Macster

Accident rates going up. While more miles are being driven this is not the biggest contributing factor.

The biggest contibutor is distracted driving accidents. I have had 4 insurance "claims" since 2009. 3 were claims against other drivers who ran into my car (the Boxster twice, the Cayman S once). In all the accidents I was *stopped* and the driver ran into my car and each time the driver was on his/her damn cell phone.

The 4th claim was for a mule deer encounter. It was too dark to see but I would not have been surprised if the mule deer was using a cell phone...

(And just so you know I am probably the only person in CA who doesn't use a cell phone while driving. In fact while I have two cell phones I don't use them that often at other times. Last time I needed to add air time I tallied up how much air time I had used over the past 12 months and it came to around 800 minutes.)

islaTurbine

Geico just raised my 6-month premium by $100. Clean history, no accidents or tickets, and perfect credit. They'll be losing my business as soon as we get our new house.

911Syncro

Try AAA insurance, we've used them since 2005 and the prices and service has been very good.

For example, previously State Farm premium was about $3,500 for the home. AAA was $1,200 for the same coverage. And then in 2007 much of our property, and parts of the house burned in the huge San Diego fires. AAA was great, they paid plenty, and no increase in premium. Same with a couple of cars that my kids totaled (no injuries), AAA was great.

KNS

I've been with State Farm almost ten years. Never had a claim and I have a great credit rating. Every year my premiums go up, I need to look elsewhere.

wildbilly32

Been reading up on insurance lately, not because of price because my Agent is MIA. Your 10 loyalty is probably costing you money. The number crunchers figure they can raise your rates because they calculate you won't leave. Surprise them! I'm going to surprise them after being with the same company since 1992!

robman

Anyone using Geico or progressive? There a lot cheaper than state farm.

islaTurbine

See post #17 above.

Carsly

I have Geico for my 2 SUV's, manageable rates (here in NJ) but I moved my P car to Metromile and the rate dropped by half. no claims experience with metromile but Geico was easy to handle on one claim I had five years ago for a parking lot fender bender.

sfv_rider

I'll add another vote for USAA. I've had them for auto (and motorcycle) insurance since 1984, and thier prices are about as low as they get for Los Angeles. When we lived in Monterey, our rates were less than half of what they are here. Sigh.

We also have them for homeowner's insurance.

I've had a few claims with them (stolen Honda Hawk motorcycle, a likely drunk driver rearranging the left side of my pickup when parked at 2AM), and they have been reasonable, and quick, with the settlements.

Insurance sucks, but you have to pay to play.

RDL

We had been with Erie for 27 years till I gave them the boot in February. Among other issues Erie sent me a notice they were increasing the premium on my 996. They previously called my wife to tell her they wanted to stop by the house and update their records on the car. The policy was a stipulated value of $20,000 which after their "records update" they put a value of $36,000 on the car.
I told the agent.....sold! If they can find me a buyer at that price I will sell the car imediately. After having a market report done by a dealership, showing them the blue book and NADA values, they still said it was worth $36,000 and needed to increase my premium.
Buh bye! I changed agent and companys.

robman

state farm is $494 six months and progressive and Geico is $274 and $295. Just wondering how hard it is to make a claim with one of those, Geico or progressive.

911Syncro

If you get hit by someone insured by them, you will be shorted. They negotiate really hard, and have no consideration. After all, what can we expect from companies that spend all their money on advertising? Oh? ... reserves, so we can help the injured? --- Nah, better to buy some TV time. We are a company focused on Sales! Our quarterly profit reports and annual bonuses am da goal.

HawkFan#12

We have been with Progressive for just over 6 years. No one can touch the premiums for comp, coll, and more than state minimums for bi. We insure three cars and our house with them.

Do we see increases? Yes, minor ones from time to time, but that's expected for many of the reasons mentioned above. It's all about risk. All insurance carriers employ actuaries and they decide risks and what premiums to charge. Companies that are profitable and continue to grow such as progressive, hang on to the good risk, and raise rates in the bad risk. This lowers their overall risk and sendsvthat bad risk to the competitors.

Everyone is going to have their theories about the big bad insurance companies, but as long as what is owed is paid when the time comes, that's all that matters to me.

professorman

A few years ago I switched to eSurance to save money. After the first year, they raised their rates. I called them to ask why, because I had no changes. They told me that the states dictate the rates that they give based on some metrics. So, I called up the state. The guy I spoke to said that its just something that insurance companies do. My state did not change anything. The insurance companies raises the rates. That is why each insurance company can 'accurately' claim that you save money by switching to them. The only way to save money is to change insurance every cycle.


I am with my employer MetLife now, and my rates are decent. I pay $600+ for the year for the 01 996. I am 30+, and excellent credit score and no recent traffic incidents in my family, with 5 cars on my policy.

cwilt

So I have a thought on this... I have had a credit freeze in place for the last few years and my credit rates have gone up. My wife and I are over an 800 credit score but you can't run our credit while we have a credit freeze on our accounts. So how does that make this possible? Maybe there's something I don't know but I don't see the correlation.