How would you go about picking a new insurance carrier in a new state?

[LuvOrlando]

How would you go about picking a new insurance carrier in a new state?

We've had USAA forever but trying to move my auto policies from one state to another has been an excruciating experience so I need to explore others to make sure I keep coverage, we have renters auto and umbrella if it matters.

I went from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts if it matters.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How would you go about picking a new insurance carrier in a new state?

We've had USAA forever but trying to move my auto policies from one state to another has been an excruciating experience so I need to explore others to make sure I keep coverage, we have renters auto and umbrella if it matters.

I went from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts if it matters.

We use AAA.

 

[LuvOrlando]

We use AAA.

I'll take a look thanks

 

[dizneegirl]

Whatever discounts you have for being a long-term member will, of course, disappear if you switch companies. Could you maybe find an office in the new location, and just switch agents, not companies?

Other than that, there are some sites that compare insurance... never used one, but I've seen ads for them.

Or, hit up insurance company websites, and get a quote. Allstate, State Farm, Nationwide, Progressive are a few big names.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

How would you go about picking a new insurance carrier in a new state?

We've had USAA forever but trying to move my auto policies from one state to another has been an excruciating experience so I need to explore others to make sure I keep coverage, we have renters auto and umbrella if it matters.

I went from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts if it matters.

I moved from NJ to California and then California to Georgia. When I moved, I notified the insurance carrier I had at the time (Liberty Mutal). All I did was make a phone call. In the 30+ years I was with Liberty Mutual I never had a claim, auto or home. Had water issue when we moved to Georiga. Filed a claim, they denied it, and then my insurance went up almost $2000. Went with AllState after that, I liked that there was a local AllState guy but their rates just got insane. I finally went to an insurance broker. Wanted to for years. Not only did both auto and home insurance went down, I got better coverage on my homeowners. Just a note: We almost moved from California to Florida in 2006. I called Liberty Mutual at that time to find out about insurance costs. I was told that they were no longer writing home insurance policies and my auto almost doubled. That is one reason we didn't move to Florida.

 

[georgina]

Ask around, try a broker who handles multiple companies, get several quotes. My rates (Travelers, which had been good for 2 years) went up in 2023 for no apparent reason so I switched to Erie (not available in many states). I called AAA but they were very expensive. Rates vary wildly by area.

 

[tvguy]

I moved from NJ to California and then California to Georgia. When I moved, I notified the insurance carrier I had at the time (Liberty Mutal). All I did was make a phone call. In the 30+ years I was with Liberty Mutual I never had a claim, auto or home. Had water issue when we moved to Georiga. Filed a claim, they denied it, and then my insurance went up almost $2000. Went with AllState after that, I liked that there was a local AllState guy but their rates just got insane. I finally went to an insurance broker. Wanted to for years. Not only did both auto and home insurance went down, I got better coverage on my homeowners. Just a note: We almost moved from California to Florida in 2006. I called Liberty Mutual at that time to find out about insurance costs. I was told that they were no longer writing home insurance policies and my auto almost doubled. That is one reason we didn't move to Florida.

Yup, a broker would be my first choice. They match you to the company with the best rate for your circumstances.

 

[lanejudy]

When I moved the car insurance was easy - I just informed the agent of my new address since the agency wrote policies in both states it.

Homeowners obviously needed a new policy but again I started by contacting the “old” carrier.

Does USAA not do policies in MA? I know we get a lot of TV ads for them.

 

[LuvOrlando]

How would you find a good broker? Any good places for reviews, I never did any of this before and enjoyed calm from NY to PA. The messiness of moving to Massachusetts, the deadline, the Insurance losing my title and how complicated it has been has been such a shock I am shook

Just getting random quotes right now.

 

[tvguy]

When I moved the car insurance was easy - I just informed the agent of my new address since the agency wrote policies in both states it.

Homeowners obviously needed a new policy but again I started by contacting the “old” carrier.

Does USAA not do policies in MA? I know we get a lot of TV ads for them.

A lot of those ads may be what are known as "built in spots" in national shows, and they air everywhere, including places where the companies don't do business.

 

[lanejudy]

A lot of those ads may be what are known as "built in spots" in national shows, and they air everywhere, including places where the companies don't do business.

A quick google search indicates USAA has coverage in all 50 states.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

A quick google search indicates USAA has coverage in all 50 states.

As I would expect them to do. Since military/retirees live all over the place.

 

[lanejudy]

As I would expect them to do. Since military/retirees live all over the place.

