That time of year again to shop around. Who do you guys use/recommend?
My tips:
I saved a small fortune shopping around.
I also go through my coverage carefully to make sure I'm not over or under insured.
I tend to choose high deductibles.
Oh, and don't forget to get umbrella insurance if it makes sense.
I switched to Amica a few years ago based on JD Power customer satisfaction ratings and have been happy. I think they are generally first or second (behind USAA). I would try USAA, but I'm not eligible to join.
I have a Costco membership and get my auto insurance from them via "Ameriprise", which we have had for 10 years or so. It's a least as competitive as if not cheaper than other California providers and has(?had) higher basic liability coverage amounts than other insurers. I can't speak to Homeowner's insurance via Costco, but I believe they offer it as well.
https://www.ameriprise.com/auto-home-insurance/costco/
We've been with Mercury for quite a few years. Their rates are hard to beat, especially if you can handle high deductibles, and they offer a multi-policy discount if you insure both home and auto with them. Not sure if they are available in every area in the US, but if you live in their "service area" you might want to check them out.
***FYI / Disclaimer: We have never had any claims with them, so we can't speak to how good their policyholder service is, but based on an incident many years ago (before we switched to them), where the other driver was at fault and covered by them, we got quick and excellent service.
All excellent tips, especially umbrella insurance. It's often overlooked, but it's quite inexpensive considering the amount of coverage you get and well worth the cost to protect your assets.
That is the thing - when you need to claim that is when who you are with really matters.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Any I should definitely avoid?
Paying out as promised, not making it difficult for no reason, and not causing unnecessary delay is definitely important.
It's funny how different people find different insurers give them the best rates.
None of the ones mentioned so far was ever the cheapest for me.
Please share your experience. I will say this that cheaper is not always better, but if the cheaper company is highly rated by AM Best, Moody's, etc. then imho it is better.
If you are thrifty, seeking quotes from assorted companies every year or two pays big dividends.
We are insurance gypsies who move from company to company depending on what is offered.
The same coverage appears to vary wildly between our current insurer, ( whoever that maybe) and shopping for new quotes.
So, we change companies, following the winds of new offers.
Disclaimer; I can't speak to the quality of claims service.
Thant's a whole 'nother issue
i HAD state farm for years and years and years for car only. liability at state min requirements-if i had the xtra $ laying around i would have had more but alas that was not to be-. i switched to them straight out of my parents multi policy when i left home yes years ago. never had any issues with them until last part of 2016 when ferocious jr joined the ranks of the driving world. they immediately changed my policy to include him even though i never authorized it. and after speaking to them about that i then had to prove he had his own policy in only his name with his car through progressive ( again parent logic was to teach responsibility not handout and not do it for him so he chose this company, more on that later) my monthly payment of $62 a month for a 6 month policy for one car at liability only suddenly ballooned to $528 and some change a month. i was in the process of shopping around for my new ins company before my next payment date when a usps postal truck failed to yield the right of way when turning left and turned within 7 feet of my on coming car causing a full on speed accident that the post man was cited for. ( i was doing 37 in a hilly 45 mph area where normal speeds on this hill by any experienced driver of the area knows that 35-40 is probably the top speed you need to be going without going off road) even after police reports and witness statement state farm found ferocious jr at fault, even though he was never supposed to be on my policy and i was the only one in my own car and was stated so on the report. even though no report or statement had his name or information on it. they claimed that the reports were falsified. causing an insurance fraud investigation. months of back and forth and causing the reporting police officer to be reviewed by his officers.and subsequently having state farm denying any claims to this accident. i did drop them and moved on. however this experience left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to state farm and have resolved never to use them again.
i currently have a policy with a local insurance company still with the min legal requirements and my payments are back down to where there were for years. although the accident is part of my record its not held against me because i was not the at fault driver. ferocious jr has not had any problems what so ever with progressive. there is a local agent that deals progressive but he instead opted to purchase online with his discounts like good student, living at home, paperless billing and not driving more than 50 miles one way ( work is 3 miles away and school is 4 blocks away and the movies and his best friends house is roughly 9 miles away) he does have an added towing option on his policy that i made him purchase because in no way am i going to go out in subfreezing temps when hes landed his car in the ditch. his only complaint was that there was alot of scanning and uploading to be done but he did say he enjoyed the fact that he didnt need to put on pants to do so.
