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NonClicky Poll - Insurance
Long story short - we're in the process of buying a rental property (yay for 5 yr plan!) and we need to pick insurance carrier. I'm taking the opportunity to evaluate my insurance situation. We currently have ours with a few different carriers - the house & my car are on 1 policy, and DH is with another company. His insurance was more expensive if we moved it to my policy so we left as is.
Who is your insurance company for car insurance, homeowners insurance, etc? Do you recommend them?
Do you have services bundled for you & DH (all cars, houses, boats, etc on same policy)?
Have you ever had to file claims with them? How were they to work with during the claims process?
Why & how did you decide your carriers?
And lastly, did you go directly to a carriers for quotes, or did you go through an independent insurance agent?
TIA!!
Re: NonClicky Poll - Insurance
I'll start!
Who is your insurance company for car insurance, homeowners insurance, etc? Do you recommend them? Liberty Mutual for home & my car, Geico for DH. I like LM's service but I know the cost is higher, DH hasn't had much hands on experience with Geico, but he seems content with them.
Do you have services bundled for you & DH (all cars, houses, boats, etc on same policy)? Nope - we're split into 2 companies.
Have you ever had to file claims with them? How were they to work with during the claims process? Yep, we've filed claims on all 3. LM was really good about keeping me notified during the claims process and
Why & how did you decide your carriers? I had a discount by being a member of IIE which I could use on all my policies. I think DH just liked Geico's geckos and went with it . . I doubt he shopped around.
And lastly, did you go directly to a carriers for quotes, or did you go through an independent insurance agent? I went directly to 3 carriers - I've never tried an independent agent. I have no idea what the better way to go is.
we use usaa for car and homeowners, and yes, i would recommend them. my parents use usaa, so that's why i chose them. i've had to make two roofing claims and two car claims for hail, and they were both handled quickly and hassle free. i had to make one car claim for a wreck, and that, too, was handled well.
i don't know if you still have to have some kind of military connection, though, to use them. my dad was drafted during vietnam and in the army for several years, so that's my connection. it may not be that way anymore; i don't know.
usaa.com
All of our insurance is through State Farm - both cars, my wedding ring, travel trailor, and our house.
We just did this recently. Before our cars were with State Farm and our house was through ... someone else, I can't remember.
I only changed all this over because it was cheaper. I did a lot of leg work - getting combination quotes from several different places. In the end, it saved us a good amount of money (and I now have more insurance for less money).
I use Lynn Osler at State Farm and I think she's great! I have not actually filed a claim with her. However, in February I was in a wreck that wasn't my fault. Trying to not file a claim (because I thought it would make my rates go up regardless), I tried to work with the other person's isurance company. When the other insurance company wouldn't respond to me, Lynn's office got involved. She said it was too late to file a claim with her, but they really went above and beyond to help me get my car fixed. And she informed me that no, it won't affect my rates if it's not my fault, and next time I will certainly file a claim
I also have USAA car and homeowners insurance. I highly recommend them. So far, I've only dealt with them on vehicle claims, but they've been really helpful and easy to work with every time.
The only other easy experience I've had with a car insurance company was when someone backed into my car in a parking lot, and I worked with their company--they had Progressive.
When I was married, we had our cars on the same insurance, but the home insurance was something else (that my XH had arranged prior to our marriage, since he owned the home--he used a third party to arrange the home insurance and we were not happy with the co. when it came to a roof claim).
My parents have used USAA for home & car for years, that's why I originally stayed with them for car insurance. It's not the least expensive choice, but I do get a little $$ back at the end of the year, and working with them has always been a good experience.
When I was shopping around for homeowner's insurance, I went directly to the carriers for a quote. Maybe I'm high maintenance like that, but I liked the process of asking someone who worked at the company my questions and getting a feel for how they treated potential customers.
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We use Farm Bureau for most of our insurance (homeowners, cars x 2, wedding ring) and Geico for my motorcycle (scooter) because Farm Bureau doesn't write them. I guess I technically have photography insurance through another carrier, but that doesn't really apply here.
We've had a few claims - one for our house (hail damage) and a few for my car (uninsured motorist, not-at-fault, and hail damage). All were good experiences. Very prompt, kept me informed, etc. My agent and I email about questions that I have and he always gets back to me on the same day and I don't have to bother with phone tag.
I shopped around a lot for all of our insurance. Farm Bureau beat the competitors (State Farm, Geico, AllState, Famers) by several hundred dollars on all accounts. DH used to be with State Farm and one of our best friend's dad is an agent, so we really tried to go with them, but they were just a lot more expensive than FB.
Not sure if you can get a 'global' quote from FB though. you might have to talk to an individual agent. If you want my guy's info:
Ken Leifeste
512 835-7895
this. I just had to file a claim with them yesterday (
), it was fairly easy.
my parents have AAA and have been happy with them as well. MH and his family have always used SF so when we combined our finances, he insisted we stay with them. whatevs, wasn't worth fighting over.
We have USAA for home, car and life. They are a wonderful company and a bit more expensive then some. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
You can only be a member if you or someone in your nuclear family was an officer in the military. For example, my dad was and therefore I was eligible to be a member. DH's dad was enlisted and could not be a member. They may have changed some of their rules though.
~Julie
I shop around for car insurance and we're currently using Geico. Never had to file a claim.
Homeowners...this is bad but I don't know. Its all paid through the mortgage and we haven't had to file a claim! I should shop around for that, too.
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Who is your insurance company for car insurance, homeowners insurance, etc? Do you recommend them? We use State Farm for everything
Do you have services bundled for you & DH (all cars, houses, boats, etc on same policy)? We picked them mainly because my in laws have used them for years with no problems but they also were giving us a great rate.
Have you ever had to file claims with them? How were they to work with during the claims process? Yes, never had any problems at all.
Why & how did you decide your carriers? in laws used them
And lastly, did you go directly to a carriers for quotes, or did you go through an independent insurance agent? Just called the local office my in laws used (Gary Shanahan)
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Awesome - thanks guys for all of the responses!!!
I definitely have my work cut out for me over the next week trying to figure this out!
I didnt mention before - but State Farm actually dropped me from their policy when 10 days after I turned 16 =0!! I got into a minor fender bender (like <$500) and my not so smart parents called the insurance to ask them some questions and they dropped me on suspicion of an accident since I was under a provisionary clause. I'm sure they view me much better now that I'm older but it was quite the drama when I was 16. My mom was so furious with them that she actually pulled out all of their policies to another carrier. . . ironically enough, I asked and she's back at State Farm now. . . lol.