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

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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!

Make sure your coverages are the same as they were before. Sometimes I'd run into situations where agents had reduced coverage for insureds and either they were unaware of this happening or they didn't realize what it meant. A lot of people focus on "oh yay I'm saving money" and that's as far as they go.

If it's just a rate decrease the company is taking for your particular property have a little party because that's a great reduction right there!

 

[easyas123]

Make sure your coverages are the same as they were before

Just called, everything is the same.
Must have been the case of wine I sent the office last season, they must want be ready for another one haha!

 

[mamapenguin]

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.

I take auto claims. I tell my kids, you want all of the coverage available unless you are prepared to walk away from your car and start over with nothing. Even when an accident is not your fault no coll. can still end you up with nothing, there are a lot of uninsured drivers, and a lot of hit and runs. Comp. Is important also for different reasons. I don’t like telling people that their accident falls under collision and I don’t see that coverage listed on their policy.

 

[kathy884]

I've been with Farmers for the past 30+ years. I did some comparison shopping about two years ago and I didn't find anyone that beat their prices. It's not like I went crazy checking I checked with an independent agent and two other places. Plus I have been extremely happy with how Farmer's handles claims when we have had claims.

Auto insurance has gotten so high now. What I did to lower my premiums was up my deductible on our cars for Collision and Comprehensive to $2500. That lowered my costs substantially, enough to put the savings in a car fund to cover those higher deductibles should we have a claim. We have three cars that we insure and with DH retired and me working from home we don't put all that many miles on our cars. I carry a 1 million umbrella liability policy too (boy did costs on that go up when I had a teenage driver. Now my costs are back down on that.)

 

[barkley]

there are a lot of uninsured drivers

AND underinsured drivers-we encountered this when in an accident with an out of state driver. interesting to see how different the minimum requirements for coverage vary. VERY GLAD we had uninsured/UNDERINSURED coverage to make up the difference after the other driver's policy maxed out.

 

[tvguy]

I've been with Farmers for the past 30+ years. I did some comparison shopping about two years ago and I didn't find anyone that beat their prices. It's not like I went crazy checking I checked with an independent agent and two other places. Plus I have been extremely happy with how Farmer's handles claims when we have had claims.

Auto insurance has gotten so high now. What I did to lower my premiums was up my deductible on our cars for Collision and Comprehensive to $2500. That lowered my costs substantially, enough to put the savings in a car fund to cover those higher deductibles should we have a claim. We have three cars that we insure and with DH retired and me working from home we don't put all that many miles on our cars. I carry a 1 million umbrella liability policy too (boy did costs on that go up when I had a teenage driver. Now my costs are back down on that.)

My parked car was hit by someone insured by Farmers and based on that one experience, I would never consider them. I got three estimates. All three included replacing the driver door "skin" (the outside portion of the door). Farmers said the repair only needed bondo and paint. I had no issue going with the lowest bid. I had notified my insurance and they told Farmers they expected my claim to be paid by the end of the week or THEY would pay it and subjugate the claim. In layman's terms, they would bill Farmers for what they paid, plus administrative costs. Farmers finally paid up.

As for higher deductibles, I have carried a $1,000 deductible for over 40 years. We bought a Camry and financed it through Toyota and Toyota required no more than a $500 deductible. I was shocked at how little it changed my premium. $25 a year! And that's lowering the deductible on both cars I have on that policy. Insurance is so funny, my third car has classic car insurance and they don't even offer coverage with deductibles.

 

[barkley]

I had notified my insurance and they told Farmers they expected my claim to be paid by the end of the week or THEY would pay it and subjugate the claim

i will ONLY do subrogation on claims-i have no inclination to deal with another person's insurance company that has a vested interest in working against my best interests. sure, i have to pay my deductable and wait to be reimbursed when farmer's collects it from the other insurance company but based on my experience-i get my car repaired more quickly, my rental car more expediently...

dh was in an accident that involved 3 different insurance companies (one was for commercial vehicles) that took about 3 months for subrogation to finish,

i had my car damaged by a dealership that initialy took responsibility then denied it when they saw the repair cost (outside their scope of work-auto body/paint). farmers fought with their insurance company for close to a year on my behalf (succeeded),

worst ever though-dealing with AAA AS AN INSURED who was hit by another AAA customer. over 3 years of bickering with claims adjustors (b/c they can subrogate with themselves), took forever to get the car repaired, get the rental lined up, a couple of thousand in hospital bills paid. the only upside was b/c it took so long the hospital kicked the entire payment back to me b/c they had already written it off.

