Car Insurance Game

I've had State Farm since 1965, its been my only
insurance company. In the last 3 months they've
doubled my premium for no reason. No accidents,
no tickets. Screw them. So far Geico has lowest
rate at $56 a month. Should I look any further?

I'm with SF also, and my premiums doubled when I moved to Las Vegas. I see Progessive advertises that you can get a discount if you allow that little gizmo to be installed in your car that "proves" you're a safe driver. The gizmo is a black box that reports whether you've exceeded the speed limit and how often, whether you use the seat belts, turn signals, drive at night, go across state lines, etc. So if you're okay with all the invasive Big Brother tactics, you might try Progressive.

Before you leave them, call your agent and explain the situation. Tell him he will lose your business if he can't do something about the increase. If you've been with them for 40+ years, then they've made a lot of money on you in that time. Odds are that he will be able to get you some sort of reduction.

Quote: Toes14

Before you leave them, call your agent and explain the situation.

Already did that and they could care less. Its not
up to them, the main office sets the rates.

Look into an independent agent. I am with a mid-size regional carrier and my agent found me a very good rate with them.

I abhor car insurance companies....yet I work for a major life insurance company. Hmmm...

If at all possible, I highly recommend USAA insurance. I haven't had a premium increase in over 7 years, and as they are NON-PROFIT I get a small dividend back (think of your home's escrow account when it is too high). The catch is having a current or former military connection. I got in as my wife was insured under her father (colonel in-law, Psyops..very meet the parentsish) before we were married. Then I called and asked about adding myself. When I called my Allstate guy he tried to pass their recent rate increases off on various natural disasters of the day. It was only when I called to cancel that he said "I can beat that rate."

My response, "But what about in six months when I have to call you to ask why the rate is going up?" He did not have an answer to that.

We use USAA for all of our insurance and they have been great. Honestly I think if you can insure a boat or something with a former military friend you can enjoy not worrying about insurance.


Otherwise, I don't believe your agent has nothing to do with rates. I think if you call to cancel he'll come back with, "I can beat that rate." The game seems to be finding the agent/company who won't inch up the price everytime you turn your back. Good luck.

A friend had something similar happen. Many years, no accidents, no claims of any kind. He didn't get a rate increase - his insurance was dropped.

When he called, the agent said that their system dropped him because, "He was due." I.E. due to get into an accident.

Sure enough, he DID have an accident 2 months later....

Has USAA opened up their enrollment to the general public? USAA insurance used to only be available to Officers in the military and their dependents. However, I lived in South Carolina a while back and South Carolina had a law that if you offered insurance to a citizen in South Carolina you had to offer it to all citizens of South Carolina. Wow the rates!! 1/3 less than a for profit (this was in the mid 90's though) Wow the customer service! Dealing with Officers in the military it's all "Yes Sir No Sir How may I help you Sir"

There's really no reason to, but I can ditto the endorsement of USAA, if you are eligible for their services. They do tend to be much friendlier on the phone than other insurance companies, and they have a wide range of financial products that can help out anybody.

My best anecdote with them is when they called me up to tell me that the car I had insured for full coverage had reached a point where the payback, should something happen to the car, wouldn't be worth the charge for full coverage. They suggested I simply go to liability.

As I recall, the end of the conversation went something like this:

"So, you're saying I should pay you LESS per month?"
"Yes. The value of your car has declined to a point where we feel that full coverage wouldn't pay you out very much anyway, so there's no point in paying so much per month for full coverage."
"Wait. You want LESS money?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."

Quote: konceptum

There's really no reason to, but I can ditto the endorsement of USAA, if you are eligible for their services. They do tend to be much friendlier on the phone than other insurance companies, and they have a wide range of financial products that can help out anybody.

I used to work for USAA. I will say that if you are/were an officer they will treat you well. If you are enlisted they don't want your business but they need it. They do treat their employees like dirt. If you call them for anything expect to be "cross-sold" products you may not want. They put super-high pressure on employees to offer another service on every call. I once had a customer actually say, "you offered your service, press your little button and lets get to business."

GEICO is who I switched to after I left USAA and they have been good service and a good price.

I'm jealous. In socialist British Columbia, we have one choice for basic car insurance - ICBC. I'm pretty sure I'd pay less if I was south of the border... a check on Geico suggest I'd save about 20%...

Car insurance (like off licence sales and casinos) are things I don't think should be run by the government.

