Car Insurance?? who's the best/cheapest

[djbleach]

I think Best and Cheapest usually is not in the same sentuce. We have Nationwide and for 3 older cars/suv (01 avalon, 02 sequoia, 05 camry) they want $1800 a year. Coverage is middle grade 100/100/300.
We are accident free. Have had them for 10 years and also do Home Insurance thru them.
Am I crazy for thinking this is High? I called them to try and see what the difference is in the 50/50/100
Oh yeah, I do the $500 deductable to try and lower the premium.
We live In Virginia
Our credit score is Outstanding. No debt. I just think it sucks that it seems harder and harder to stay on top of the water and Big Corporations are paying big $$ to CEO's etc.
I'm just looking for fairness. Is it out there?

Anybody shopped around lately and found out who offers great rates and are reputable?
Thanks for any help.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We had Erie Insurance in Ohio and had great coverage at a low cost. Erie doesn't offer coverage in KY so we are now with Liberty Mutual. LM gave us a cheap initial quote, but after the first year the rates went up about 5% on the auto side and 25% on the homeowners side with no claims. I guess we're paying for their commercials now.

 

[pixiewings71]

Ya, that seems high, we have 3 cars, an '02 Neon, 05 Grand Caravan, 09 Kia Spectra, 2 drivers, same basic coverage and we will be paying just at $2k a year. That's w/full coverage on the 05 and 09 because they are financed. IIRC DBF said it will be about $2200 a year with all 3 cars. We have AAA and we have our home owners with them as well.

 

[natenapril]

Are you eligible for USAA? We have used them for about 10 years now and love them

 

[Swimalie]

Are you eligible for USAA? We have used them for about 10 years now and love them

I'll second that. USAA is the best. I've had them for 22 years now and know I never have to look anywhere else.

 

[windycitymom]

We saved $600 a year when switching from Met Life Home/auto to AAA

 

[Big Kahuna]

Interesting question... Sit down awhile and let me tell ya my story. Grew up in a family that had a good neighbor as a Nationwide agent. Everyone in the family was nationwide for 20 plus years...... As my brother and I moved away after college, we relocated and were given new agents near our homes. After a few years of me being a gypsy due to my "traveling job" I end up done with that aspect of my job and living within 20 minutes of my brother. We get the same agent. After two years, he calls his clients and says he had enough of Nationwide and how they treat both their customers with the "preferred network stuff", and how they treat agents. (I can tell ya more personal experience through an PM on Nationwide) He tells us he is going independent and we stay with him. 10 years later, my coverage has doubled, I have had two different insurance companies he set me up with(he sells about 15 companies now) and I still do not pay as much as when I left Nationwide with two cars and a home. I now have 3 vehicles ( 2 cars 2001 and 2009) and a truck (2008) , a RV trailer, ATV, a boat and the home.

So if you stayed this far with me, my advice is check out the independent agents instead of the companies. You may be surprised. Instead of working for the company, he works for me. My experience is that if you are with the same insurance company for more than 5 years, you need to get another opinion and shop around.

 

[deerhart]

it is very hard to compare insurance between people as there are SOO many variables.

Things like how many miles you put on your cars each year, commute to work, location the vehicle is parked at, age of drivers, record of drivers, types of cars etc..

We pay roughly $550 every 6 months for 2 vehicles (07 hhr and a 05 sebring convertible) for 2 adults in our 30's. No tickets on licenses at the moment, one major accident in the last 2 years (determined not to be our fault by insurance, but in litigation), we commute 30+ miles round trip each day and I average 21k+ miles per year on my car, 1k deductible 100/100/300, full coverage, no car rental, no roadside.

My hhr is one of the lowest insured car types out there and the sebring is either in the same category or 1 up

 

[moongirl]

We just went through this process with a financial planner who looked at all of our insurance coverage as part of the planning process. A couple of things to think about:

1) If you increase your deductible to $1000 that will save you a lot of money. If you had an accident and had $1000 worth of damage to your car, would you really put the claim in or pay the $1000? This would be $500 more than your current deductible. We decided that the increase in premiums a claim would cause would be far more than the extra $500 (it was $750 in our case).

