National Insurance comapny's

[ronjhall]

Here in MI there are a couple of local insurance companies. We use Pioneer State Mutual Insurance. A Local company. Been with them for 40 years. When ever I feel they are costing to much I go out for quotes. They have always been lower. I have gotten quotes from them for our cars and RV. They have not been able to beat out AAA quotes. The motorhome is where they do not provide a good price. Which is where they loose the savings on the cars.

 

[Ken45101]

Had Allstate through a local agent for both autos and home/umbrella, but they only do 6 month auto policies. Renewal time came around and their 6 month policy was the same price as Liberty Mutual's 12 month policy (though another local agent) for the same limits...
Guess who we go through for our auto insurance?
Interestingly, our local LM agent beat the online LM price quote by a $100

But what do you get for your money? I was the recent victim of a Liberty Mutual/Safeco driver. Their client pulled out in front of our motorcycle. Serious injuries, especially to my wife. The motorcycle (trike) was totalled. LM/Safeco claimed to have fully inspected the trike and all the add-ons....and then asked me where it was located! The claims specialist flat out lied to me. They made a totally insulting offer, $14,000 less than we had paid for the two year old trike.

Ultimately I filed via my own insurance's uninsured/underinsured coverage and we are getting $4k less than we had in the trike. Still hard to replace it but somewhat reasonable.

Oh, one of the things LM/Safeco claims agent tried was not to reimburse for sales tax. He told me over the phone that it was Ohio law that they did not have to reimburse if you did not replace it within 30 days. He said he would email me the Ohio legal reference. All he mailed was Safeco's policy not to pay the tax. My insurance had no problem with paying the full sales tax on the value.

I'm sure Safeco/Liberty Mutual/Ohio Casualty will save you money as long as you never need to make a claim.

 

[aczlan]

I'm sure Safeco/Liberty Mutual/Ohio Casualty will save you money as long as you never need to make a claim.

Time will tell. The local agent is good and we are insured for liability/UIM only (cars aren't really worth full coverage), so there is much less of a chance that we will need to deal with them.

Aaron Z

 

[JDgreen227]

I have dealt with a multitude of home and auto insurance companies during the past 45 years and have found the majority of both national named companies and local agents to be almost worthless and self-serving. The absolute worst national company for auto coverage was Liberty Mutual...when I would call to request a change it would take them two MONTHS or longer to do it...but they were so prompt at taking premium deductions from my credit union account. I finally told my CU to stop the deductions and intentionally screwed LM out of several months worth of premiums to get back the monies owed me because they stalled around making changes to my premiums. They would send me a bill saying I owed them $300, I would send them a check for $30 and tell them they made a mistake in figuring the decimal point...:laughing: and one time they sent me a letter saying they were sincerely sorry they were late making my requested changes but they were really short of staff...I waited a month and sent them a reply saying "well, I am short of money which is why I can't pay this bill...:laughing:

I tried a local Auto Owners agent about 11 years ago...he had a big smile and a nice personality but screwed most of his customers over. Same type of tactics LM used...delay, delay, delay. Insurance agents are so helpful and friendly when you sign up with them but when you need service afterwards...95% of them don't give a s***. Ten years ago I signed up with AAA, and have stuck with them for a record amount of time. I now have home, auto, and life with the same agent...he is a true gem and so honest and reliable I refer many people to him. AAA rates are competive anyway, but the service I get is fantastic. Back in 2003 my travel trailer sustained $6000 worth of storm damage...I called my agent, he had it towed into the shop, worked with the adjuster, handled everything from my call to him to the time he had the trailer towed home, and guess what? According to my policy, transportation to the shop and back was MY responsibility !!! He lets me know about any and all discounts available to me, be they a discount for a new roof on my garage or an updated electrical service panel for the house. Any and all phone calls or emails to him get IMMEDIATE response for a change of any type. My homeowner renewal came the other day, I was expecting an increase...guess what, the premium went DOWN although the coverage on the property increased.

May be off topic somewhat, but IMO a good, competent agent makes dealing with any insurance company easier and I hope others are as fortunate as I am.

 

[aczlan]

May be off topic somewhat, but IMO a good, competent agent makes dealing with any insurance company easier and I hope others are as fortunate as I am.

Aint that the truth...

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

We have Allstate for our cars and house. I can't find anyone that can beat them locally. Rates haven't gone up much in 20 years at all. Several years back we did have a dispute with the amount they wanted to pay for a van that we got into an accident with. However, I looked around to find a different company and could not find anyone to beat them. I guess it depends a lot on your location, your history, your kids driving records, kids school records, and your deductibles.

 

[rekees4300]

I've had State Farm for 30+ years about the last 4-5 years they've robbed and raped me.I'm ready to make the switch.

Ditto ... after State Farm increased my premium by 18% in one year (for no apparent reason) I switched to AmFam.

 

[blucoondawg]

I currently have Dupont through a local agent, they have raised some for the upcoming year so I am going to look around, we used to have Farmer's Insurance and the coverage was very good compared to the policy I currently have but their premiums went sky high a few years back, last time they quoted me they were 300 a yr higher on home owners and sighted the reason as I wasn't close enough to a full time staffed fire dept even though I have a volunteer fire dept 5 miles down the road, so I guess if you live in a rural area or small town you get screwed by Farmers, maybe they should change their name to City Slicker's Insurance. My wife has had luck on auto policies with Geico but I was always quoted high from them.

 

[NorTracNY]

I have found that when I've received a large increase that a phone call to the local agent works. They press a magic button and the rates get lower. It's the only thing that's kept me from shopping around lately. I have looked twice in the last 10 years are other companies rates. LM would have saved me $100/yr on auto, but they flat our refused to cover me for my home because I have dogs that are on their "list". A local insurance agent that works with many companies came back with similar auto, but over 2X for the home.

Be sure to call your agent every so often. They lower rates just to keep customers.

 

[aczlan]

LM would have saved me $100/yr on auto, but they flat our refused to cover me for my home because I have dogs that are on their "list".

That is similar to the reason we ended up with State Farm for our homeowners and umbrella. No one else would cover us if a friend came over to ride the horses (aged 16 and 20), fell off and got hurt.

Aaron Z