Insurance reality check in.

[KAMPURR]

Time to do a review and check my insurance options. My father said if something seems to good to be true, well then it probably isn't. That being said, all my insurance, 2 cars, RV, upscale manufactured home is with State Farm. I like and respect my agent, BUT, after reading the forum, I checked with Progressive and AARP / Hartford and my yearly savings will be $2,080. Wow, is this possible. Both Progressive and Hartford were very close in price.

[Captjake1]

Yes, totally possible. I used a broker last year and switched EVERYTHING to different carriers. I saved $1500+/year.

He advised shopping about every 2 years...show no loyalty!

I was with Farmers for over 25 years. When told of the price disparity, they said they couldn't reduce the rates.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by KAMPURR

Time to do a review and check my insurance options. My father said if something seems to good to be true, well then it probably isn't. That being said, all my insurance, 2 cars, RV, upscale manufactured home is with State Farm. I like and respect my agent, BUT, after reading the forum, I checked with Progressive and AARP / Hartford and my yearly savings will be $2,080. Wow, is this possible. Both Progressive and Hartford were very close in price.

Go with Hartford. Progressive raised my rates 60% my second year with no explanation, no claims, no tickets, same rig, etc.

Hartford, 2nd year after a claim for both front windshields, rates went up a total of $6.00! Also absolutely great to work with for the W/S claim! When I had Regressive, I had a heck of a time actually getting through to a real live person. Just my take from my experience!

[Mike and Cha]

I've had State Farm for over forty years, everything we own insured through them, and still today nobody has beat their rates when I have checked. Some have matched the price, or have been higher/lower on certain things but overall package was not beat. I guess you are saving a lot and it may be worth it, but who know what happens when you file a claim, or if they raise the rates drastically after the first year. I prefer to have a good history with State Farm, and they didn't raise our rates after a claim.

[Ramets]

I have no loyalty to an insurance co., I shop around every year. But for the last 4yrs. no-one has been able to beat Progressive. Especially when you add in the emergency roadside service rider for only $24yr. Our rate actually decreased this past renewal.

[smlranger]

Originally Posted by Mike and Cha

I've had State Farm for over forty years, everything we own insured through them, and still today nobody has beat their rates when I have checked. Some have matched the price, or have been higher/lower on certain things but overall package was not beat. I guess you are saving a lot and it may be worth it, but who know what happens when you file a claim, or if they raise the rates drastically after the first year. I prefer to have a good history with State Farm, and they didn't raise our rates after a claim.

I have had similar experience with State Farm. Been with them since 1967 and have off and on checked with GEICO and a few others and they really could not beat my State Farm rates. IMO the claims process has deteriorated over the years now that the agent plays essentially no role in claims, but I suspect that is the same with all of them.

[Triker56]

State Farm will not cover Full Time RV's.
If you think they do. You better check the small print on the policy.

They do pay out good on their customers that cause damage.
One backed into my MH and State Farm paid for my motel and a rented car while my MH was in shop being repaired.

[JMonroe]

Originally Posted by Triker56

State Farm will not cover Full Time RV's...

They will cover the RV. They don't sell full timer personal liability coverage.

[MisterT]

I'm an insurance agent working from my motorcoach fulltime, with my family, and a new technology startup(also for the insurance industry)...

I have my own vehicles and motorcoach with two separate insurers, even one that I don't even write within my own agency.
Many auto insurance companies don't cover 'full time' living because it requires different and additional coverages and policy wording. They make a choice as to whether they offer this or not - it may be a risk they don't understand well, or they just don't see enough business to justify it for them.

As to staying with a company long-term - very few companies offer additional benefits that transfer to long-term customers. I only know of several who provide a pass on your first at-fault accident rate increase if you have had the policy for more than a certain number of years, mostly a 5-10 year minimum. Some who promote this new policy benefit in current tv ads fail to mention that they charge extra for it. They also fail to mention that it only applies to the drivers who have been on the policy for long-term, not a new teen driver that just received their license, etc.

For claims, no company can deny a claim, or pay a claim 'better' just because you have had a policy with them for more than someone else. The laws don't allow cherry-picking or offering incentives for customer's to stay with them - everyone has to be treated the same. It may 'feel' sometimes like you are getting treated either better or worse than someone else, but companies don't look at your policy inception date to determine how to handle your claim... but, what we commoners don't realize is that many who have had a policy with a company long-term may actually have an older policy that has more generous benefits, or less claims restrictions, than newer policies.

