What insurance companies do you like or dislike? I mean auto and also home, in any combination.
I had a fender bender a few years ago and the repair shop asked what my insurance company was, and when I said, they said they were relieved. Why, I asked? Well if you have Geico or Progressive, it’s a problem, they fight every step of the way and never pay fully. But if you have State Farm or Erie, you’re good, they honor claims.
Huh!
So, I’m shopping for insurance, and wonder if you’ve had reason to prefer one company over another.
Every insurance company has fucked over somebody at some point, either in actual objective reality or the perceived reality of the slighted party. It’s simply the nature of the business.
That said, I’ve been on both sides of incidents with GEICO, once when I was at fault and had GEICO insurance, and another when I was hit by a GEICO customer (when I was with a different company). In both incidents I was treated kindly and fairly.
I used to flip back and forth every 6 months between GEICO and Progressive, because the one I had would go up 10% after the 1st term and the other would offer me the same policy for 5% less than what I was paying. After many years of this, and getting married, buying a house, and combining policies with my wife, the rates plateaued and I’ve just stuck with GEICO the last couple of years. Haven’t had any issue with them at all.
Progressive was also always friendly and helpful when I had to deal with them, but I never actually made a claim with them.
For home insurance, I believe we have Liberty Mutual. It was just who we were sent to when we wanted to add home insurance to our GEICO auto policy. Never made a claim with them, either.
Like DCnDC, my experiences with GEICO have been uniformly pleasant.
Travelers did a good job with my homeowners.
Was pretty happy when I was on Dad’s USAA policy and I kept destroying Ford Rangers (I went through 3 of them in 3 years).
StateFarm kept jacking the rates on my wife and made it a pain to cancel after they got way overpriced, but you could probably tell that story about any insurance company.
Except for a few months when a mortgage holder let it lapse, we’ve had Travelers homeowners and (when we had something to cover) auto ever since GEICO tried to double our rates. GEICO decided we had too many accident claims, all but one or two of which were not our fault, and made use of their free roadside service too many times for their liking.
My dad had State Farm when I turned 16, they pestered him to add me to his policy to the point that he told them to go to hell. Even when I had no license.
Seconded…and I’ve worked in the business for 20 years, both in claims and as an agent. Part of it is luck of the draw in the particular employee you interact with. You can have a problem with any insurance company. Sometimes, the problem is on the company’s end but, in my experience, most problems are either on the customer’s end or the result of a failure of the company to set the proper expectation. As far as setting expectations go, I will give you an example. Suppose you’re involved in a car accident and you report a claim against the other party’s carrier. After 3 weeks, you believe the company is jerking you around because they haven’t written you a check yet. There are several difficulties which may have arisen to prevent them from doing so. For instance, insurance companies are legally required to investigate claims and protect their insured’s interests. As part of that, they are required to speak with their insured about the accident. Insurance companies have to make a number of attempts to do so over a specified time frame. If their insured is reluctant to talk to them right away, this could delay resolution. Another sticking point is often the police report. Some police departments may not even have it ready for 3 weeks or a month after the accident. It also takes time to request it. A lot of times, it’s quicker if one of the involved parties picks up the report themselves and faxes it to the claim office. If the claim rep you’re working with doesn’t do a good job of explaining the proper expectations and/or whether anything can be done to speed things up, it can leave the impression that they’re just messing with you.
Another problem may be the inspection and settlement methodology, what the repair shop was probably talking about. Some companies are more stringent about how they handle it. For instance, in a particular case, a company may allow an assumption that something is “probably” damaged behind the visible damage without actually seeing it. Another company may want it torn down and reinspected to make sure. I doubt the real problem for the repair shop was that certain companies don’t pay for all the damage. Rather, it’s more likely they don’t like the settlement methodology of certain companies because they’re more stringent. Insurance companies have legitimate reasons for being more stringent because the fact of the matter is that there are attempts to defraud them all the time. For example, people often try to get prior damage fixed and some shops try to get paid to replace things that aren’t damaged. If the company you’re working with has a version of a direct repair program (a list of approved shops), that would likely be a faster option than going to your own shop.
My car got side swiped by a semi while I was waiting in line. Ripped off the back bumper, broke the rear quarter window and dented various things. I figured, great, I now get to deal with some national level trucking company that will take ages. A few days later, they called and said to bring my car over to the local Progressive damage center to be repaired. No questions, no estimates, just “Bring it in”.
I drive the car in and enjoy the snacks and beverages at the extremely modern, clean facility. My loaner car is ready to go. A few days later they call again and my perfectly repaired car is ready to pickup. I rate progressive A+ and I’m a lifelong State Farm guy.
Insurance is pretty simple: if you’re a low-risk customer, you can get the best companies and the best rates. If you’re high-risk (especially because of accidents, tickets or household injury claims), you get the second-tier and down companies. If you can’t get better, you can’t.
The people who choose these lower-grade companies (like GEICO and Progressive) to save a comparatively small amount, when ONE claim will wipe out the savings in extra incident costs and lost job time and hassles and probably having to change companies in the end… kinda get what they asked for.
Funny how these two only seem to survive on only the most massive and widespread advertising campaigns, isn’t it? You have to wonder how many qualified drivers and homeowners might do a little more shopping, a little more comparison than falling for Flo’s shiny white jacket and promise of low rates.
The best insurance I’ve had, in my life, has been from almost no-name companies that have excellent rates if you qualify. I’m sure quite a few big-shiny-name customers would qualify, as well… but none of them had a cute lizard with an inexplicable accent.