Yeah insurance companies can get nasty.
Both times I've made claims against the at fault parties insurance company, I've had to deal with lies and nastiness on the telephone.
Nothing like you've experienced though.
I reverted to requiring all communication to be performed by email.
"ferocious-onyx-glossy-iguana-210905" said: "however this experience left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to state farm and have resolved never to use them again."
Nasty experience indeed. Now you just have to plug your ears when the State Farm
jingle is within earshot. Jack Benny portrayed a stingy character sponsored by State Farm.
I think many of us have woeful stories to tell about insurance companies. "Logan" makes a good point about communicating by email rather than phone so that one has a record of statements made. Faxing used to be somewhat foolproof, until some insurance companies seemed to have installed a shredding machine right next to their fax machines, which probably explains why they often did not receive confirmed faxes.
"The State Farm jingle ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there") was written by American songwriter Barry Manilow in 1971. A cover was released by Weezer in 2011.[8][9] In the 1960s, State Farm's first commercial jingle was originally created for The Jack Benny Program"
this is what jr likes about progressive. being new to more and more "adult" things every day he likes that written communications and emails come and that if its written and he needs "proof" for whatever reason he can show whoever.
up until that point id never been in an accident . ever. no fender benders no backing into anything. so to be put through the accident and then try and claim against my own so they actually have to do the fighting for me via mini tort only to find they didnt stand behind their end of the deal after paying and paying and paying for years was shocking to say the least.
side note here. the usps does not carry insurance. it does not have to its the govt. so when you are hit by a postal truck ( in my experience) or if you get your finger slammed in the post office door. whatever the injury you have to go through the govt process of tort claims. which is a long drawn out hassle. in my case the postal worker is a beloved person at work and no one wanted to turn on him so i hit a stone wall trying to get claims information out of my local branch and had to go 1st to the national level then get my congress person involved and as much as you think your congressional leaders work for you the only one working for you are their minions. ive yet to speak to my leader directly even after taking a few days off work and going to a few of their "open office hours". my issue is still not resolved and its going to be 16 months in feb. lawyer costs would be more than the recovery so at this point i still believe that is out of the question.
I see a lot of television commercials for insurance companies and they all promise to save you money over what you're paying, now.
If I were you I would save $500 by switching to Progressive, then another 15% by switching to GEICO.
Continue saving by rotating through Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Allstate, etc.
Once you've cycled all the way through, repeat the process as many times as it takes for your premium to get to zero.
You're welcome, in advance. 
Mercury rates looks good but when you need to claim, it's hard and difficult. I have very bad experience 3 times with them, the longest one take me 6 months and my car just sitting on the yard, I have to rent a car for a month and they only pay for 2 weeks. I can't keep renting, so I have to buy a new one and wait for 6 months total to settle. Will never go back.
Since then I switch to Geico, their rate and service are pretty good, no complain. I use to go to work and home for total of 4 hours on the road in LA. Somehow I can't get my home insurance from them, can't remember the exact reason, possibly they don't have a point for service. Farmer insurance home insurance rate is good but make sure your house is in good shape. My first time application get denied after one month when they come and check my roof need re-roofing, I have to save one year to get money to re-roofing, so I only with them for 2 months, they charge me $75 application fee and 30% morn than regular on these 2 months.
What state are you in? Can't believe there is no way to hold the insurance company and post office accountable.
Surely if you have a good case you would recover legal fees?
govt workings are silly. if a lawyer were involved they are capped in what they can recover in legal fees. legal cases for these things takes forever. a single tort claim can take 2-5 years and then may just end up with the govt claiming immunity. the way the law/rule is written the agency that the tort claim involves has a 6 month "investigation" period before they must answer the tort claim. meaning for my claim which is cut and dry the usps can sit on their hands for 5 months and 3 and a half weeks before they have to answer me. after that depending on the amount of the claim they have another 2-4yrs before they must payout/deny my tort claim. right now im in the 2nd phase. i got my letter stating i have a case number in august 2017. 23 hrs before the 6 month period was up. many lawyers will not take on a govt tort accident claim without a death, because the capped fee for a legal case against any govt agency relating to a civilian death is higher. i think this is also part of the reason state farm did what they did because they knew that there was no recovering their losses, they would need to pay out my deductible($1000) and total out my car then spend the next few years trying to recover that fee from the govt.