Shopping Insurance

[kork13]

I've never really been much of one to shop around with my insurance... Mostly only ever used USAA, except a couple years' stint of using GEICO for car insurance. USAA has generally been quite good for service, but I also know it tends to be more expensive. I'm finally moving my banking away from them, and I'm hoping to just make a clean break while I'm at it.

How do you all go about insurance shopping? Any companies you've preferred for cost & service? Seems extremely time consuming.... But then if I use an independent broker, how do I go about finding a good one? Especially knowing that I move around alot (every 2-4 years), I'm wary of trying to establish a working relationship with a single independent broker when I know I'll be leaving again in a couple years.

I'm planning to look at GEICO, and get quotes through Costco's sponsored insurance company... But beyond that, I'm not really sure where to go. Any advice on where to look, or what to look for (/avoid)?

[bjl584]

It's been a few years, but my insurance was the best deal around when I looked into it.
My policy covers my truck, my house, and my cabin.

Geico and Progressive weren't competitive.
I have Erie Insurance

[disneysteve]

Progressive compares rates with several others even if they aren’t the cheapest. But you really need to check a few. Rates can vary dramatically.

bundling can save you money but not necessarily. You have to compare.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Love costco and I get the best deal. I tend to shop every couple years. But now I'm looking for LTC insurance

[Fishindude77]

We have a lot of different coverages; homes, automobiles, boats, ATVs, farm equipment, an umbrella, etc., so insurance is a big expense.
It's good business to shop it periodically, but is also somewhat difficult to compare apples to apples. Last time I shopped, I built a big Excel spreadsheet with my coverages, details, costs, etc.

Been with State Farm quite a while and they've treated us well.

[srblanco7]

After a few years of premium increases, we tend to shop around our bundle (home, autos, personal articles, and umbrella). Last time we did this it saved us close to $1000/year.

[kork13]

After a few years of premium increases, we tend to shop around our bundle (home, autos, personal articles, and umbrella). Last time we did this it saved us close to $1000/year.

How do you shop around though? What process do you go through?

[srblanco7]

How do you shop around though? What process do you go through?

Pretty much just a shop around "process" Kork - we listed several of the major players (for example, MetLife, Nationwide, Lib Mutual, State Farm, Progressive, GEICO, etc.), and DW requested a quote based on our current policies - which in many cases she was able to do on-line. As I recollect, many could already "see" our details - perhaps there's a shared database(?). Learned through the quoting process that a few didn't offer "bundling" - that is, they didn't offer all the types of insurance we needed. The field quickly narrowed to our current provider and we scheduled a face-to-face. The "process" saved us roughly $1000/yr in insurance costs.

It was prompted based on continued annual escalation of insurance costs - which, to me, seemed a bit disconnected from the declining value of the vehicles that we own (that is, if there was an accident their cost to "total" the vehicle declines annually).

This is the second or third time we've done this and each time we requoted we found that switching providers saved us a decent amount of money ($700-$1000). And, it also provides an opportunity to review our coverage (that is, should you consider dropping collision & comprehensive on an older vehicle? is our umbrella coverage amount appropriate?) because otherwise, I typically just pay our bill annually and don't give it another thought.