Pros and cons of different insurance companies

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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 07:55 PM
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Pros and cons of different insurance companies

Quick question.

Two months ago when I bought my car, I paid $576 for 6 months up front of full coverage with Progressive.

Recently, I got a quote from Geico for only $372 for 6 months of full coverage, same exact coverage as I currently have with Progressive - why the $200 difference? Am I missing something here?
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:09 PM
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i've always had geico. my friend has progressive and they are giving him crap for fixing his car which is in the body shop right now. he had to argue with them about replacing tires on an AWD STi (they only wanted to replace one tire, then 3...etc...suppose to do all 4!).

anytime i've dealt with geico...no issues. no arguing...they always work with me to get my car right. and they are really into making sure customer service is at it's best (love those surveys!). you getting the same discounts?
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by TLtrigirl


i've always had geico. my friend has progressive and they are giving him crap for fixing his car which is in the body shop right now. he had to argue with them about replacing tires on an AWD STi (they only wanted to replace one tire, then 3...etc...suppose to do all 4!).

anytime i've dealt with geico...no issues. no arguing...they always work with me to get my car right. and they are really into making sure customer service is at it's best (love those surveys!). you getting the same discounts?
Nope, this was with 0 discounts on Geico. With Progressive, I have a few different discounts that I get - 5 years of safe driving, multi policy discount, motorcycle safety course discount, and a couple others. This was my flat line rate after they ran my insurance and everything with Geico. I have never had to file an insurance claim before so I can't speak on behalf of Progressive. The times that i have talked to them on the phone, it has been very pleasant and they seem that they care a lot about maintaining superb customer service.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:19 PM
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well progressive is trying to keep you as a customer. not sure what will happen if you file a claim. i've got a mess of discounts with geico and i insure two cars with them. i pay more for the TL than i do the MDX, same level of coverage. i've had claims, but none were my fault (one was mother nature, the other was the tow company, and one mech. breakdown claim, only other was on another geico customer's policy-they hit me).
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:24 PM
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7year progressive member here.
the rates are good because they try to fuck you when you really need them.
As soon as my car is fixed, I'm switching to a better customer service experience.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:26 PM
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Originally Posted by justnspace
7year progressive member here.
the rates are good because they try to fuck you when you really need them.
As soon as my car is fixed, I'm switching to a better customer service experience.
Geico is $200 cheaper
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by justnspace
7year progressive member here.
the rates are good because they try to fuck you when you really need them.
As soon as my car is fixed, I'm switching to a better customer service experience.
i thought you had progressive. they are screwing my friend over too.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted by TLtrigirl
i thought you had progressive. they are screwing my friend over too.
I dont know if this is true but I heard that Progressive isnt a top tiered company.
I dont know what that means butt, it sounds serious.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:38 PM
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Geico ftw!
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:56 PM
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21st century. excellent service excellent pricing, but you have to be a superb risk or you wont get coverage
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 08:58 PM
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For those of you with Geico, do you own a radar detector? I hear there is a checkbox related to owning a radar detector you must fill out that has a big bearing on your rates.

I haven't had Geico before mostly because I own a radar detector and have found better rates elsewhere. I have had the following:

State Farm - great agent access but costly

21st Century - reduced rates from StateFarm but gets very anal about teen drivers in the family based on my past history being a teen driver myself once upon a time. I did not want to have that hassle again as my daughter turns 15 this month- that's when things started happening with my Dad a long time ago.

Progressive - I have a tent trailer insured with them. Never had a claim and I like their web site and bill paying mechanism. They seem to use technology the best although I got an automated phone call yesterday reminding me of my policy term ending today in which I paid via Web on Sunday.

Ameriprise (via Costco) - saved a few hundred dollars from 21st Century coverage of 20 years with even higher coverage. Only nit I have is the one time I wanted to talk to them was ironically this past Sunday and there is nobody to talk to- had to wait until Monday (yesterday) to get my question answered. Makes me wonder what happens if you have an accident on a Sunday? Anyway not a deal breaker for me but I thought I would share that with you.

For homeowners, it makes sense to lump the auto with home policies for extra savings.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 10:32 PM
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Have had Amica for the last 4 years.... although I hate the fact that they keep raising the premium though my record has been spot clean... Geico quoted me competitive rates and I might switch to them if Amica raises rates again...
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 10:39 PM
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i just switched to Geico from Allstate saving me a little over 120 for the same coverage + rental if i needed..
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 10:44 PM
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Anyone have AAA? I have a Ducati 1098 scion xb and the TL for around 1600 for the year is that good??no tickets and a hundred dollar deductable.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 10:48 PM
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i've had state farm for the past 10 years and have no complaints. when i totaled my RSX-S, they covered everything no questions asked. on my TL, I pay $428 every 6 months, full coverage, 500 deductible with glass coverage and rental.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 11:01 PM
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I have state farm and when somebody rear ended me they had me bring my car to a shop which determined it was totaled. Even without having the police report they cut me a check for my car (a very fair amount I might add) within the week, about 3 months later they also sent me a check for my deductible after finally getting the police report and determined I was not at fault.

I have a cousin, same story but with gieco, they said they have to wait for the police report before they can do anything. Sucks because depending on what department the report can take a long time to get.
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Old Apr 3, 2012 | 11:22 PM
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I switched to Travelers from Allstate. I already had pretty good coverage with Allstate, but I got even better from Travelers and saved $960/year. I now have an additional car with full coverage and renter's insurance for the same price that I was paying Allstate just to insure my TL.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 07:22 AM
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Originally Posted by LaCostaRacer
For those of you with Geico, do you own a radar detector? I hear there is a checkbox related to owning a radar detector you must fill out that has a big bearing on your rates.

I haven't had Geico before mostly because I own a radar detector and have found better rates elsewhere.
.
no radar detectors allowed in VA

honestly if i was able to run one...why would i tell them i had a radar detector? same deal with the aftermarket goodies...
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 07:36 AM
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I switched to State Farm the other year because they had the lowest quote for the coverage I wanted. I was a little surprised they had the lowest rate, but that was just how it worked out. My suggestion would be to get quotes every 3-5 years. You never know. But don't bother with Progressive, they are a substandard insurer. Even if you're not a substandard driver, it can potentially hurt you being with a company that insures substandard drivers.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 07:38 AM
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Originally Posted by chill_dog
I switched to State Farm the other year because they had the lowest quote for the coverage I wanted. I was a little surprised they had the lowest rate, but that was just how it worked out. My suggestion would be to get quotes every 3-5 years. You never know. But don't bother with Progressive, they are a substandard insurer. Even if you're not a substandard driver, it can potentially hurt you being with a company that insures substandard drivers.
thats what I was getting at in my post.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 08:34 AM
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Progressive gave me the lowest quote last year and dropped my rate by 40 dollars this year. I currently pay 70$ a month. I would love to go back to geico but they hiked my rates up a few hundred dollars out of nowhere.

I was with progressive web I first started driving and their claims adjusters are fair and polite. Dot have a problem at all.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 08:44 AM
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Originally Posted by chill_dog
I switched to State Farm the other year because they had the lowest quote for the coverage I wanted. I was a little surprised they had the lowest rate, but that was just how it worked out. My suggestion would be to get quotes every 3-5 years. You never know. But don't bother with Progressive, they are a substandard insurer. Even if you're not a substandard driver, it can potentially hurt you being with a company that insures substandard drivers.
Well said.

I usually re-evaluate our insurance every couple of years. We had Allstate, then switched to Nationwide, and are now on Kemper. Basically every couple of years or so I reach out to a bunch of providers and brokers... send them my declaration pages for our current home and auto, ask for bids... then go from there. I will give my current provider a chance to match if they're high, and if they can't or don't, we change. If they are better then the others, we stay for the time being...
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:07 AM
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Have had Amica for the last 4 years.... although I hate the fact that they keep raising the premium though my record has been spot clean...
Same with me. They also do 1 year policies in FL. Only company I found that does that. 21st Century was a lot cheaper when I shopped. Until they saw the claim I had that was 6 months before drop off. They refused to honor the lower price & jacked it way up.
I may try them again when I renew in June. The claim was dropped off.
I had Progressive, Allstate, State Farm. They are are the same racket to me. I go where it's cheaper. I left places because of rate increases for no reason on my part.

Florida is hard too because insurers refuse to write policies in FL because of claims hurricanes, high theft etc. The ones that do jack up rates.
No reason I should be paying what I pay for 2 cars & no tickets & only 1 claim in 5 years.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by JJH
Recently, I got a quote from Geico for only $372 for 6 months of full coverage, same exact coverage as I currently have with Progressive - why the $200 difference?
15 minutes could save you 15% or more!




For me, Geico is more expensive than Progressive, Farmers, All State, et al. Not sure why.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:14 AM
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Geico! I switch back and forth between Geico and Progressive all the time, depending who's cheaper with the same coverage and deductible. Never had a claim against any of them so have no idea how good or bad they are on handling claims.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:22 AM
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I work with all insurance companies on a daily basis. I fucking hate Geico with a passion. They are the cheapest because they will do everything in their power to put the cheapest aftermarket parts on your car. Their claim adjusters (estimators) are dumb as shit and know nothing about cars. I could go on and on..

IMO USAA in the best company out there to deal with and they generally only use OEM parts.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:24 AM
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Originally Posted by socal3
Anyone have AAA? I have a Ducati 1098 scion xb and the TL for around 1600 for the year is that good??no tickets and a hundred dollar deductable.

