Should I change my home & auto insurance?

[Woodshark]

Should I shop my home/auto insurance?

Let me give you a little background. I’m 50 and my wife is 46. No children. When I got my first home about 27 years ago I insured it with State Farm and we just never changed. We have two homes, two cars and a personal liability insurance policy.All of them are with State Farm.

I’ve never had a claim in all those years but every year our rates go up around 15% to 20%. What once I thought were reasonable rates are now seemingly high. I would like to shop the market for better rates. Since we have several policies, I’m unsure of where to start.

Are there sites on the web that compare rates?
Does anyone recommend another insurance company to try?
Any thoughts on going with an independent insurance agent?

[All Thumbs]

State Farm actually pays on claims when disaster strikes.

I'd call the agent and tell them you are shopping around due to the ever-increasing rates, and you wanted to give him a chance to keep your business.

[Cochese]

You should always shop around. You can get estimates from almost everywhere.

Loyalty with big companies is always one-sided.

[Cochese]

State Farm actually pays on claims when disaster strikes.

Katrina victims would disagree.

[Eric]

I'd suggest calling an insurance broker who can shop several different companies at once. They might not be able to beat State Farm, because you've been with them so long, but it's a pretty painless thing to get quotes.

Captive companies such as Allstate, State Farm, Farmers etc try to shoe horn people into their plans, where an insurance broker fit the customer into the best company. (Generally).

I'd also let your current agent know that you're shopping, some discounts might magically appear for you.

[worknhard]

You bet, shop around! I wouldn’t be surprised if you find rates considerably lower than what you are currently paying… However, I would stick with those companies who are considered tops in casualty and property insurance. Most have online calculators to give you a very good idea what your rates will be.

[herb fellows]

If your rates really have jumped 15-20% every year, that is beyond outrageous.
I would say on average mine go up maybe 2% a year. I am with State Farm also.
Definitely shop around and let them know as others have said. I'm sure you will get a lower rate from them, but look at others.

[radhak]

In my experience, insurance companies work exactly opposite to other industries : the most loyal customer gets shafted the biggest, and the newest customer gets the best deal. The more often you change agencies, the better you will be wallet-wise. Trust me - if you talk to your current agent today and ask for a review, he might even reduce your rates slightly; but that reduction will be nothing compared to what you will get with somebody else. Even better : once you are with another agency, give it a year, and call your current agent back - he will be willing to give you a better rate than what he offers you today.

No, that is not a joke; I have seen it happen personally. The only reason I don't change more often is that I get lazy. The monetary returns are never in doubt.

[pelligrini]

Have you or your parents ever been in the Service? I've been with USAA all my life. Their pricing is pretty competitive for the quality of service. I use them for home and auto.

[sparkeyjames]

My experience when shopping around was that for the home State Farm is a little on the high side and for the car a little on the low side. When I went shopping for a new insurance company (I have State Farm as well btw) I was getting quotes for my house that were lower than what I'm paying State Farm but not by much, usually around 40 a year lower. The auto insurance on the other hand was always at least 20 to 30 a month higher with just about every company I called. I decided to stay with State Farm. I have been with them since 1984.

[alpha]

I just went through the same type of thing. My homeowner's increased 25% in August. I have a friend who is an insurance broker do a search for me. He saved me about 20% by switching companies. My auto expired in December so I had to cancel and rewrite it with the new company in order to get the discount. I had been with the same insurance company that my parents were with. I guess we were with them for over 70 years combined. I can verify that loyality is indead one-sided.

Bob

[Woodshark]

Thank you all for your input and ideas. I'm going to check out Geico and Amica's rates. I've heard good things about USAA but we do not qualify as I think you have to be in the military or the child of a military person.

It seems strange that as home values decline, insurance rates go up. Our homeowner's policy has gone fro $474 in 2008 to $697 in 2011. Two years ago there was a hail storm in metro Atlanta. Thousands of people got their shingles replaced for free. (not us) I'm sure that had something to do with the rise in rates.

[LCHIEN]

Thank you all for your input and ideas. I'm going to check out Geico and Amica's rates. I've heard good things about USAA but we do not qualify as I think you have to be in the military or the child of a military person.

It seems strange that as home values decline, insurance rates go up. Our homeowner's policy has gone fro $474 in 2008 to $697 in 2011. Two years ago there was a hail storm in metro Atlanta. Thousands of people got their shingles replaced for free. (not us) I'm sure that had something to do with the rise in rates.

The selling prices for homes don't correlate well with the prices for repairing and refurbishing a house that is damaged. One is demand driven and the other is
driven by the cost of labor and materials and services. The homeowners policy reflects that your house will be damaged and partly repairable and often deed restrictions will require rebuilding (and that will be at current labor and material prices) and even if the house is damaged beyond economical repair the price to demolish the remains and haul away and then build a new house will exceed the cost of buying a new house outright.

FWIW, I checked consumer reports after seeing your post and they said while you should always shop, they found in member surveys that the original insurer was usually cost competitive. Believe it or not, They actually like keeping clients with few or no claims.

[Cochese]

I believe Amica and USAA have been rated 1-2 for years.

We had our roof replaced last year due to the hail for only our deductable. I'll have to check what our rates have done in the last two years.

[Knottscott]

As insurance companies go, I can't say enough good about Amica. Outstanding customer service, reasonable rates that always seem to stay very competitive, and they've covered every claim we've ever made without hassle. The employees are always well trained, very polite, and very helpful...no off-shore CS agents that struggle with English! They're a small but very reputable company...we've been with them for nearly 30 years.