Our homeowners premium popped up a bit this year so we started taking a closer look at our overall coverage. We haven't bothered to shop around, well, like ever......we've been with State Farm for (mumble, mumble) years. Our premiums aren't that high (at least I don't think they are) but we figure it's a good time to look at our coverage levels overall, so tell me.....

About your experiences with auto/home/umbrella policies.

Companies you dealt with that you had actual claims with.

Gotchas you discovered when you made a claim that you wished you knew about when you signed up for your policy.

Calculation of replacement cost. They're waving around their black box estimator and I'm suspect.

Liability coverage levels. We haven't revised ours for a while so I'm not sure if we need to bump them up a bit.

Edit:

Did you use an agent or did you get quotes online?

We’ve always used AMICA. I’ve had multiple claims with them, both auto and home and have been supremely happy with how things were handled each time. (The last home claim was big, hail damage requiring a new roof and all new windows on the front of the house because the windows were discontinued and only one was damaged.)

We shopped around and switched again this year - we had liberty mutual and recently switched to grange. It definitely pays to switch every couple years. I swear insurance companies rely on that loyalty and jack the prices up on their current customers. We have never had a homeowners claim ever, and they still jack our rates every year.

I almost went with Openly this year -- again, they only quote through indpendent agents and they are a pretty new company that relies on big data to decide what kind of risk you are. Because of that, we got a stupidly cheap rate from them (probably because we've never filed a claim ever!) but we were worried since I couldn't find any online reviews of anyone who has ever filed a claim since they are new. I am hoping to switch to them this spring when our policy is up - hopefully by then, they will have more of a track record. They are partnered with/reinsured by longstanding insurance companies with good ratings so it's not like they are 3 guys in their garage selling insurance but I still like to see reviews from actual customers about how the claims handling went.

We've had State Farm but recently (as in the last year) they offered car insurance that's prorated based on your miles driven. We signed up for that (you do have a beacon thing in your car) and it has saved us a TON. I'm honestly not sure about homeowners, etc., because that's just rolled into our mortgage.

Based on many years of working in a law firm with insurance defense lawyers I can pass on that State Farm has a reputation of looking for ways to deny coverage to its insureds rather than pay claims.

J

Any companies that have a good reputation in that regard?

quote:

Based on many years of working in a law firm with insurance defense lawyers I can pass on that State Farm has a reputation of looking for ways to deny coverage to its insureds rather than pay claims

Are there any companies about which this could not be said?

This is an honest question btw, not trying to be snarky.

For me, Insurance is something you want to buy from a real live person, not a website. If you ever have a claim you may well need your agent on your side. Been there more than once.

My advice would be to talk to a couple of local independent agents - agents who represent several different companies. Find one you can work with and review what he has on offer.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

Based on many years of working in a law firm with insurance defense lawyers I can pass on that State Farm has a reputation of looking for ways to deny coverage to its insureds rather than pay claims

Are there any companies about which this could not be said?

Over the years I've had a couple of trucks stolen, two broken in to, stolen tools and at least one accident in a crew truck. Over a span of years I've had Safeco, Liberty Mutual and National General (apparently affiliated with Farmers.)

The Safeco claim involved getting my agent involved but they stepped up pretty quickly after that. Liberty Mutual was responsive right out of the gate. Nat. General took forever when the white truck got stolen (got my agent involved there too - excuse was "Covid") but eventually they paid in full. I went with Nat Gen again this year (couldn't beat the price and they did eventually make things right last time) and with this most recent claim they've been excellent.

The problem is that these companies are always changing and it's hard to say what a company might do with any given case. I will say that in all three cases none of them ever tried to deny my claim - just took weeks to process it.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

Based on many years of working in a law firm with insurance defense lawyers I can pass on that State Farm has a reputation of looking for ways to deny coverage to its insureds rather than pay claims

Are there any companies about which this could not be said?

This is an honest question btw, not trying to be snarky.

I have not had any trouble with AMICA. we’ve had several car claims and several homeowners claims (water damage from a leaking faucet when we were gone for a year and hail damage on a house that had sold but not closed and the recent refrigerator leak that trashed our flooring. They paid quickly and did not give me any hassle. Luckily I found replacement flooring, but they would have paid to replace all of it with new (living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway) if I had not been able to find boxes of the discontinued floor.
I am not interested in finding the cheapest insurance. I want insurance that works for me when I really need it. (And we have needed it!)