For you PA'ers: Insurance Question

[momoftwins]

We will soon be relocating to Chester Springs and I need to get our insurance in order. Here is MA we currently use Amica (Home) and AAA (Car). We pay about $1300/yr for the cars. I just spoke with Amica and almost fell off the chair when they quoted $1800 for the same coverage on the car. As of right now, they do not offer any discounts for dual coverage(home/car).

Anyway, is there anyone you would recommend we look into?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rayelias]

Be luck you're not moving to NJ.

We moved from PA to NJ.

My rates over here are roughly 40% higher. Same cars, same driving record (clean - never a ticket in my life), and a better, safer neighborhood.

 

[JMD]

I don't live in PA, but I am an insurance agent and have dealt with people relocating. Your best bet is to call a local agency in PA and get quotes from them. Maybe try several different agencies and they can shop around for the best deal for you. Every company is competitive is some areas and not so competitive in others. Even within the same state, a companies rates can vary significantly depending on the area. So a company that someone may suggest, may not be the best for you.

 

[Jennifer S]

We live in PA and use State Farm. Guess you decided against the house in Collegeville. Chester Springs is nice but expensive - maybe that is why the insurance is high? Good luck w/ your move.

 

[Pooh67_68]

We live in Pa and use State Farm, so does my mom.

My aunt and uncle use Prudential.

 

[L107ANGEL]

I don't live in PA, but I am an insurance agent and have dealt with people relocating. Your best bet is to call a local agency in PA and get quotes from them. Maybe try several different agencies and they can shop around for the best deal for you. Every company is competitive is some areas and not so competitive in others. Even within the same state, a companies rates can vary significantly depending on the area. So a company that someone may suggest, may not be the best for you.

Very good advice!!! Also check with an insurance "broker". A broker represents several different companies and can shop those for you.

 

[BratTink]

Definitely check out GEICO. I recently bought a new car and shopped around for insurance, GEICO came in the cheapest. You can go online and get a quote. Welcome to PA insurance hell.

 

[JMD]

Very good advice!!! Also check with an insurance "broker". A broker represents several different companies and can shop those for you.

Exactly. Thats what I do. We represent 11 or 12 different companies, so we can shop around for you. We can even broker through another agency if we have to. The advantage to that is if you have a problem with one company or your rates go up, your agent and move you to another company within the same agency.

Or sometimes everything is going fine, and we call customers to tell them we can move them somewhere else and save them alot of money. How nice is that?

 

[momoftwins]

I have checked with 3 companies so far and (all have same deductible):

Amica $1804 (non dividend) $2165 (dividend)
State Farm: $1562
Liberty Mutual: $1014 (limited tort) and $1305

We have a 2002 PT Cruiser and a 2003 Honda Odyssey.

I do not know any insurance brokers. Can you guys give me some names? Also, anyone to avoid?

With the Liberty Mutual quote, we got a huge discount on the homeowners because DH is a Lehigh grad and they get a 20% discount. We get another 10% because we would have both Car/home with them. We also get a pretty big discount for 8 yrs since the house is new.

So, if you are affiliated with any group/college/employer you may get a pretty good discount. We just found out FIL, who is a retired GE employee, can get a good discount on appliances. So we will use the discount on the fridge and washer/dryer (I called the GE Answer line and was told he could use his discount to buy us appliances).

 

[L107ANGEL]

Look in the phone book for a broker. If you still need help feel free to pm me.

 

[HayGan]

In PA, I strongly recommend either Geico or Erie Insurance. We have had Geico for over 10 years and are very pleased with them. No one can ever touch their rates!!!!

I would definitely NOT recommend going with State Farm (personal experience!) and I would NOT recommend a limited tort option. You could end up paying dearly for that if you are ever in an accident (once again, personal experience!) It took me 3 years to settle a limited tort case even after I was in the hospital for weeks, therapy for months and had surgery on my jaw and the other party was completely at fault (he rear ended me.) All the delay was because I had limited tort!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I second staying away from limited torte. We have state farm and they have done right by us. I think it depends on your agent.

 

[HayGan]

I second staying away from limited torte. We have state farm and they have done right by us. I think it depends on your agent.

I'm sure that many people have had wonderful coverage with State Farm but in my particular case they purposly gave us the run around for over 3 years (had nothing to do with the agent.) Of my experience with those 3 insurers in PA, Geico and Erie have been great while State Farm was lousy.

 

[Holy Mackerel!]

We live about 15 minutes outside of Philly and have been using State Farm for the past 3 years. The rates are comparable to what we were paying in Maryland.