car insurance

[lurkyberk]

My car insurance(Geico) has gone up yet again for the 6th year in a row! I live in N.Y so insurance isn't cheap to begin with. So needless to say, I'll be getting quotes elsewhere. Anyone have any suggestions? Are you happy with your ins. carrier?

[zibazinski]

Gieco is actually starting to get competition from State Farm. Check then out. I'm in Florida so they rape us here, too, with the hurricane excuse. Never mind that people got in their cars and left but it's a good excuse to charge a lot of money.

[lurkyberk]

Yeah, I'm hearing a lot about Florida's COL. Seems that you guys can't catch much of a break there too! I've heard some good things about State Farm from one other person. I think maybe I will check them out. Thanks!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I have State Farm and am happy with them.

However, I have discovered that you really have to do this empirically for each situation. What is cheapest for one person is not necessarily cheapest for another. Car insurance is too dependent upon where you live, what you drive, your age, your driving record and a myriad of other variables that could be factored into the equation.

[Gardening Grandma]

What mich1 said.
FWIW, every few years, I review our insurance and get quotes.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I'm insured with State Farm and happy with them. In addition to my car, we use them for an umbrella policy and our homeowner's insurance + riders. My wonderful DH's vehicle is insured with USAA, and he's been happy with them. USAA is cheaper for his car than State Farm would be, even with volume discounts. But we can't switch my car from State Farm or we can't get our State Farm Umbrella.

[piratesparrot]

I have State Farm and would never switch. They write check fast when you have a claim and my premiums have gone down (just a little) the last 3 renewals.

[The J]

The lowest rates I got in NY were from Travelers and esurance. I stuck with Travelers since they also do my condo insurance and umbrella.

[marmar]

I have State Farm for both auto and homeowner's. I'm fixing to jump ship, though. I have liability only on my car (2002 Ford ZX2), and they just raised my premium for no apparent reason (I'm a 28 year old female with no recent claims and pristine credit). Also, the premium for the house climbed over 20% last year.

Dad's been with them them for over 30 years, and he added me when I turned 16, so I've been in their computer for 12 years now. They have absolutely no sense of loyalty to their customers.

For what it's worth, Mom's with Progressive, and she's more than happy with them. They've lowered her premiums each year she's been with them. My grandmother was in the insurance business for decades before retiring (Aetna, State Farm), and she admits that Progressive has the best customer service in the industry.

[TrixAre4Kids]

I have USAA, which I highly recommend if you are eligible

[Deleted]

We have Alfa, which I think is limited to the South. My husband had GEICO, which he loved. Of course, he hadn't had a claim for anything more than a broken windshield in 35 years. His premium was the same as it is now at Alfa for substantially more coverage.

However, he hates Alfa. Or maybe it's just my agent. We had a claim for a kitchen fire (small) right when a hurricane had hit. This branch had no adjuster so we got a series of fill-in, none of which knew what the other one had said. Now we got an email saying this guy forgot to raise the liability on the house when we did the umbrella last year. Oh, and he forgot to add my DH to the house or change my name. My husband is convinced he is a good old boy and wants nothing to do with him.

I told him he could go back to Geico, whom he loves, but he can't have only $25,000 worth of liability now that he's married. It's joint liability these days. Yep, that's how much Geico was providing him for about $1200 a year and a perfect driving record for 35 years. It didn't matter because he never had a wreck, but he would have found out he was underinsured if he had.

[mcmommy]

Jan 9, 2011 21:47:30 GMT -5 TrixAre4Kids said:

I have USAA, which I highly recommend if you are eligible

This.

[greeneyedchicka]

I have been with Allstate for quite a while and am happy with them. I got my renewal letter in the mail today as a matter of fact, and my premium has gone down instead of up! They put a note in with my renewal stating that the drop in premium is due to re-evaluation of my State's coverage and risks. These adjustments are saving me over $200 a year. I am in Maryland.

[illinicheme]

Another happy State Farm customer.

[NoNamePerson]

State Farm here. Been with them for 30 yrs and I do comparison shop every now and then though.

But I also think a lot depends on the individual agent. I have a friend who had SF and their experience was so different from mine when we both had a similar claim during a hurricane.

[Cookies Galore]

I used to have State Farm and had no problems with them. I switched to Allstate when BF and I got on the same insurance (his BIL is our agent) and again had no problems with them. I even had to file a (minor) accident claim and it was quick and painless. BIL is now a broker and we have Progressive. I have no opinion of them, but I want to him to do a new quote for us. Our rates have been the same since we switched last year, but I've heard Progressive can be a pain with accidents and claims.

[shanendoah]

As far as I can tell, if you're going with a full coverage insurance company, your agent matters more than the company. We had Farmers for years with great agents and no problems. I had a friend with Farmers with not so great an agent and major problems. When we got a post card late last year saying we had a new agent, we called our guy and asked what was going on. He had left the agency, but wasn't allowed to tell his customers. Our response was that we weren't "with" Farmers, we were with him. As an independent agent, he was able to find a us a great deal on coverage as good or better than we had. My insurance payments on both house and car have dropped drastically.
So my advice- find an independent agent you like. Best resource to get great rates and to make sure there are no problems with any of your claims.

[hawkeyes2001]

We don't live in NY but we have Country Financial for car and homeowners. Used to have State Farm when we bought our house and started shopping for homeowners we realized we were paying way too much. Country Financial had the lowest quotes for both by far compared to anyone else. State Farm was actually the most expensive.

[alabamagal]

USAA is great, best rates, great customer service. For the very few claims we have had over 25 years, they paid quickly and very high amounts based on the value of our car. You do have to be active or discharged military to join, and you can pass down membership to your dependents. My grandfather was in military, so my mom was member, passed down to me, and to my kids. In addition to lower rates, they usually give you a rebate in December, last couple of years, mine has been about 10% of what I pay. Also have them for home insurance.

[kimber45]

We have been with progressive for quite a few years and have never had a problem.

[Abby Normal]

We bought through AAA a few years ago. Save us over $400/year for better coverage and an umbrella policy.

[so1970]

AAA for me also