True. However since insurance is state-regulated, with some states very highly-regulated especially for some types of insurance, I never assume a "national" company offers all kinds of insurance in every state.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I got a few quotes from other carriers just to have something to fall back on and in the mix I finally started to get some Fed X info and updates, maybe my title is actually on it's way.... oh boy.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I moved from NJ to California and then California to Georgia. When I moved, I notified the insurance carrier I had at the time (Liberty Mutal). All I did was make a phone call. In the 30+ years I was with Liberty Mutual I never had a claim, auto or home. Had water issue when we moved to Georiga. Filed a claim, they denied it, and then my insurance went up almost $2000. Went with AllState after that, I liked that there was a local AllState guy but their rates just got insane. I finally went to an insurance broker. Wanted to for years. Not only did both auto and home insurance went down, I got better coverage on my homeowners. Just a note: We almost moved from California to Florida in 2006. I called Liberty Mutual at that time to find out about insurance costs. I was told that they were no longer writing home insurance policies and my auto almost doubled. That is one reason we didn't move to Florida.

I wonder when did it all get this way?

I knew homes were a thing but vehicles is unexpected. Forever we used to daydream about living on the water but I see and read so many horror stories I wanna avoid until the dust settles, right now things seem peculiar and lots of influences. There is FEMA which can redraw floodlines at will. Then there are insurers who just back out of states removing all competition. People with mortgages are required to have insurance so if the insurer drops them their mortgages are in jeopardy and many times people simply can't pay their bills over the insurance jumps. I have been seeing lots of stories of everyday people reporting huge jumps, sometimes I see it mentioned on Nextdoor and such. Most recently I saw a story about how facility insurance has been driving those Association Fees through the roof. I never stopped to consider how this might impact vehicles too, plainly there is a massive impact.

 

[tvguy]

I wonder when did it all get this way?

I knew homes were a thing but vehicles is unexpected.

Due to the technology and safety systems in modern cars, a collision with minor damage can cause a car to be totaled due to the cost of replacing the safety systems. My wife's Camry has 10 air bags. They are programmed to active in a crash when the car is going 8 to 12 miles an hour. The seatbelts that were in use at the time of the crash all have to be replaced. The forward facing radar for the adaptive cruise control needs to be recalibrated, lane departure sensors may need to be replaced. Even paint is expensive now. If the entire car needs to be painted, that alone can cost $10,000.

 

[brockash]

How would you go about picking a new insurance carrier in a new state?

We've had USAA forever but trying to move my auto policies from one state to another has been an excruciating experience so I need to explore others to make sure I keep coverage, we have renters auto and umbrella if it matters.

I went from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts if it matters.

We've had USAA for 20 years now. We're military and move often; in the process of moving now; can I ask what you mean by having issues with changing your state? We've done this numerous times without issue...wondering if something has changed or if you just had an incompetent employee?

 

[Pooh2]

How would you go about picking a new insurance carrier in a new state?

We've had USAA forever but trying to move my auto policies from one state to another has been an excruciating experience so I need to explore others to make sure I keep coverage, we have renters auto and umbrella if it matters.

I went from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts if it matters.

We had Allstate here in NH for 30 years. The price doubled within two years so we tried changing to USAA last year.

We had an account with USAA 35 years ago and of course no longer had the same phone number but they could not restart our account because the 35 year old phone number was out of service and could not accept texts.
We had a week of uploading DL, giving them SS#, etc and they could still not figure out how to resurrect the account or start a new one with a new phone number.

We gave up and called AAA. We had a quote with significant savings and were signed up for Auto and homeowners within 3 days over a holiday weekend. On our second year with AAA, it only went up by $30 so happy with them so far.

 

[Stratman50th]

We ran into the same problem moving from MD to Florida. Our MD broker was awesome and we had them for over 25 years. Found out they weren't licensed to operate in Florida so had to find another. First thing we did was see if our current broker could recommend someone in Florida. Nope. We eventually tried the real estate agent, then eventually our home builder, where we eventually found another broker. We've been with them for the last seven plus years and have been happy. YMMV

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Whatever discounts you have for being a long-term member will, of course, disappear if you switch companies

That depends most often by is the person with a captive agent vs an independent agent. Captive meaning they can only write with that one insurance company (and their subsidiaries) as opposed to having multiple companies to place someone with. Years back we had to switch from AAA to another company because our insurance agent was independent and AAA pulled out all of their independent agents in my state. We could have stuck with AAA but would have had to switch agents to a captive one.

Our insurance agent is an independent one and we maintain longevity discounts with a particular insurance company as well as cross lines discounts even with two different insurance companies for auto and home due to that arrangement because it's an interagency type deal that has worked with at least several main companies thus far with him. That does not mean it's the case all over everywhere but it doesn't mean de facto that by moving insurance companies you lose longevity discounts with an insurance company. For us in particular is it less of a discount but still is one.

just switch agents, not companies?

Most insurance agents around here are dual licensed between KS and MO because we are at the border, sometimes they pick up other states too like IA, CO, OK or NE depending on where they are located at. So it's possible because the person was going from PA to MA their agent from PA may be dual (or more) licensed agent too. It usually isn't too too difficult to switch agents but it may not work if going from a captive to independent or vice versa as they have differing contracts.