 

[tvguy]

i will ONLY do subrogation on claims-i have no inclination to deal with another person's insurance company that has a vested interest in working against my best interests. sure, i have to pay my deductable and wait to be reimbursed when farmer's collects it from the other insurance company but based on my experience-i get my car repaired more quickly, my rental car more expediently...

dh was in an accident that involved 3 different insurance companies (one was for commercial vehicles) that took about 3 months for subrogation to finish,

i had my car damaged by a dealership that initialy took responsibility then denied it when they saw the repair cost (outside their scope of work-auto body/paint). farmers fought with their insurance company for close to a year on my behalf (succeeded),

worst ever though-dealing with AAA AS AN INSURED who was hit by another AAA customer. over 3 years of bickering with claims adjustors (b/c they can subrogate with themselves), took forever to get the car repaired, get the rental lined up, a couple of thousand in hospital bills paid. the only upside was b/c it took so long the hospital kicked the entire payment back to me b/c they had already written it off.

I don't want to jinx it but this is the only auto claim we have had in 41 years of marriage. And my insurance out and out told me they wanted this claim settled with in 2 weeks. I guess the State Insurance Commissioners office tracks how long claims take to settle.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't want to jinx it but this is the only auto claim we have had in 41 years of marriage. And my insurance out and out told me they wanted this claim settled with in 2 weeks. I guess the State Insurance Commissioners office tracks how long claims take to settle.

There shouldn't be a timeline so precise because each and every accident is different, availability of parts, medical/hospital issues, availability of rental cars, information provided by the Other party, etc. All of that is very accident dependent. What the Insurance Commission of every state wants is an insurance company to 1) Be in compliance with how they are filed 2) Act efficiently and appropriately.

Just to put an example out there our Loss of Usage coverage (K-Coverage) is for up to 30 days of a rental car (or up to max dollar amount, like my car is $40/day I don't remember the full dollar max though).

 

[tvguy]

There shouldn't be a timeline so precise because each and every accident is different, availability of parts, medical/hospital issues, availability of rental cars, information provided by the Other party, etc. All of that is very accident dependent. What the Insurance Commission of every state wants is an insurance company to 1) Be in compliance with how they are filed 2) Act efficiently and appropriately.

Just to put an example out there our Loss of Usage coverage (K-Coverage) is for up to 30 days of a rental car (or up to max dollar amount, like my car is $40/day I don't remember the full dollar max though).

It may have been an internal policy to get non-injury claims settled quickly.

I don't have rental car coverage. I only really became aware of it because the policy documents now are in bold "not purchased". But we are retired, with three cars, so it is coverage we would most likely never need.
Also don't have towing, but I belong to my insurance company's Motor Club, so that covers towing. AND both my daily driver cars manufacturers throw in so many years of free towing. AND my classic car insurance includes towing on my classic car and all cars I own. That would be the last option I would use because it specifies only flat bed tow trucks, which cause a delay in getting a tow truck out.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It may have been an internal policy to get non-injury claims settled quickly.

I don't have rental car coverage. I only really became aware of it because the policy documents now are in bold "not purchased". But we are retired, with three cars, so it is coverage we would most likely never need.
Also don't have towing, but I belong to my insurance company's Motor Club, so that covers towing. AND both my daily driver cars manufacturers throw in so many years of free towing. AND my classic car insurance includes towing on my classic car and all cars I own. That would be the last option I would use because it specifies only flat bed tow trucks, which cause a delay in getting a tow truck out.

It still very much depends on each accident, each car has different variables, etc. Of course the insurance company should strive to be efficient and you have an example of when it wasn't with that AAA vs AAA story. You definitely don't want an insurance company to intentionally drag their feet.

My husband's accident a few months ago was non-injury and the other insurance not interested in pursuing a claim against us. It still took a bit for the body shop to take a look at the car and then come up with a value which was based on initial inspection, if we had told them we wanted to try and repair it it would have taken longer. We had the rental car 12 days (just looked that up) for an extremely simple accident without them getting into trying to fix the car. And it was 13 days from when the accident occurred again without repairs being made to our car and no discussion with the other insurance company since they didn't want to pursue. Our insurance company was efficient, but we had to shop for a new car, they were having to deal with what the initial inspection was, talking with the other insurance company, etc.

In any case the DOI wants to make sure insurance companies are doing right by their insureds.

 

[tvguy]

It still very much depends on each accident, each car has different variables, etc. Of course the insurance company should strive to be efficient and you have an example of when it wasn't with that AAA vs AAA story. You definitely don't want an insurance company to intentionally drag their feet.

My husband's accident a few months ago was non-injury and the other insurance not interested in pursuing a claim against us. It still took a bit for the body shop to take a look at the car and then come up with a value which was based on initial inspection, if we had told them we wanted to try and repair it it would have taken longer. We had the rental car 12 days (just looked that up) for an extremely simple accident without them getting into trying to fix the car. And it was 13 days from when the accident occurred again without repairs being made to our car and no discussion with the other insurance company since they didn't want to pursue. Our insurance company was efficient, but we had to shop for a new car, they were having to deal with what the initial inspection was, talking with the other insurance company, etc.

In any case the DOI wants to make sure insurance companies are doing right by their insureds.

