JimmiLew

Hey Gang,

My insurance is up and its time to find a new carrier. I shopped Progressive on-line and I am amazed at their pricing. Its really competitive!

My question: Do the pay the claims without hassle? Do they drop you instantly like Gieco does once you make a claim?

Any advice you can offer is much appreciated!

JL

PS: This is for street cars, not race cars.

RickBetterley

Am I right that they still show prices for 6 month premiums, rather than a full year?
Otherwise, I think they have a decent reputation in terms of claims payment (which isn't saying much, considering the auto insurance industry's poor customer reputation).
Why not use AMICA?

schwank

Do they pay without hassle? No... Well, maybe if you consider several K below replacement value with no consideration of mods or condition.

They are cheap but that is all. Expect nothing beyond that.

Veloce Raptor

Progressive's owner, Peter Lewis, is very politically active with the money he makes from your premiums. Just FYI... Some may like his point of view, some may not.

M758

I use them for my steet cars because they are cheap. The only claim I ever made was a windshield. Not a big deal. Their best rate are if you pay 6months in full.

As for how they pay out in a "big one". I don't know.

JimmiLew

Thanks guys!

How about Amica or State Farm? Any experience with these carriers?

JL

chrisp

+1 on AMICA. Been with them my entire diriving life. My parents too.

Veloce Raptor

Amica = VERY good.

USAA = excellent

bb993tt

+1 Been member since 1967. Great service, including claims. There is that one small matter of needing to have been a commissioned officer in one of the services, however.

Veloce Raptor

Or a direct family member of one...or a sworn federal agent...or several other categories (they have opened up membership to a much wider audience recently).

bb993tt

VR, thanks for the info. Didn't know that. If you can qualify it's a great company!

Veloce Raptor

I believe they also opened it up to enlisted a couple of years ago as well. It was very controversial, IIRC.

bb993tt

IIRC, the whole premise of the company was that officers would be a lower risk, with lower premiums charged, since they're more mature, responsible, etc. I just know that I got the first ticket in my original '69S less than a week after picking it up. I was racing another car through the newly built Marina Del Rey in LA. The only reason I didn't go to jail immediately was the cop saw the Army ID in my wallet and believed my (true) story about just being back from RVN. I continued to tell that story successfully every time I got stopped for at least another year.

Juha G

I have a friend who runs a very reputable body shop in Florida. He will not accept any repairs that have anything to do with Progressive. In short they suck.
He wants to repair whatever car he has in the shop properly but these cheap insurance companies won't let him do that.

We just had a guy run into our wagon at a stop sign, he admitted guilt and we called up his insurance company, yes it was progressive.
I took the car to my friend's shop and paid cash for the repairs. The progressive guy went there to estimate the damages and wrote me a check.
He left out a lot of parts that were needed (as required to be replaced by BMW if taken apart) and stupid things like flex additive for the paint (bumber). How the hell do you expect to have the paint stay on the bumper if you don't add the flex additive???
In the end I got $50 more from the adjuster after numerous phone calls and run-a-rounds.
Ended up paying $150 for the accident I had nothing to do with. None of that was due to excessive repair hours or even labor rates, just parts and things that the adjuster left out. Go progressive!!

It's another story for Geico, they do things properly and pay up when it's time.
My friend had only good things to tell about Geico and how they handle their claims.

JimmiLew

Yes. Exactly. I went through the Progressive quote and specifically asked about OEM parts replacement. I had to pay an EXTRA $800 for that privilege! Wow!

I asked the same question of Amica and the cost was $55. I went with Amica and I am very happy. Saved $750 over Progressive and got better coverage from what I can already tell is a better company! Its a happy day!

JL