Insurance - Auto and Home -

You can switch around but it only stays down for a year. The problem is even if you do nothing everything is happening around you. I live in St Louis, never had a tornado take out my home, they think it is a matter of time. Earthquake, haven't had one in a while, clearly it is coming, right?

I have hit a point where I am going to stick with a company that gives great customer service. I have had three companies in my lifetime and all have raised their rates.

State Farm almost doubled my premiums when I had never filed a claim.

Liberty Mutual gave me a really good deal for bundling the house and cars.

G.

I'm sorry to hear this!! We use USAA and despite 2 claims, our insurance hasn't gone up considerably in several years.

Call your insurance company and find out WHY your rates have gone up - replacement value of items, replacement costs of home to include structure, foundation, etc. prices have gone up in areas like Chicago...while here in DC, they've stayed stable - FOR THE MOST PART. Every year, USAA calls us and goes through our plan, what we have covered, replacement costs, land value, home value, interior - granite, vinyl, marble, hardwood, carpeting, etc.

Make sure they have the correct value of your home as well. Riders, etc. for the home, jewelry, etc.

Your auto insurance? Do you have new cars? Replacement value on those???

I would try State Farm or All State. They are reputable companies.

They are all raising rates.

You get a better deal to combine all insurance with 1 agent.

An independent agent will do a lot of legwork for you and can sometimes save you money.

My preference is to stick with my agent who knows me well, and I have no doubt he'll be right there to help if needed.

If you are a bouncer ( change plans every 1-3 yrs) then it's common knowledge to any agent that you are not loyal to a specific company. Therefore, customer service will probably not be as good as it is for a customer who has been there several years consistently.

Just something to think about.

That said... We've had the same agent for years, he's retiring, we've rarely seen him in 10 yrs. We are shopping our products this year to see if we match up with an agent who is thinking more long term for his/her career and looking for a loyal base.

Our insurance is through Farmers.

Don't cut corners to save a few bucks because that can bite you in the rear if you ever need to use it. Also.... Consider raising yiur deductibles to save you some money!

Good luck!

Have you tried using an independent insurance agent? They will do the shopping for you and can usually get you a much better deal than you could get on your own.

We've been with our agent for 7 years (My parents have used them for 30+ years.), and we've only chaned companies once. We use the same company for home and auto.

We've been with USAA for about 10 - 12 years. Love them! If you guys have military service it would behoove you to check into them. They've not raised our rates for our home or our vehicles in all that time. Additionally, after NEVER having an accident, we had 3 within 1.5 years & even that didn't affect the rates.
Other than that, we've used Progressive for motorcycle (USAA contracts out to them for that) and have been pleased. I used Geico many years ago before switching to USAA & they were ok as far as I remember.
Hope you find something that works for you :-)

We had previously been with independent companies..... rates (and odd requirements) kept going up. The last straw was when a company wouldn't renew us because our house was "old" ... (over 40 years), unless we had our wiring inspected and verified as being safe, or totally replaced!

I went to Allstate, and our rates dropped by half! (The only thing they required, which I kind of new going into it, was that we replace our roof... it was over 20 years old, and in really bad shape. It kind of forced the issue with hubby to get it taken care of..... it had been leaking badly, and he was just ignoring it.)

I've been VERY satisfied with them..... granted, there have been no claims, but one thing the agent did was put a roadside assistance package on our auto policy (costs us maybe $2 a month?) that we used 4 times in 6 months..... well worth the minimal cost... (we had very old cars, and used the towing service 3 times, and the lock-out service once...)

Yes, I would agree that it is time to shop around...... surely someone else can give you better coverage for a lesser cost.....