I was surprised when my son had an accident 6 years ago how quickly his insurance handled the claim. He rear ended someone in a downpour on a Sunday. It was a 2006 Taurus with 180,000 miles on it. He and his wife figured it was a total so they went out on Tuesday and bought a replacement car. Wednesday the insurance said they had approved fixing the car! When the insurance was told my son and DIL wanted to total the car, they had an immediate offer from the insurance company, but it was about half the repair cost. Insurance said their decision to fix the car was based on it's condition. It was in good condition and Taurus' run forever.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I was surprised when my son had an accident 6 years ago how quickly his insurance handled the claim. He rear ended someone in a downpour on a Sunday. It was a 2006 Taurus with 180,000 miles on it. He and his wife figured it was a total so they went out on Tuesday and bought a replacement car. Wednesday the insurance said they had approved fixing the car! When the insurance was told my son and DIL wanted to total the car, they had an immediate offer from the insurance company, but it was about half the repair cost. Insurance said their decision to fix the car was based on it's condition. It was in good condition and Taurus' run forever.

My accident I had my car fixed and back to me in less than a week but this was many years ago. My car needed a back new bumper, a back alignment best they could do and a paint job. But my husband's car would have needed more since his was a front hit.

Each car is different so is each accident.

I wouldn't have actually bought a car before I heard back if it was a total or not unless I was okay with the possibility of having the new car and the old car. We were in communication with our insurance company and the various dealers. The insurance company knew we were looking for a new car just in case and the dealerships knew we were waiting on word if the car was a total or not. Our adjustor had told us too they were not declaring it a total loss immediately.

I'm not surprised at how quickly an accident is completely done with with an insurance company but nor am I surprised when it isn't

 

[tvguy]

My accident I had my car fixed and back to me in less than a week but this was many years ago. My car needed a back new bumper, a back alignment best they could do and a paint job. But my husband's car would have needed more since his was a front hit.

Each car is different so is each accident.

I wouldn't have actually bought a car before I heard back if it was a total or not unless I was okay with the possibility of having the new car and the old car. We were in communication with our insurance company and the various dealers. The insurance company knew we were looking for a new car just in case and the dealerships knew we were waiting on word if the car was a total or not. Our adjustor had told us too they were not declaring it a total loss immediately.

I'm not surprised at how quickly an accident is completely done with with an insurance company but nor am I surprised when it isn't

Then there is the question of if you want to keep a repaired car. Salvage titled cars are one step further away from repaired cars, and I know more than one auto body shop tech who says that is all they will buy and say a properly repaired salvage title car is probably better than it was when it rolled off the assembly line. I don't have the skills to determine what is properly repaired, and I hope never to find out.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Then there is the question of if you want to keep a repaired car. Salvage titled cars are one step further away from repaired cars, and I know more than one auto body shop tech who says that is all they will buy and say a properly repaired salvage title car is probably better than it was when it rolled off the assembly line. I don't have the skills to determine what is properly repaired, and I hope never to find out.

This insurance company I worked would insure salvage titles so long as they had been repaired and inspected by the state. A totaled vehicle doesn't mean it's mechanically bad. Hail damage can cause a vehicle to be totaled and that has nothing to do with the mechanics of the vehicle. A large enough dent or bent to a uni-body truck could do the same. A car could be totaled out because it's too difficult for the insurance company to find a part but that part may not be that big of a deal mechanically speaking to the car. And so on. But a totaled car can also be just too much actual damage to the car which can make people wary of keeping. It's all whatever someone wants.

Had the damage to my husband's car only what they said it was after they went nitty gritty into looking at repairs it's possible we would have kept the car to limp along for a year to two years because the interest rates are nuts and the car pricing not the best either. But because the value of the repairs was high enough before getting too deep into it with a 2010 we opted to take the totaled amount and got a new car but we did a lease on the car due to the interest rates. It's basically us just biding our time honestly. But if you had asked us before the pandemic it's possible we would have made a different decision.

 

[Judique]

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!

Glad yours went down! Mine jumped up with State Farm. Another $150 a year for my home. In addition my auto insurances went up. I have 3 cars under my policy and the agent called to let me know as well. He blamed it on some State of Maryland legislation. Just paid the bill.....

 

[Judique]

AND underinsured drivers-we encountered this when in an accident with an out of state driver. interesting to see how different the minimum requirements for coverage vary. VERY GLAD we had uninsured/UNDERINSURED coverage to make up the difference after the other driver's policy maxed out.

This was the scenario when a driver crossed the center line and took out my DD's car, and sent all 4 of her family to hospital, one airlifted. The guy had minimum insurance and DD's insurance kicked in to get the bills paid, etc. This is why my own policy now costs more than it used to, as I hopped on over to my agent's office and increased my own coverage after seeing the costs involved. The guy's policy didn't even pay 10% of the losses.