that hit last month. The car policies though have continued to go up.

Pricing for insurance varies a lot from state to state, and even county to county. Tink113, you might want to ask people who live near you for their recommendations.

 

[MillauFr]

Just make sure you cancel the collision coverage to save money. Especially on the 2008 car. Even if you total it they aren't going to give you anything.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Try looking for an insurance broker in your area. I thought about it for years and finally went to one about 2 years ago. Got our home owners down $1500 with more and better coverage. Also saved a couple hundred on auto insurance. Note: not with the same companies.

 

[DisneyTexan]

Just make sure you cancel the collision coverage to save money. Especially on the 2008 car. Even if you total it they aren't going to give you anything.

The Blue Book value needs to be checked before making a decision on this. Its impossible to know the value of the car based on age only.

 

[hrhdhd]

I have homeowners, auto, and umbrella with AAA. I switched from Liberty Mutual several years ago and saved a ton with better coverage. Rates are creeping up now (I live in FL), but I call and reduce coverage or increase deductibles here and there. In fact, I'd like to increase my auto deductibles even more but they won't let me.

If you're a AAA member, you get a discount, and if you have the AAA credit card, you get some special percent in rewards for putting the premium on your card. That card used to have a great travel rebate (3%), but they've capped it now. Still has a rewards feature, though.

 

[tvguy]

The Blue Book value needs to be checked before making a decision on this. Its impossible to know the value of the car based on age only.

Exactly. The crazy used car market of recent years means your 2008 may be worth a lot more than you think. My daughter bought a used 2017 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 16,000 miles on it in 2018 for Blue Book value.. It has 60,000 miles on it now and the Blue book value is $2,500 higher than when she bought it.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Try looking for an insurance broker in your area. I thought about it for years and finally went to one about 2 years ago. Got our home owners down $1500 with more and better coverage. Also saved a couple hundred on auto insurance. Note: not with the same companies.

This is the way to do it. We shop our insurance every year and it can vary wildly as to who is competitive for our situation each year. A broker can look at lots of carriers and compare a variety of options (including bundling versus splitting) to find the best place for you. There is no fee to work with a broker as they are paid by the insurance carrier, not you.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just make sure you cancel the collision coverage to save money. Especially on the 2008 car. Even if you total it they aren't going to give you anything.

I'm glad my husband kept full coverage on his 2010. Unfortunately he was in an accident a few months back which totaled it out (estimated repairs were $5K without getting too far into them) and they gave him $6K for it much more than he thought. Right now the used car market is still a bit upside down but it's never as simple as age of car. Cost to insure is also a factor and what coverage are you looking for as well.

The main thing (if talking about full coverage) I would run into with even agents when I worked at the insurance company was the lack of understanding that without comprehensive and collision on your car you are NOT insuring your vehicle with your insurance company. You are only insuring liability and believe it or not people forget that. They file claims on vehicles which then get denied because the insurance company isn't covering their vehicle at that point.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Insurance companies usually have better incentives towards new customers which ebbs and flows depending on how much risk they want to take on. Captive agents (those who solely work for just one insurance company) have their place in the insurance world but are also restrictive.

We have been using my step-father-in-law for years who is an independent agent and even though we have our home with one company and the autos with another as of a month ago we still get an auto/home style discount because they are under the same insurance agent. He only shops around if we ask him to. But we also have opted to stay even with an increase depending on the year because he will let us know if it's more all insurance companies taking hits or just one in particular.

Much of the actual insurance rate is location dependent as even though insurance companies spread their risks out throughout all their coverage areas each market has their own competitiveness. Your individual factors also drive the price.

As far as companies presently we have our autos with Progressive and our home with Openly. In our particular area Openly is newer and is the best in price according to step-father-in-law but they are for homes $400K-$2 or $3 million and they only do homes.

 

[MillauFr]

I'm glad my husband kept full coverage on his 2010. Unfortunately he was in an accident a few months back which totaled it out (estimated repairs were $5K without getting too far into them) and they gave him $6K for it much more than he thought. Right now the used car market is still a bit upside down but it's never as simple as age of car. Cost to insure is also a factor and what coverage are you looking for as well.

The main thing (if talking about full coverage) I would run into with even agents when I worked at the insurance company was the lack of understanding that without comprehensive and collision on your car you are NOT insuring your vehicle with your insurance company. You are only insuring liability and believe it or not people forget that. They file claims on vehicles which then get denied because the insurance company isn't covering their vehicle at that point.