I've told many of my customers over the many years that I've been in business that you can never 'compare' your policy, your premium, your company, or your perception of your claims payment by what your neighbor has or their experience with even the same company.

I offer the analogy - your electricity bill.
These should be simple to understand, right? But it's not that easy of a comparison many times to your neighbor, even though it would seem that a similar house, of similar size, would draw about the same bill per month. But, no, it's not the case. You run the a/c units at 68, they at 74. Your kids leave the backdoor open when you're not home. The neighbor has no kids. The neighbors are also away from home alot and don't run the a/c when not there. They have gas heat, you have all electric.

Insurance also seems like an easy comparison, but there are just way too many life variables to easily compare with the neighbors.
The only way to know is to compare insurers, and there are a LOT of them out there - don't just ring up the ones who spend billions on the tv.

: )

[Dutch Star Don]

"KAMPURR".....When I first started driving, my parents had State Farm. Once I was old enough to need my own insurance, I also went with the family agent and got State Farm. I continued with State Farm for 25 years, until my two daughters started driving. I knew the prices would increase, but every six months, with no accidents or tickets the prices went up substantially. After the second increase, I called my agent and he said it should stabilize. Next premium, up again.

I started talking to some friends we camp with and they brought up a good point. Times have changed and you really don't have agents like you did in the old days. They said insurance companies will never be loyal to you, so why be loyal to them.

I started shopping around and found that the Auto Club, a non profit agency, had substantially better prices for the same coverage. I left State Farm and went with the Auto Club. My State Farm agent never called or asked why I changed, which kind of confirmed the loyalty issue.

I check rates now every few years and will go with the company that provides the best prices. So far, Auto Club is still the best deal for me.

So.......you have others here that get good prices from State Farm, wile others don't. As you read insurance posts on the forum, you'll see there is often no rhyme or reason to price variances.

My advice is to shop and get the best price. In this day and age, all the legalities and what you're receiving as coverage is spelled out and is the same with everyone. You're not really going to get any special treatment because you've been a member of one company or another for X amount of years. In this day and age, it's all about profit.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by KAMPURR

Time to do a review and check my insurance options. My father said if something seems to good to be true, well then it probably isn't. That being said, all my insurance, 2 cars, RV, upscale manufactured home is with State Farm. I like and respect my agent, BUT, after reading the forum, I checked with Progressive and AARP / Hartford and my yearly savings will be $2,080. Wow, is this possible. Both Progressive and Hartford were very close in price.

That's what I found just a few days ago too. Went from Allied at over $4,000 for next year to Hartford through AARP and paid $2,200 or so and slightly higher limits.
Just waiting for the policy documents to get here in the next few days.

[Mike and Cha]

Originally Posted by Triker56

State Farm will not cover Full Time RV's.
If you think they do. You better check the small print on the policy.

They do pay out good on their customers that cause damage.
One backed into my MH and State Farm paid for my motel and a rented car while my MH was in shop being repaired.

Well I'm not a full timer, so no need to read the "small print"....I know that I'm covered well, with an old school agent who does the job the old way. One way an Agent can still help you in today's world is to recommend different coverages that may be only a few dollars a year but make a big difference if you ever need to use it. I have two houses, the MH and several cars, as well as an Umbrella Policy with them. Half my family works for AAA, and my Son is in the Insurance Division, he checked our State Farm policies and all our coverages way exceed what is required, and they could not match the rates for the coverage we have in our case.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Went from Allied at over $4,000 for next year to Hartford through AARP and paid $2,200 or so and slightly higher limits.

This is a good example of what MisterT described re the futility of comparing rates with other people. I changed TO Allied last year and saved $300. And my total premium is only $870 for broad coverage on a nice coach, nowhere near $4000. Of course, it's probably not an apples-to-apples comparison, but you can't just say "go with Progressive" or "go with Hartford" for a better rate.

By the way, I left AARP/Hartford several years back because I got better coverage elsewhere for less money, on both my cars and the coach. That doesn't mean I wouldn't go back, and I still get a quote from them when I shop around every couple years. But rate tables change, and so do personal situations that affect rates, so you should do your homework and avoid getting "married" to just one insurer.

[MSHappyCampers]

It does pay to shop around, at least every couple of years! At one time we used an independent agency for all our insurance, and just didn't bother to shop because we trusted him and thought he was getting us the best deals. WRONG!

The agent died and we decided to shop around. I was amazed at how much we saved!