That may be true, but I take the stance most insurance carriers will fight you on a claim. I'm more of a self-insurance kind of guy - get good coverage for as cheap as you can with a higher deductible and most of the time you'll come out ahead. If I ever do get "screwed" on a claim, I would have more than made up for it from the thousands of dollars I save each year.
We use Bobby white State Farm. USAA was higher than everyone else when we got quotes
I can’t speak for the auto side. I wouldn’t touch Allstate and certain others with a 10 ft pole
"They are who we thought they were"
You can dress a fat chick up, but you cant fix stupid
This. I moved for a much cheaper price from X to GEICO. They did an inspection and sent me three pages of things I needed to do AFTER the policy went into effect. I did everything, and they dropped me anyway. Two other companies later and having to trim trees and remove bushes, I have one now that I hope will not leave SC. I spent over $3,500 in total just with tree companies and yard services to try and satisfy the others only to come to my current company that seemed not to care about any of it.
At the end of the day, I am saving quite a bit from the company I had before, but now I have lost most of my afternoon shade on my house. MG
Dum Spiro Spero
One of the biggest challenges in the insurance right now is in regards to roof claims. The years and years of paying out claims like a warranty company has finally caught up. Like most aspects of life, the 80/20 rule applies. The small percentage of businesses that do business the wrong way affect the rest.
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I spoke with USAA. Not much they could offer to bring down my premiums. Bump the deductible to $500 only dropped it $20. They wanted to enroll me into a plan where they monitor my driving habits based on my phone movements. That was a hard no. So I'll be shopping around shortly. Just doesn't make sense. Apparently my new car discount dropped off this year. You would think the opposite would be true. My truck depreciates in value, it should reduce my premiums over time.
I know that. My buddy has a brand new Corvette and he pays way less than me. That's a head scratcher
Find an independent agent to shop it around.
I did this after being with one of the "big" companies for 20 years.
Local independent agent faxed my stuff out to 80 companies and I now have the exact coverage and its over $200 a month cheaper
Home boats autos
Insurance companies are sorta like organized crime at the corporate level
Last edited by ecu1984; 04-17-2024 at 02:02 PM.
Thanks y'all.
Bobby ran the numbers for me and couldn't get there. It seems that my long-standing 25yr relationship comes with a few discounts.
FWIW, I'm at $830/6mo. for three vehicles.
I remember when my home insurance was barely over $1,000. I just saw the email from my escrow saying that the ~$2,400 I'm currently paying is gonna be going up.
Of course...
Some good responses from the insurance guys and others on this thread. Here's a few thoughts from another insurance guy that's been doing it since 1989.
Back when I first started, we were writing auto insurance on paper apps. in triplicate, carbon copies. There were 55-60 rating factors that would cover every driver from 18 years old to 80 years old, tickets, married, single, etc.
Pretty simple rating structure and two neighbors, each married, owned a house, two similar autos and no tickets insured with different carriers could have a casual conversation comparing each other's policies and could be somewhat in the ballpark with each other price wise.
Then in the mid 90s, insurance scores (credit) were implemented. Initially, it was soley for underwriting purposes. It did not actually affect the premium but was used for eligibility. Clean credit would allow for several violations and still be eligible for coverage while bad credit would require no moving violations to be eligible.
It was only a few short years later that credit started actually affecting premium. Insurance scores are a hidden algorithm kept in a proprietary "black box" and no one supposedly knows how it works. IMO, carriers can manipulate the algorithm to get desired premiums without going to the Department of Insurance and requesting a rate increase.
Fast forward today and there literally 500 different rating factors you have to go thru to get a premium. I equate it to going down a long line of switches, if you flip them all in the right direction you get a fantastic premium. If you go back up the line and start throwing a few switches up instead of down your premium starts blowing up.
But back to insurance scores (credit) and how it affects your rates. I keep a test quote on my computer to run hypotheticals to help me better understand how all these different "switches" affect premium.
Here's the quote I ran today-
A married couple in the early 50s, clean MVR, two 2020 model year vehicles....
Insurance score 1-16 with 1 being excellent and 16 being bad. No credit comes back as a 14.
6 month premiums-
IS 1= $1278.70
IS 8 = $1789.34
IS 16 = $2789.17
IS 14 (no hit credit) = $2453.76
While I don't support putting such significant weight on insurance scores, it is what it is and almost every carrier absolutely uses insurance scores in a similar fashion
Back to the two guys talking about their rates, the neighbor with excellent credit literally saves thousands of dollars a year in premium verses his buddy with bad credit.
And that's why I often say that Dave Ramsey is a fool as he often and fanatically states you don't need a credit score in America.
Insurance rates going up is a lot like health insurance going up astronomically. A lot of it is end-user related. All those 30 year old roofs getting replaced because of "hail damage" and the $800 fender bender getting reported drives prices way up. Its the same way with all the fatties and people going to the emergency room for a cold that drive prices up for the responsible ones. I've known people that file a claim on their home insurance for the most trivial things. Just pay the $1,000 repair and save yourself the increased premium down the road.
Here’s another angle on the whole insurance crap shoot. Get in a wreck, get a check. If insurance companies would actually start fighting the personal injury lawyers and stop sending them a check just to settle out, then our premiums may come down. Personal Injury Lawyers are the scum of the earth, and if 80% of their clients had to actually put money up in advance you would see the lawsuits drop like flies
"They are who we thought they were"
You can dress a fat chick up, but you cant fix stupid
I shop Insurance every year when Renewal comes. I took a hit one year so that all Policies now expire within 60 days of each other. The hit was I cancelled Mid Year of my Homeowners, but didn't get 50% Back. I put all pertinent information into an Excel Spreadsheet including what I am currently paying and send it out to 5 or 6 companies. I have an Independent Agent that shops 8 or so companies he reps, so there is not a lack of comparison. I will not say the Company I am currently with here, but I will answer by PM if interested.
I have 3 Homes, 5 Cars, 2 Golf Carts, 2 Motorcycles and a $2M Umbrella Policy and it is all less than $6000.00/year
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