2) Get quotes from several different agents. We got quotes from our original agent (Allstate) with increased deductibles for our homeowners (increased to $1000 also) and our auto. We also got a quote from an independent agent and from Liberty Mutual. The Liberty Mutual auto quote was half the Allstate quote and about 75% of the independent agent quote. The homeowners was also quite a bit less. We compared apples to apples with each agency. I was utterly shocked that we were able to decrease our auto insurance payment by 50%. The Liberty Mutual agency had a deal with my husband's employer that gave us an additional 20% discount.

3) The liability limits were not that costly to increase if we so chose. The deductible was the big money item.

4) Liberty Mutual was recommended by several trustworthy people we knew so we felt good about dealing with them. I don't know if we could have chosen company XYZ if we did not have a strong recommendation from people we trusted to go with them.

Good luck!

 

[dfchelbay]

We started out many years ago with Liberty Mutual. Every year the premiums went higher and higher and higher. So, we left them and went to Citizens for a better rate for the same coverage. Well, with them, all was alright, except for the agent...she lied about things, etc., so we weren't happy with them and left aftetr just one year. It was because of HER, and not the company. When we purchased our Motor Coach, the dealership had all sorts of information and pamphlets from GMAC for motorhome coverage. Well, I called them, and boy was I surprised at how great a deal I got with them.

More coverage, for far less money. Paid less for three cars AND the motorhome with GMAC, than with the other company fro just the cars. You get GM car ownership discount, Onstar Discount, low mileage discount, etc. They also provide multi line discount with their homeowners insurance. I would give them a call. You may be pleasantly surprised with a lower premium.

 

[branv]

We went through Costco who uses Ameriprise (who in turn goes through someone else).

We insure a 2008 Accord and 2000 Civic, $500 deductible, same coverage you mentioned, roadside assistance: approx $1150/yr.

We are two 30-somethings, no dependents, no accidents in 10+ years, no tickets on record, good credit, DH commutes about 60 miles a day.

 

[dd50]

It pays to shop around every time you are up for renewal. That also goes for homeowners insurance.

 

[DebMcDonald]

I'm a long term Amica insured and very very happy with them. Sometimes it's not always about the premium, but your relationship with them. I have heard of people hoping year to year for better insurance and then they have an accident and all of a sudden find themselves without insurance because they were dropped because of that claim.

 

[Muushka]

The best insurance, Amica. But they are not the cheapest. There are some things that I will not cut back on. Good shoes (my feet are important!) and insurance are two that I can think of.

They do have ratings of insurance on the internet. Amica consistently did the best. Not sure where they are on the list now, but I am sure they are still high on the list.

 

[Dziactor]

I'm an insurance agent in New Mexico and I have to say just shop around. I'm an independent agent (I mostly handle commercial insurance but, our company does everything). Rates vary by company on many different factors (Age, Credit, Zip Code, etc) and you could end up saving a ton just by looking around. I would call everyone from the captives like Farmers and Allstate to different brokers that have various companies. Make sure you compare the coverages apples to apples - as different companies package up stuff in weird ways. Anyone is welcome to PM me with questions.

 

[it's kelly]

For 1 car (an 07 chevy colbolt) I pay $2700 a year! That was the lowest rate we were offered. I guess that's part of living in NYC. And part of the reason we stick with one car.

 

[tink2dw]

I live on the the west coast, American Family is the best priced we can do but our state has HIGH coverage terms everyone must follow.

 

[Melrosgirl]

We use an indep. agent. He found a small company that I had never heard of before (A+ rating). We've had two claims over the last ten years and both were handled quickly.

 

[Planogirl]

We have State Farm and can't find a lower price. We've had them since the dark ages (or that's what it feels like at least). They've always done right by us.

 

[ybcart7]

By far I agree - Erie Insurance is the best! They are in VA - you should contact an Agent and see!! They give great discounts if you have your home and auto.