The best and only insurance we have is from AAA. We had insurance through someone else and it was a mess when we needed to file a claim after a water hose on a washing machine burst and flooded most of the downstairs.
You may save yourself a few dollars here and there on the premium by going with a cheap place. But look at the real cost were you to ever need to file a claim. What is the deductible? Do they cover actual replacement costs? Do they only cover the depreciated cost of something. The insurance we had didn't cover the actual cost to replace the carpet, they only paid a depreciated value of the carpet. By the time we paid our deductible and the difference of what they wouldn't pay to actually fully fix everything that was damaged our out of pocket was huge and more than surpassed any money saved on the premiums. Same for the car insurance. Ours covers the entire cost of repair and even includes a rental car if needed.
Our rates aren't too high actually. We have both house and car so we get a discount and we've been with them for so long that we get discounts for that as well.

I suggest going to an "independent" insurance agent. That person will be able to compare rates/coverage with a variety of companies so you will have options. We've been with Mercury for 20 years or so (home & cars). The premiums have been reasonable and much lower than the competition in our area.

We've been with Allstate (home and car) for the past 20+ years and our rates have gone up considerably over the past ten years even though we have made no claims. We shopped around last year and the rates were comparable at other companies. We were told that rates had gone up in our area because of so many claims due to weather. It's worth shopping around, but for us we didn't find anything better than staying with Allstate.

There's a logical reason for SOME increases - premiums go up because it costs more to replace your house, your roof, etc. if anything happens. However, your increases seem excessive.

In my state, car insurance rates are set, so there is no price shopping - so we shop for service and claims processing. But that may not be true in your state.

I'm a big believer in giving the insurance coverage sheet to several companies and letting them beat what you have. You want to do 2 things: 1) compare apples to apples, so get them to price out the premiums for the exact coverage you have now, and 2) tell them your premiums are going way up despite not filing claims, and ask where they would advise you to cut back some coverages.

I also think it's worth looking at independent insurance agents who are brokers for more than one insurance carrier. They make a commission on their sales - essentially they are "freelance" salespeople for the carriers, who save money because they aren't paying those people to be on staff all the time (including medical benefits, workers comp, etc.). So it shouldn't be more expensive to go to a small broker. Often you get better service - I find that my agent does all kinds of things for me, cutting red tape, going to the motor vehicle department so I don't have to wait in line, delivering and returning license plates when needed, etc. I find I get the same 2 people every time I call, and they give me personal service. We've had several accidents (not our fault) and they have been terrific at riding herd on the insurer and letting me know where things stand. I think that applies to any broker - they're going to work with the companies that give good service so they, the broker, can keep your business.

Ask your friends who they use.

I had Geico years ago and they were fine but it was a long time back, and I also had Amica who were very good. I also think it has a lot to do with who's in your local or regional office. I left only because I went to a small broker, and like I said, rates weren't competitive.

i expect premiums to rise some, but yours does sound excessive. have you talked to an independent agent and had them shop prices for you?
khairete
S.

Shop around and then call your company to cancel (armed with the comp rates) and they will most likely do something to save you.
I had AAA since I started driving and when I bought a home 3 years ago I called for homeowners-they had to send someone out to inspect our home. After a month of phone tag with the effort being on my end I called Statefarm. They had someone at my house the next day.
I just recently switched my auto to Statefarm to bundle and AAA seemed to have a majic wand when I called to cancel! (Still couldn't explain why they don't want to bother inspecting my former foreclosure home)

I would try USAA first. The best company. You used to have to have been
in the military but not sure if that's still the case.

Next I would try Nationwide.

Not really a fan of Allstate/State Farm as they were more expensive & not
sure of their claims handling.

I've been with State Farm for 20 years. I've been very pleased with their service and customer service. My husband got 6 tickets in one year!!!! Our rates never went up. In those 20 yrs there was about 4 auto accidents (not our faults ) and our rates never went up a penny. I also had 1 claim for an expensive watch that went missing during a move, my rates never went up.

I had a few friends that have had Geico, all had bad experiences and have since left them.

search "insurance broker in aurora il" and find an agent close to you. They are contracted with many companies and can shop the same coverage you have, or better, for the best rates. You should do this every 3 years or so. Just make sure by looking at the quote that it is the same coverage or better than you currently have. Good luck.