# I just switched to Geico...



## Parks and Rec (Aug 3, 2009)

and saved $354 (25%) a year on auto insurance.

Also switched my homeowners insurance to State Farm and saved $129 (24%).

Time for a vacation...where can i go for $483? Houston?


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## Dexman1349 (Aug 3, 2009)

I had a similar experience when I switched to esurance. Not sure how thier customer service / claims response is because I have yet to need them in the 2+ years I've had them.

State Farm also covers our renters insurance. We've had them as long as I can remember. They were great to work with when our PublicStorage unit was broken into (yes, it even covered off-site storage facilities) a few years ago. They provided the support and means to get everything replaced.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Aug 3, 2009)

I had GEICO for years and thought they were pretty good. They don't offer auto policies in Mass. (weird insurance laws here from what I've heard) so I switched to Liberty Mutual, who I have not had any dealings with (fortunately) so far.


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## snickerd3 (Aug 3, 2009)

the hubby has had state farm ins since he started driving, his parents even longer than that. we did a insurance comparsion after we got married and no one could beat state farm on the car or renters insurance (at the time). We have both cars and the house with state farm. When we get calls from other companies saying they can save us money i laugh. They ask why, and I tell them how much we pay and they go silent and then quickly end the call.

even before the hubby turned 25 his auto insurance was cheaper than mine (still is), longtime customers get better rates.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Aug 3, 2009)

^I lost that when I switched from Geico. Not only the longtime customer, but the X number of years without incident discount.

We have both cars on Liberty Mutual, which was a firm I'd heard of that actually operates in MA, and gave us the best rate. We get a mass transit and low mileage discount on my wife's car, as she drive 1.5 miles each way to the train station all week. Neither of us have new or flashy cars, and between us we have 1 speeding ticket in the past 5 years. Still runs us about $1800/year.


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## TouchDown (Aug 3, 2009)

We have AAA for our Auto, home, extra life, etc. They always were better as far as rates and have little to complain about, except their process of weeding out local agents and eventually moving you to a "group" number which you call into for any issues. Not nearly the offices local that there used to be.


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## z06dustin (Aug 3, 2009)

VTEnviro said:


> ^I lost that when I switched from Geico. Not only the longtime customer, but the X number of years without incident discount.
> 
> 
> We have both cars on Liberty Mutual, which was a firm I'd heard of that actually operates in MA, and gave us the best rate. We get a mass transit and low mileage discount on my wife's car, as she drive 1.5 miles each way to the train station all week. Neither of us have new or flashy cars, and between us we have 1 speeding ticket in the past 5 years. Still runs us about $1800/year.
> ...


Is that for your house too? That seems insanely high. I'm young (24), single, have an '04 Corvette and an '09 Honda. I pay ~$1350/yr.


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## snickerd3 (Aug 3, 2009)

z06dustin said:


> Is that for your house too? That seems insanely high. I'm young (24), single, have an '04 Corvette and an '09 Honda. I pay ~$1350/yr.


i suspect location plays a big role too.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Aug 3, 2009)

> Is that for your house too? That seems insanely high. I'm young (24), single, have an '04 Corvette and an '09 Honda. I pay ~$1350/yr.


Just straight up on the cars. We're renting right now, so the renter's insurance on the house isn't much, since it just covers our stuff, not the house. I don't know what the rates for that are.


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## Dexman1349 (Aug 3, 2009)

snickerd3 said:


> i suspect location plays a big role too.


HUGE role. When we moved from North Aurora (east side of Denver &amp; relatively bad neighborhood) to Parker (Southeast side &amp; 100000X better) and nothing else changed (same cars, same driving record, etc), our rates were reduced by 25%.


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## wilheldp_PE (Aug 3, 2009)

I'm with Nationwide. My parents let me stay on their policy until I turned 25 (with me paying my portion of the bill after I graduated college). Then, when I went on my own policy, the agent that they have been with since before I was born transferred all of their discounts to my account. I have a long-time customer discount for having an active account for over 30 years even though I'm 29, I have a good student discount even though I am not a student nor do I have any kids, and I have the safe driver and multiple policy discount (they insure my house too). I pay about $90/month for my car, and I'm not sure how much the homeowner's is since it comes out of escrow.


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## jeb6294 (Aug 4, 2009)

We've got our house and cars with USAA. We're able to get that because wife's dad and g-dad were both military so we qualified. The rates are a lot lower than they were with Nationwide even with all the discounts I had there, i.e. longtime customer, multi-car,car &amp; house, good driver, etc. You even get a check back for a (small) chunk of the premiums you've paid at the end of the year if you don't have any claims. Haven't had to use them but the MIL did and they seemed like their service is also first-rate.


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## goodal (Aug 10, 2009)

Parks and Rec said:


> and saved $354 (25%) a year on auto insurance.
> Also switched my homeowners insurance to State Farm and saved $129 (24%).
> 
> Time for a vacation...where can i go for $483? *Houston*?


I loath you!!!


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## Supe (Aug 10, 2009)

z06dustin said:


> