Car Insurance-Any Company I should Avoid?

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I'm looking to switch my car insurance provider because my current rate is ridiculous! I'm looking at All State, Geico, and Progressive. Have any of you used them and had a bad experience? Anyone else I should consider? I want good coverage, not bare bones to meet state requirements. Thanks!

 

[dawson5]

My husband has dealt with safe auto before, that is one company he would avoid like the plague. We have conflicting views on Erie. He is the fixed operations director for a dealership. From his viewpoint, they are good to deal with and make sure the person is fully happy with their repair. My neighbor's nephew was hit by someone with Erie. He was leaving school, following the lanes properly and was hit by a girl cutting across the lanes. They tried finding him 50% at fault. I don't know whatever became of that though. He deals with State Farm and Progressive quite a bit. He has no issues with SF, it's a crap shoot with Progressive.

 

[jmartinez1895]

My mom had Geico for a long time and loved them.....untill she had to file a claim. She said they did everything they could to not have to pay out and she had never had any cliam's before. She uses State Farm now and loves them. My husband and I have our home and autos with Alfa and have had to make 2 claims in the past 7 years and they where great about it.

 

[SFWife]

Progressive. I have tried them twice and had the same issue both times. Each time I got a quote, then when I paid the initial payment, the next payments increased everytime over what the original quote was. Both times I was given the excuse that there were additional fees and surcharges that were originally left off my quote. The first time my premium increased about 150.00 over 6 months, the second time it was over 300.00. Never ever will I use them again.

Do you have a credit union? We use USAA and have our insurance through them, and its much cheaper than any of those companies out there. We pay 625 every six months to insure 2 vehicles plus renters insurance.

 

[malissa.robison]

I have an auto insurance policy from the AARP Auto Insurance Program from The Hartford. Their insurance rates have always been affordable. Last year when we had to make a claim on our policy, they were so easy to deal with.
You’ll find it easy to compare auto insurance quotes by using online quote providers.

 

[NYEmomma]

We have USAA insurance and had our car totaled by a driver with Progressive insurance.

We chose to go through the at-fault driver's insurance because we were told it was 6 of one, half dozen of another. BAD IDEA. We had an absolutely horrible experience with them and were treated really unfairly.

We ended up going back to USAA and doing everything through them instead. They gave us wrong info a couple of times (including that it would be just as easy to go through Progressive to settle everything, lol!) but we were treated more than fairly by them.

 

[scrapquitler]

If you own a home, consider having both your auto insurance and your homeowners thru the same company, you can generally get a discount if you do that (and you can then buy an umbrella policy, which is a good idea)

If you belong to AAA, check with them for your auto (and homeowners or renters insurance), they use different companies in different places, but usually offer a discount of some sort.

Our insurance (auto, homeowners on 2 houses, and umbrella policy) are with Travellers, purchased thru AAA. Over the years we have had one homeowners claim and one auto claim, and they were great to deal with (fast to cut us a check, friendly and helpful).

 

[NaLisa]

I switched from State Farm to Allstate years ago. DH and I combined all our policies and get great rates. I don't know if the reputation is truly deserved or not, but I was afraid to file a claim with State Farm because I often heard they'd cancel you in a heartbeat. Lived with a big dent in the back fender of my car (my fault, single car, backed into a pole in parking lot) for years because I feared getting cancelled. When MIL filed a claim with State Farm after her home was burglarized, they cancelled her after paying the claim.

I've filed one claim with with Allstate, when tired blew on interstate and did damage all down left side of car. No problems with claim and it was all handled quickly.

 

[stczt]

We have AAA and we had a baseball go through our window Friday evening, we got hold of them and its covered no deductible or rate raise. Well window company don't want to come out on weekend so we call the insurance company to see what our options are and they are CLOSED! So if you have a accident or anything happen that's not 9-5 Monday - Friday your up a creek. I'm calling around now for quotes.

 

[daughtersrus]

I switched from State Farm to Allstate years ago. DH and I combined all our policies and get great rates. I don't know if the reputation is truly deserved or not, but I was afraid to file a claim with State Farm because I often heard they'd cancel you in a heartbeat. Lived with a big dent in the back fender of my car (my fault, single car, backed into a pole in parking lot) for years because I feared getting cancelled. When MIL filed a claim with State Farm after her home was burglarized, they cancelled her after paying the claim.

I've filed one claim with with Allstate, when tired blew on interstate and did damage all down left side of car. No problems with claim and it was all handled quickly.

This kind of surprises me. We've had State Farm for many years. About 3 years ago, we filed a claim with our homeowners for hail damage to our house. They replaced all of our siding and a new roof (including removing the old shingles) for our $500.00 deductible. In total, they paid out over $12,000. We were not dropped and our rates were not raised because of the repair but have gone up to keep up with costs.

DD was in an accident that was her fault. They paid the costs for the other car (nothing happened to DD's car) but did remove her "Steer Clear" discount but not the Accident Free discount.

