A Michigan morn'in to you all.
A few questions about insurance; and Ted would likely consider this topic as investment related, eh?
We've maintained our auto/home insurance policies locally (a real human agent) for many years. Yes, the actual insurance company(s) are located in another land, far, far away; but........
Do insurance companies such as a Geico or similar have any local agents, or are these type of companies only through an online environment, with a 1-800 phone number being the primary contact?
Quotes for insuring autos is pretty much straight forward with a VIN number and one's location. But, how would a "Geico" type company form an opinion about one's primary home, as to replacement value and what to charge for a yearly insurance policy premium?
Have you changed insurance policies from a local agent to a "big box" insurance company?
Your thoughts and experiences about what to consider for such a change and experiences with filing a claim are much appreciated.
--- What major thoughts or considerations have I overlooked?
--- Might one expect a monetary savings of consequence for premiums, without sacrifice of coverage?
*** we currently receive a discounted price from a combination of auto and home insurance with the same insurer, as well as the company uses our excellent credit score for pricing (although, I suspect this is the common practice for pricing)
Regards,
Catch
Comments
Regards,
Ted
Since the mid-90s and my first car, I've had GEICO (or their partners) for auto, condo, and umbrella policies. Not having an agent to talk to is fine by me ... I've never had problems with their call centers when filing claims or updating my policy, and for all intents and purposes GEICO's done fine by me for over two decades.
I've not actively shopped around for insurance b/c I've been pleased w/their service and rates thus far.
For what it may be worth ... My policy: Shop & Save
Within the past ten years I have moved coverages for my two homes and three autos from Nationwide to Allstate and then onto State Farm ... and, I'm looking to move again possibly to AAA. Nationwide kept increasing my premiums and when I could save about a third I moved to Allstate and they begin their process of rate increases so I moved to State Farm. Now I am in the third year with State Farm and they like the others have their rate increase program. So, every third year (now) I begin to shop and save by moving to a new company. If I can't save 10% to 15% I'll wait until I can before moving.
And, so it goes ...
Skeet
An interesting observation regarding increasing rates.
One who think a company would want to reward a longer term customer, eh?
Very good points to consider.
How does a new insurer assess how to properly cover a house? Have you had real people actually visit and assess the property?
I'm attempting to understand this portion of their process.
Thank you.
Catch
Yes, evertime I have changed insurance companies there has been a property inspection by the insuarance company (or a representative) with each new policy. In addition, usually the agent will make a few photos of the homes as part of the new policy package. However, they made no inspection of the autos.
One of the things they looked at closely, this year, at my coastal property was how close to the house were any sizeable trees and how old was the roof. I had to have three large pines cut down and the house re-roofed as part of my last coverage review and to maintain coverage. They gave me a reasonable time frame to have their required work completed. Now, I'm shopping to make sure I'm paying a fair price for my policy. Interestingly, three years ago they had no issue with any of this stuff. And, the roofer told me the old roof that I had even though it was aged was a better quality of roof (fiberglass shingles) than the new (composite huricane wind shingles) and there was no reason for it to be replaced. So, go figure. I'm thinking it was someone with the insurance company justifying their job and/or a round-about-way to increase my premiums.
The trees are now gone and I have a new roof. And, the insurance company because of their required action triggered a policy review by me. Hey, it has been three years and time for another scheduled review of them. And, so it goes.
Skeet
Years ago we were led to believe that policy longevity meant something along the lines of lower rates, many of my statements showed an alleged discount due to time served with the company, but my shopping experience says that may just be a few cents here or there. It's a minefield out there.
Since a few plugs were thrown out I'll inject Erie. I've had it for 4 years & no problems.
@ Old_Skeet: If I understood your post I would have looked for another insurer instead of new roof & tree removal !
Good investing to all,
Derf
Aside from that, I agree with you, and I do use GEICO for that auto/umbrella package.
No problems dealing with them online or by phone. It seems they do have walk in offices and local adjusters - here's a 2014 PR release about their hiring more claims adjusters in Houston. My guess is that they outsource the property damage adjusters along with the homeowner policies, but that's a guess.
Longevity may still help; GEICO added accident forgiveness to my policy as a freebie after a few years. (I was accident-free for years before switching to GEICO, so it seems that something else like time with the company was involved.)
Insuring coastal property can be complex and expensive.
Recently, my coastal home had to be re-rated due to now being included in a huricane zone. Prior to this it was not included being back of HWY 17 in Murrells Inlet although I carried a huricane & storm policy over and above normal insurance. I'm thinking this is one reason the insurance company did an inspection and required the work they felt was needed for them to continue to maintain my wind, hail, huricane & storm coverage. Plus, I'm sure they will re-rate my policy come September when it renews. Currently, I am not in the state's hurricane insurance pool but if I were to get cancelled and wanted huricane & flood insurance coverage I'd have to seek insurance through the state's insurance pool ... and, it would be very expensive. My insurance compay told me they were not cancelling current policies; but, were, at this time, not writting new coverages
To maintain what insurance coverages I currently have I felt it best in view of what some of my neighbors have had to do because of policy cancellations. Heck, they may even not renew me even after doing what they required me to do to continue huricane & storm coverages.