Quote: AZDuffman

I used to work for USAA. I will say that if you are/were an officer they will treat you well. If you are enlisted they don't want your business but they need it. They do treat their employees like dirt. If you call them for anything expect to be "cross-sold" products you may not want. They put super-high pressure on employees to offer another service on every call. I once had a customer actually say, "you offered your service, press your little button and lets get to business."

GEICO is who I switched to after I left USAA and they have been good service and a good price.

Interesting. I can honestly say that I've never had any occurrences like this with USAA. I'm not enlisted or an officer, but rather a dependent, and I still feel like they treat me way better than they probably should. YMMV.

I was interested in how the service is at Geico, so it's good to hear that they are good people.

I figured out how to beat the system! Since Geico claims to save u 15% in 15 minutes, switch to them. Then, since "on average people who switched to Allstate saved $350", do that. Then, save 15% again by switching back to Geico.

By the time you are done, your insurance should be free hehe

Quote: Johnzimbo

Since Geico claims to save u 15% in 15 minutes, switch to them. Then, since "on average people who switched to Allstate saved $350", do that.

Of course, most companies can rightly claim "on average people who switched to us saved money." Only the people who save money are likely to switch. It would be more interesting to hear some data on: "people who compared their current insurance rates with ours decided to switch to our company xx% of the time."

Quote: konceptum

Interesting. I can honestly say that I've never had any occurrences like this with USAA. I'm not enlisted or an officer, but rather a dependent, and I still feel like they treat me way better than they probably should. YMMV.

I was interested in how the service is at Geico, so it's good to hear that they are good people.

Lets just say that you do not see the inside of USAA if you are a member. Indeed.com has 1,000+ posts that tell of life inside and one of the posts refers to another site with 1,000+ posts telling how bad they are. They drove me to near-clinical depression and at a previous job my asst mgr remarked how strong my personality was to put up with pressure. But that is how they treat their employees.

As to members and the officer/enlisted thing this is the deal. Officers get better insurance rates other risk factors being equal. They will be far more likely to make a lending exception to an officer than an enlisted at the bank, where I worked. They are very, very conscious of keeping a good reputation among officers.

I will say I that I did mostly enjoy working with the folks in the military. A few things drove me nuts, mostly that if you needed their income for a loan app they had to go and ask someone! We had the pay-scale and if they made a bonus, like "jump pay" they knew that. But I once had a high-level colnell on the phone. (anyone older than me and still active-duty was very high up.) Guy was getting his wife a car since he was being deployed. I looked at the card and said he made "x." Guy starts laughing at me and says, "yeah, if you say so I guess I do!" I mean, friendly guy, very nice. But part of me worried someone commanding thousands of guys to defend his nation can't give a guess as to what he made. Oh, well. Most were very nice with a jagoff or two a day.

Yes, GEICO very good service. No complaints there except they did not explain lack of glass coverage in PA.

Now that I'm back in my native NC I get my insurance through AAA. They were about $200 a year cheaper than anyone else for me but I pay $100 a year to belong to AAA. I have a friend from Guatemala and she works in the bilingual department for Allstate. From what she says there is terrible pressure there to sell new business to anyone who calls in for customer service.

Quote: AZDuffman

But I once had a high-level colnell on the phone. (anyone older than me and still active-duty was very high up.) Guy was getting his wife a car since he was being deployed. I looked at the card and said he made "x." Guy starts laughing at me and says, "yeah, if you say so I guess I do!" I mean, friendly guy, very nice. But part of me worried someone commanding thousands of guys to defend his nation can't give a guess as to what he made. Oh, well.

This doesn't surprise. In my, albeit limited, experience with higher level officers, none of them ever knew how much they made.

Their wives, on the other hand, knew EXACTLY how much their paychecks were.

Most insurance companies provide free car insurance quotes online. I find the best strategy is shopping around every year and comparing rates from different websites. Tons of factors that go into an insurance premium calculation such as age, gender, marital status, driving record, insurance/credit score, prior insurance record, where you live, and most importantly, which insurance company you go to.

Quote: Doc

Of course, most companies can rightly claim "on average people who switched to us saved money." Only the people who save money are likely to switch. It would be more interesting to hear some data on: "people who compared their current insurance rates with ours decided to switch to our company xx% of the time."

Are you kidding? They wouldn't trick anyone that way.