I have two 2020 cars. A Honda HR-V and an Acura MDX. The insurance on the Honda is 1.5 times the cost of the Acura. The State Farm agent claims the MDX is driven by mature professional drivers and the HR-v is driven by teenagers and inexperienced drivers. Thus the 'rating' causes the disparity. I am 84. Three questions.
- Is this normal or am I having smoke blown?
- How do you go about finding price comparisons from the competition?
- And any helpful recommendations would be appreciated?

Get quotes from the competition.

Modern insurance has made the insurance agent useless as they have the same access as the dude on the phone in India. If you have a claim they can literally do nothing for you so why pay extra for them to get a cut of your policy?

quote:

- How do you go about finding price comparisons from the competition?

Go to the competitions website and get a quote directly

Consumer Reports recently rated auto insurance and the old guard (State Farm, Allstate, etc.) are all in the bottom half. They've turned into a deny, delay, and defend strategy for claims and DGAF about long-term customers. Here are Consumer Reports' top 7 on their list:

I've been with Cincinnati Insurance group for a few years and am happy.

I have been with USAA since 1967. After factoring in the annual rebates no other insurance company has quoted better prices.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Modern insurance has made the insurance agent useless as they have the same access as the dude on the phone in India. If you have a claim they can literally do nothing for you so why pay extra for them to get a cut of your policy?

Up until this year, I'd been with State Farm for 40+ years. My insurance agent had zero influence with State Farm for my claim last year.

Windshield replacement a couple years ago was forwarded to a 3rd party for processing. In years past, my agent handled that directly.


I got a quote from Progressive - all 3 of my vehicles are now insured for what State Farm wanted for just my 2012 Camry with the same coverage.

I have had a number of insurance companies in my driving lifetime, including but not limited to GEICO (current), Allstate, Nationwide, AAA, Mercury and AIG. They all performed (i.e., handled claims and other problems when I had them) about the same. AIG, however, was a standout. Unfortunately, they are no longer in the auto insurance business - maybe not even in business, period. There is a fairly wide disparity in cost between companies, even given the same coverage and limits.

Amica - No Brokers, No Agents, NO Middleman...Just Insurance!

Been happy with Erie for auto, home, and umbrella

quote:

Originally posted by Outnumbered:
Been happy with Erie for auto, home, and umbrella

Same here. Two houses, four vehicles and an umbrella policy. My agent lives in the same subdivision as I do.

He told me that the more an insurance company advertises the worse it is and I believe him..

I believe it as a factor. Insurance companies are the original, OG "Moneyball" players.

Just imagine the amount of programing and computer power allocated to crunching numbers (Let alone the "Bribe" money spent getting raw data from police, medical providers, manufactures etc.)


This close to getting a WRX back in 2017. Insurance was ~30% higher than a Tacoma that cost about the same.

Insurance gal broke the factors (Regardless of operator):

- Higher % chance of getting in a wreck
- A lot of tech in the front end = higher cost of repair (Vs Tacoma)
- Subaru's in a wreck are more likely to end up being totaled out

I don’t know but I’m starting to get the impression that State Farm is in some financial trouble.

Their rates seem very high right now, I recently tried to get quotes to switch to another company using a broker and he was able to get me comparable quotes for our cars that were like 40% lower than State Farm but he couldn’t get our homeowners insurance through the same company because of our roof. We had to send pics of it and while it’s only about 9 years old, we have a metal flat roof on the third floor dormer and they refused to cover that.

I’m going to look again soon because State Farm seems very high right now for auto insurance and the quotes I got recently for 4 models of SUV I’m looking at buying all were much higher than I realized they’d be too. What’s weird is one of them, the Toyota RAV4 was way higher than the quotes for Mazda CX-5, Honda CRV and Subaru Forester.

quote:

Originally posted by Outnumbered:
Been happy with Erie for auto, home, and umbrella

I have the same…been happy with them.

Had a major claim for tornado damage. Easy as could be. New roof and all damages covered, no rate increase.

I also have higher deductibles and only did one claim about 8 years ago. That’s beside windshield repair & such.

With the repair the EX hit a pole in the parking lot, night, raining, newer vehicle.

The little stuff I let go or pay out of pocket. The same with home insurance.

We’ve been with USAA since the mid-‘90’s. Always great service, even with multiple claims both small and large (my younger daughter totaled 2 cars) and multiple windshield replacements. (Here in AZ glass coverage is included free because it’s not IF you’ll get a rock but WHEN and how often.) Growing up our family was always with State Farm. In fact, I photographed our agent’s daughter’s wedding, as my parents had been with him for many years, and eventually me as well.

We’ve been happy with USAA and would recommend them if you’re eligible to join.

I won't recommend any of them, but will say always re-quote annually. They will not be loyal to you, so do not be to them. Generally speaking though, stay away for the big brand names as they seem to command the highest premiums for no reason. There are plenty of very solid regional insurers out there that are lesser known to the masses.

My home/auto/umbrella insurance has skyrocketed the past 2-years. Home value up to "stupid" levels nearing $500K...not worth that much. It was built for $325K in 1999, I bought around 2010 for $275K, current about $480K. Home policy has increased like 40%-50% and I have 2-drivers under the age of 21 on my auto policy. Grand total paying just short of $7,400 annually!

I am absolutely getting sick of State Farm and I need to find a new insurance company for my house, motorcycle, and two cars. State Farm is horrible for home insurance in Texas and they actually won’t insure homes in Texas anymore; I am grandfathered in.

State Farm no longer insures motorcycles so I have Progressive Insurance for it, but I would like to have everything with one company for the multi discount so I will be watching this thread.

Use an insurance broker. They will all raise rates on you. I've had good luck with Erie the last 5 years or so keeping rates down but no claims.

Cassandra, you appear to be in the same area I am.

Give Rick a chance to earn your business.

https://www.millhamco.com/

I spent 6 years at one of the largest personal insurance companies, both in customer service and claims.


Thousands of factors are taken into account with rating vehicles. Including repair costs, accident statistics, theft statistics, etc. I once took a look at our rating guide which is essentially if you could peel back the face of the software and see how it comes up with rates. It was hundreds of pages long with thousands of items that change the rate fractions of a percent or more. So I don't believe he's blowing smoke.

That being said, don't be afraid to shop around your insurance. Start with a local agent that can quote multiple companies at once. Be wary of some of the online companies that show you a good rate, but it may only be for 6 months vs 12 months. Or it may not be a direct 1 for 1 comparison with the same coverages. Always compare the coverages line by line with the old and new policies before switching over.

I've seen people save tons of money with some of the online companies, and it turns out they went from a 12 month policy to a 6, or went from a $300 collision deductible to $1k. Or didn't have as much liability coverage.

Not to say a local guy wouldn't do the same thing, but it's a lot harder to get away with.

Thank you all for your comments. Sean and Ryan. Went to a broker and are probably going with Progressive. Very reasonable rates to start with for comparable insurance. They also have a 'progressive' penalizing system for infractions and accidents. Just the wife and I, both codgers, so we should be able to weather that. If this falls through I will certainly look up Milham...
Thank you all again, quite a learning experiance...