So, if I should get cancelled on my coastal home's huricane & storm insurance policy ... I will simply become self insured for storm damage coverage and carry a fire policy. This is what some of my neighbors have chosen to do. For my current huricane & storm policy to be effective wind speeds have to be reported at, or above, 90 mph by the National Weather Service. This policy is through Occidental and the fire and umbrella policy is through State Farm along with my autos plus my principal residence coverage.
Skeet
The rates will vary widely depending upon which combination of houses, vehicles, deductibles, and earthquake coverage is quoted. Additionally, there are many hidden "gotchas": for example, many companies, including AAA, will not insure the SF home because the electrical system partially uses fuses. Some will cover the SF home for earthquake, some will not. Some want all of the trees at the weekend home cut down, some do not. Some offer decent discounts for multiple home/vehicle coverage, some do not.
With respect to home coverage, there are more variables depending upon the type of coverage offered or purchased:
• Actual Cash Value
• Replacement Cost Coverage
• Extended Replacement Cost Coverage
• Guaranteed Replacement Cost Coverage
• Building Code Upgrade Coverage
Frankly, I've found it all but impossible to come up with a comparison scheme that can handle all of those variables. After once spending nearly a month on-line, ending in near-total frustration, I've given up and maintain coverage through a local broker, who used Hartford/AARP coverage for both homes and the vehicles, Hartford/AARP coverage for SF earthquake coverage, and Zurich for earthquake coverage on the Russian River home. No inspections of either home were required, and I don't believe that you need to be an AARP member to qualify.
The rates have gone up a little over the years, but then again so have construction costs. By and large, the situation seems to be as much "under control" as is reasonably possible.
My own comparisons also included checking on-line resources for complaint records, including the CA state insurance commissioner's data base, for many of the companies involved. This was pretty discouraging in itself, as there were relatively few companies with decent complaint histories, although some were much worse than others
Some of the better-rated companies didn't bother to reply to on-line quote requests, so you have to wonder how they would respond to an actual claim settlement.
Edit/Add: To me, one of the most frustrating aspects of insurance, in addition to inability to compare costs in all but the most simple configurations, is the great unknown: HOW will this company treat you if the worst happens? Other than searching for information on satisfied customers/claimants, there really isn't any way to actually know what you are going to get should you need help. What's the point of saving a few dollars in premiums if it's going to cost many dollars and lots of grief in the event of a major claim? Consumer's Report and other consumer-oriented information sources frequently attempt to compare costs, but rarely if ever provide information with respect to claims resolution satisfaction. What use is a comparison of a product's cost without an equivalent comparison of a product's quality?
@Maurice- your local agent or broker generally does not have any resources to evaluate an insurance loss claim; the insurance company itself typically deals with all claims. If there is a question of fairness or response involved, the local agent may try to help, but they don't have all that much leverage either. An exception would be company-owned agencies such as Allstate, which may have local claims adjustment facilities. But then, you are still dealing with the insurance company, aren't you? By the way, we used Allstate for many years, until frequent price increases and a demand to cut down all of the tress at the Russian River eliminated them.
I was with the same insurance company/agent for 20 years. I started shopping to see if I could reduce costs. I was with Allstate. I asked for an estimate with a different Allstate affiliate and low and behold they offered much lower rates for the same coverage. I called the insurance agent I used for years and he said he could not match the offer I could get by switching.
Customer loyalty does not exist in the insurance business. I don't understand the why, but I believe the insurance companies prey on loyal customers. I guess I had the same experience as fundly. By the way, found the same experience with Home Owners.
When we switched coverage on our old house and when we bought our current house, Amica sent out someone to take a look at the property.
They're probably not the cheapest but I'm willing to pay a bit more for excellent customer service and no hassle claims. (They probably saved us some money when they unexpectedly covered an accident where we sideswiped a car with a U-Haul truck we rented.)
They let us pay over time with no additional charge (I pay by credit card to get the points), give us a discount for electronic billing and policy delivery, and, as a mutual insurance company, pay us back a dividend of 20% on our auto and umbrella premiums and 25% on our home insurance each year.
She wasn't interested in seeing what we could do to bring my rates down - I was quoted double what I'd been paying before the move. Her explanation: things are more expensive here. I had moved from a place with a similar cost of living, and a zip code with twice the population density (more local traffic), but she couldn't be bothered with that.
After that experience, I will never consider Allstate. Turned out to be a good thing - almost everyone was cheaper in my neighborhood.
Why? Apparently after some major claims losses concentrated in relatively small areas, they decided that they were too concentrated in many coverage areas, and attempted to "thin out" their coverage base. Some of those concentrated losses were due to large forest fires, and storms on the East Coast and down into Florida.
I assume that they were successful in pressuring enough of us to leave so that their computer models are now happy.