 

[NaLisa]

This kind of surprises me. We've had State Farm for many years. About 3 years ago, we filed a claim with our homeowners for hail damage to our house. They replaced all of our siding and a new roof (including removing the old shingles) for our $500.00 deductible. In total, they paid out over $12,000. We were not dropped and our rates were not raised because of the repair but have gone up to keep up with costs.

DD was in an accident that was her fault. They paid the costs for the other car (nothing happened to DD's car) but did remove her "Steer Clear" discount but not the Accident Free discount.

May not be any truth to my perception that State Farm is quick to cancel, but it was just something I heard numerous times over the years. My mom has been with State Farm and the same agent for eons, but I don't think she's ever filed a claim. Glad to hear you had good experiences filing claims with them.

 

[girli565]

Do you have to be in the military to be able to join USAA?

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

My family has had Allstate for years and we have never had any issues with them. Even when I was a teenager and after having two cars accidents that were my fault, Allstate still didn't cancel my parents account. They didn't raise our rates too much after the car accidents either and it didn't take long for the rates to go back down.

 

[MsDunny]

State Farm dropped my husband and me after his family had been with them for 20-25 years. We had had no claims - we were newly married and our credit score wasn't great. That is the only reason we could figure that they dropped us. Not a company I would go back to, just for that reason.

 

[Kies99]

We have Erie for everything and couldn't be more happy. Have had them for years. While we haven't had to use them with anything related to the car other than chips in the winshield (I'm knocking like crazy on wood right now), we did have a large tree come down through our dining room window. They were out within hours and we had a check within a couple of day once we had estimates on repairs.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

We have USAA insurance and had our car totaled by a driver with Progressive insurance.

We chose to go through the at-fault driver's insurance because we were told it was 6 of one, half dozen of another. BAD IDEA. We had an absolutely horrible experience with them and were treated really unfairly.

We ended up going back to USAA and doing everything through them instead. They gave us wrong info a couple of times (including that it would be just as easy to go through Progressive to settle everything, lol!) but we were treated more than fairly by them.

My brother is having a similar issue where the at-fault driver was insured by Progressive. He and his passenger were injured and Progressive wants them to settle for a ridiculously low amount. He had to get a lawyer involved.

Right now, we're using MetLife. Have both our car and home insurance there and got added discounts from my husband's employer and by having our premiums come out of his paycheck. I'm in the process of filing my first claim with them (hail damage--ugh) so we'll see how that goes!

 

[Trish Bessette]

State Farm

 

[Swimalie]

Do you have to be in the military to be able to join USAA?

They keep changing the qualifications but I think the latest is that you have to be current or former military to get membership. I have it as a dependent from my dad (Army Officer) and then with my husband (Naval Officer). Once you get it, you always have it, too.

 

[RitaE]

Progressive. I have tried them twice and had the same issue both times. Each time I got a quote, then when I paid the initial payment, the next payments increased everytime over what the original quote was. Both times I was given the excuse that there were additional fees and surcharges that were originally left off my quote. The first time my premium increased about 150.00 over 6 months, the second time it was over 300.00. Never ever will I use them again.

That is exactly what I was going to say about Progressive. They gave me a quote and I switched. Then they sent a letter saying they wanted proof of our alarm system. I had the window sticker and paperwork from when we bought the car so I photocopied them and mailed it in. Then they sent me the exact same letter. I called and they said they needed some kind of "official" paperwork. I had nothing else. I offered to drive the car over to one of their offices and let an employee SEE my alarm system.

No ... then they started sending me bills with all these other fees etc. I paid the current month's bill and switched to Geico. A little higher quote but no problems with Geico.

Long story, but it was ridiculous.

We did have Allstate but when our oldest son started driving at 16 our rates skyrocketed well beyond other companies quotes and they would not work with us at all to get it reasonable. It made me really pissy because we were long, long time customers of theirs both house and auto and had never made one single claim. So then we switched and they started a mass campaign of "We Want You Back!!!" I'm still kind of annoyed with them but maybe I should shop them again.

 

[SandrA9810]

My ex has State Farm, which she got when she was 16 and first started driving from her parent's policy. I believe they dropped SF when they moved out of state. She still has the same coverage, but she's never filed a claim. The rates continue to go down each year. Mainly because she's in her 20's, and never a claim.

When we got a car, we went with AAA. I knew I wanted AAA roadside service, and factored that into my total. Of course no claims with them either, but they were 3x cheaper than the quote I received from a hole in the wall insurance company. Which were charging ridiculous fees for monthly payments and other BS. This was a quote for basic state coverage, what I got with AAA was a hundred times better.

I believe my aunt has Hartford through AARP. She switched to them after being with Allstate in Florida. She used Hartford for her car and renter's insurance, and now uses them for her home owners insurance. She says she's happy about switch.
Almost all insurance companies offer discounts