I had a $5,000 deductible so I cancel collision coverage as soon as I paid off my car loan after 4 years. I only have insurance to prevent bankruptcy. Not to hit the lotto and get a big check. Of course everyone is different.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I had a $5,000 deductible so I cancel collision coverage as soon as I paid off my car loan after 4 years. I only have insurance to prevent bankruptcy. Not to hit the lotto and get a big check. Of course everyone is different.

Yeah yours is def. extreme but the average person isn't like this at all. So it was just a word of caution, when you drop coverage make sure you understand what the means.

 

[MillauFr]

Yeah yours is def. extreme but the average person isn't like this at all. So it was just a word of caution, when you drop coverage make sure you understand what the means.

Doesn't it just mean if I crash my car or someone else runs into it I get zero? I just believe that insurance companies are crooks and will do everything possible to cheat you. I would rather not do business with them.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Doesn't it just mean if I crash my car or someone else runs into it I get zero? I just believe that insurance companies are crooks and will do everything possible to cheat you. I would rather not do business with them.

Not completely that simple. There's determining of fault and what if any applicable coverages that would be. You can have comp without collision in certain states (can carry a surcharge though)

On the surface people will suggest things just like you did that you should dump coverage based on the age to save some bucks. However, people file claims expecting their insurance company to cover them. Same thing would happen with UM/UIM. Most states require you to carry UM/UIM (uninsured and underinsured) coverage but some states let you drop the coverage in order to get reduced premium, the insurance company I worked for for those states had a legally binding document you had to sign saying you understand you no longer have this coverage in return you get a reduction in premium. But people still called and yelled at us, still filed claims and were still upset at their agents that when the situation occurred that they needed the coverage and they were denied.

For my car, which is a 2002, the 12 month premium for comp is $57 as of 3 weeks ago when it renewed, collision is $42. But with that I not only get coverage when I need it with my car but I have glass coverage with a $50 deductible on that and loss of use coverage which I can only get with having applicable coverage and that's $10 for the 12 months. We def. used that for my husband 2010 car with his accident having a rental car for something like 2 weeks I think (or close to that). On my husband's 2010 also he had 2 windshields replaced due to rocks creating large enough cracks. Without comp coverage it's several hundred dollars at least out of pocket to pay. Or you could pay the applicable glass deductible. Of course I'm not getting much if anything out of my car in the event of an accident but I'm also not paying a whole lot for the coverage and there's reasons to have the coverage I do have.

I'm not going to get into the whole thing you're talking about with your viewpoint on the industry as a whole. The OP hasn't given any indication they are wanting to self-insure like you. I'm responding to your generalized comment about dropping the full coverage because it's a 2008. Yes the OP can do that and sometimes though not always it will provide decent enough savings but know what that means in terms of your coverage.

 

[Tink3815]

If you are in NY state, this is on your auto bill now.

On Aug. 1, a new New York law went into effect requiring insurance companies to automatically add supplemental spousal liability insurance to every New York policy holder's bill, unless that person opts out of the coverage in writing. The law was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2022.

 

[starry_solo]

I shopped around once, 20 years ago, thinking AAA might be cheaper than my other insurance company. It was, but barely anything, plus they wanted me to show proof of graduation from college for one of the discounts. i was like, wait, I need to go get my college transcripts?! Yeesh, no.

I've been with my current insurance company for 30 years now. They cannot be beat, even though their premiums are going up...

 

[Golf4food]

As a few others have said, find a local independent agent/broker and let them do the dirty work of shopping it. They'll know the local market best and will know a good/fair deal when they find one. I've worked in insurance for 20 years and use a broker. One less thing I have to bother with and won't pay any extra for it (like using a travel agent to book Disney trips vs doing it yourself - Disney keeps the commission an agent would get it you do it, and insurance companies keep the commissions if you do it yourself). Zip codes can have wildly varying rates on different products and between companies. Let a broker sort all that out for you instead.

 

[easyas123]

I just had the most interesting experience. We have our homeowners w/ State Farm (in Maryland, we insure a small 27 acre farm with a 4 bd house & two barns). They just called to let me know...our insurance has gone down by 35%. I didn't get to talk to the gal as her call went to voice mail while I was on the other line. I'll have to call her back!