Help! Shopping for Insurances!

[wedindis'00]

To Quote the Fab Four "HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY."

Not sure how to go about "shopping for insurances. My folks always went through the same agent, friend of a friend of a friend. Then we went through DW's company. And auto was never in issue in MASS. because it was all the same. Now we'd like to shop around for best rates and combination discounts.
Where do we begin? Cavemen, lizzards, snoopy, and the President from 24 have me spinning, not to mention the overly peppy girl in the spaceage insurance store.

 

[shruley]

We have an independant insurance agent (we're in Minnesota) who we absolutely LOVE. Because she is independant, she sells for several different companies. We meet with her and decide what we are looking for (life, auto, home, coverage amounts, etc.) and she calls us back with the best price. Every year she reviews our policies and run comparisons to make sure we are still with the lowest priced company. We were with Progressive for Auto for awhile (they are often the absolute lowest for auto) but this past year she called us up out of the blue and said "I can save you $400 a year if we switch both your auto and home to this company." I love those phone calls. We've submitted very few claims over the years, but what we have has been handled smoothly regardless of the company. She is also quick to mention when my company insurance policies (like life) are cheaper than anything she can get for us. My advice is find a good agent, so you don't have to do all the thinking.

 

[Ericandjenng]

When I changed our insurance last year, I hadn't been planning to do so. I accidently signed up online for a quote (yeah, I know I should have been paying more attention) but it was so much less than I was paying that I called the agent and got a quote for other policies.

Then I picked other companies and asked for similar quotes (apples to apples) and even gave my then current company an opportunity to meet the new quotes....I changed because between auto & home I saved $700 per year with better overall policies--both of these companies are national, well-known insurers.

Most all companies have web-sites where you can request quotes. A good agent will go over your policy with you and make sure their quote covers the same or better.

Good Luck

 

[cm8]

Hi!! I am not sure if you have Military ties or not, but if you do, you should check out USAA or geico, they give military discounts!!

 

[tinatark]

If you have auto through USAA and a total loss for a car, their method for computing value stinks. They use a company who gives an appraisal, but the company uses the lowest comps available - we were involved in an accident with a USAA insured person (they were at fault) - their settlement offer for our car was insultingly low - no way could we replace the car for their offer - we had our insurer pay (over $3k more than USAA offered) and they had USAA pay them.

That said... I have heard USAA rates are great, and so is their customer service.

We switched our home and auto from Allstate to Farm Bureau and saved around $1k a year. My sister in law said she got a very good rate from Liberty Mutual.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I called Geico, when I switched we matched line by line for our policy and literally saved well over a grand!!! We had no accidents, or violations. Both took defensive driving to lower it even further. Talk about easy and SAVED us a Bundle! Multi cars seems to save the most...by the way we have newer vehicles. I only *WISH* they did HO in our area.....

 

[mum4jenn]

If you are a member of AAA you can get quotes online from several companies. We did this back in the summer and we saved over $600 every 6 months. We went with Metlife.

 

[jenrose66]

You can get lots of quotes online by yourself without the hassle of an agent. However, agents can be your friend. They want business so they can fill out your application to save you the most cash...such as knowing the cut offs for high mileage and to never rate a teenager as a primary driver on a vehicle. Little stuff like that adds up. Of course it's technically "cheating" if they say you use your car for pleasure and not commuting...however it's not something where the insurance company can deny your claim over it.

Again, I'm not advocating this...but I have been in the insurance business for the last 7 years...working for the companies directly and agents cheat!

 

[nancyoliver23]

I’d suggest you ask other drivers around you about their insurance companies and personal claim handling experiences. You might get a mix of 2-3 names. Look up these names online to check quotes as well as find out which amongst these is the most financially stable as you don’t want to get stuck with a cash strapped Insurer who gets finicky at claim time. I know this because I was stuck with one and learnt the hard way to pay a few dollars more but have a reliable company handling your claims ! I switched to The Hartford (http://hartfordauto.com ) some time back, not only saving more than $400, but also getting better coverage, multi line discounts on car and home and better value-added benefits. Check in your area to see which company people are satisfied with the most. If you’re with the AARP, I’d strongly suggest The Hartford, as their rates for AARP (http://aarp.thehartford.com/auto-insurance-quote.shtml) members are probably among the lowest.