We are also insured through AAA (Auto Club of Southern California) for the vehicles and house, with a $250 deductible on the cars. The rates are better than other insurers' every time we check, and service is great (comp claims; no charged accidents so far ).
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:34 AM
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Esurance

has been awesome, yes I was worried initially. I got into a $45K accident 7 days after switching over to them. I wasn't at fault but the other insurer didn't have adequate coverage so Esurance had to dish out the money up front. They paid in full and even waived my deductible since that is suppose to be covered on the back end by the at fault person.

They have been great and much cheaper than my prior insurers of Geico and Progressive
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 12:05 PM
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Originally Posted by socal3
Anyone have AAA? I have a Ducati 1098 scion xb and the TL for around 1600 for the year is that good??no tickets and a hundred dollar deductable.
I have AAA also... If you increase ur deductible ($500 or $1000) you can lower your premium. worth a shot lol
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 01:29 PM
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I had Allstate for several years til I changed to State Farm 2 years ago. I pay like $550 / 6 months. It's pretty cheap considering my car is a rice rocket.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 01:35 PM
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I've been with geico for over 9 years now with zero issues. Both claims I've made over the years were handled quickly and everything was covered.

Every 2 years or so I always shop around for a better price and Geico always beats everyone else out. I can never find cheaper coverage than I have now.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 01:41 PM
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 02:43 PM
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We've had state farm for about 12 years now and we have everything except life ins. with them.

We have 100k property and something like 250/500 medical etc on each of the cars and low deductibles and pay about $400 for two cars and 5-550 for another. We also have home owners, umbrella and jewelry ryders with them too, so we get a pretty decent price.

But i agree, shopping around to save money is the key.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 02:58 PM
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U won't regret state farm!! I too wrecked an rsx-s, and state farm was fine to work with.. They really hooked me up!! Plus....

The auto shop said my car would be finished in a month.. Then it was two months, then three months...3.5 months later I got my car. I had stayed in contact with SF letting them know I was getting angry.. When I got it back and called them to tell them it was on the road again, they gave me 6months free insurance.. I didn't even ask them!!! They just offered it..

Plus.. I wrecked that car by myself into a tree flying around like an idiot! I destroyed these people's yard and SF paid for that too! They never asked me more than three questions about what happened.

For some reason I got geico years later, prob to save money.. My windshield cracked about ft long crack.. Called geicko and they practically hired a private investigator. They interrogated me, made me feel like I was doing something wrong, and made me use a shit windshield that still fogs up every time it drizzles... I got a TL a few monthsnagonand never thought twice about state farm..
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 03:33 PM
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As I said it's a racket. What service you get & what you pay even from the same company is dependent on where you live.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 03:40 PM
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One of the things i check too is their credit rating. Normally i stay with an A- or higher. I don't know where these other companies rank.


Also, the wife wants to get a doberman in the future and some companies don't issue a policy if you have certain dogs and SF is ok with them.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 03:43 PM
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When we lived in nj and pa we had amica for both homeowners and auto insurance. They were excellent for our claims. They included deer hits and tree damage to the house. When we moved to nc we found amica does not offer homeowners insurance. We then went with farm bureau. Homeowners and 2 car discount.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted by socal3
Anyone have AAA? I have a Ducati 1098 scion xb and the TL for around 1600 for the year is that good??no tickets and a hundred dollar deductable.
My dad's had AAA for 20+ years. They are one of the easiest/ most relaxed companies to deal with during claims. It's so convenient.

I recently had to deal with Infinity insurance when my 2g TL got hit. It took them a month and a half just get my car into the shop and get a rental. I knew the body shop owner and he kept calling me because they hadn't received a payment yet. They paid him nearly 8 months later.

Anyways, the owner mentioned that Progressive/Geico were some of the worst to deal with.
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 10:30 PM
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Originally Posted by TLtrigirl
no radar detectors allowed in VA

honestly if i was able to run one...why would i tell them i had a radar detector? same deal with the aftermarket goodies...
Then you don't have a decision to make in answering the question.

In CA, it's perfectly legal to have a detector and that's where things can be sticky. If you answer false and get into an accident and you have a detector, the insurance company could void your coverage. I would prefer not to have to answer/lie to this type of question- so no Geico for me.

I guess a good follow up question is: How many Geico customers are lying on the radar detector question?
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Old Apr 4, 2012 | 11:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Maker
I work with all insurance companies on a daily basis. I fucking hate Geico with a passion. They are the cheapest because they will do everything in their power to put the cheapest aftermarket parts on your car. Their claim adjusters (estimators) are dumb as shit and know nothing about cars. I could go on and on..

IMO USAA in the best company out there to deal with and they generally only use OEM parts.
No wonder they gave me the cheapest rate out of all the other companies.
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