car insurance recommendations

[PA Princess]

We are shopping around for a new car insurance carrier. We have used the same carrier for 15 years, carrying multiple coverages including life and house. For various reasons we will no longer be using this company for other insurances, and the auto rate quoted now seems rather high.

I am looking for your experience with companies. I am intriguied by the low cost car insurance companies, but I am concerned about having hassles if we ever need to use the insurance.

What is your experience? Do the cheaper companies provide just as good service? Do you have a tried and true company you swear by for car insurance?

BTW we do have clean records with no accidents or tickets in the last 10 years, and while we do not currently have teen drivers, our boys are 14 and 13 and so that will be in our not so distant future.

Any and all feedback and experience are welcome - thank you!

 

[stczt]

We use AAA for both Home and Auto, they seem to be cheaper and are always helpful when we call. We carry higher car ins. We carry a lot of kids, so I like to be very covered.

 

[kingcrab]

two words:

State Farm

never had a problem with a claim or service.

My wife works for an major insurance company, and even with the discounts they offer employees we stay with State Farm.

Talking with her, the cheapo insurance companies cannot be depended on for claims, etc, They try to weasel out of paying their share one way or another.

good luck with your choice.

 

[ybcart7]

Since you are from PA - ERIE is a great company and they are a PA based company also!!

 

[stacy2197]

We have State Farm and never have a problem filing a claim. I hit a deer with my 1998 van about 6 months ago. I was thinking they would total it out which I soo didn't want. I know it woudn't have been worth a whole lot. Instead they said don't worry about it we'll fix it. gave me a list of a bunch of places they deal with. We picked the one we wanted and they billed the insurance over 3000 dollars. I didn't have to pay nothing or deal with getting a check from the insurance and then paying the garage. We could have picked anyone to do the repairs but would have had to get the check from the insurance and pay ourselves. I think they do it this way cause the places they pick have loaner cars instead of them having to pay for a rental. We've had a few other claims and it has always been simple. With all the claims we have had they have never threatened to cancel us. We've never found anyplace for cheaper either.

 

[VAN]

Find yourself a good independent insurance agent and work with them. I have one that is knowledgeable about discounts such as home/car together, credit union member discounts, AARP discounts, etc.

They have access to multiple insurance companies and are always happy to price check for me based on my individual needs.

 

[beccasmom]

Another vote for Erie - we've had them for many years for car and house insurance. They are only available in a handful of states. We have had 0 issues with them and we recommend them highly.

 

[Golf4food]

Check with a few of them. You know all the bigger names: State Farm, Allstate, Geico, Progressive, etc. Also look for some smaller ones that have high ratings. We use Amica Mutual and they're great. Mutual companies are sometimes a better option because they are not stock companies (ie they don't answer to a board of investors). With the really low cost companies just beware that if their rates are a lot lower than your other quotes that should be a red flag - just like you can buy a "real" Gucci bag for cheap off the streets in New York... Rates are heavily regulated by the states, so if a company has really low rates, they are probably cutting back on something like customer service, etc.

 

[dreams91]

We use AAA for both Home and Auto, they seem to be cheaper and are always helpful when we call. We carry higher car ins. We carry a lot of kids, so I like to be very covered.

I saved a lot of money switching to AAA. We also recently filed 2 claims with them (neither our fault) and they were both settled in less than one week Granted, each claim was only about $1000, but i had check in hand in about a week.

 

[PA Princess]

Thanks so much for all of the advice everyone! I had not even thought about Erie, but I will look into that company.

I have a quote from Progressive I really like - anyone use this company?

An independent insurance salesperson is unheard of to me...they all have affiliations from my experience. I will check the phone book and see what I find!

Thanks again!

 

[goofydebi]

just got a new policy today, my son has always been on my insurance, with the truck in my name. he got a new one today and State Farm let us "transfer" my policy to him and let him keep the multiple car, safe driver, steer clear, etc discounts. He is 21 so insurance is still really high but I wanted him off my insurance and on his own just in case of a lawsuit, like my friend is going through with her son now. My son still lives at home so he doesn't have anything anyone can get. I'm sure we could get a cheaper policy somewhere else, but have never had any problems with State Farm.

 

[Melrosgirl]

Find yourself a good independent insurance agent and work with them. I have one that is knowledgeable about discounts such as home/car together, credit union member discounts, AARP discounts, etc.

They have access to multiple insurance companies and are always happy to price check for me based on my individual needs.

Totally agree with this. We use an insurance "broker" and he has access to many companies. The company that has the best rates for our needs is Cincinnati Insurance. (We do not live in Ohio.) We've had two claims and have never had any issues.

Brokers can search through all the companies and find you the best rates.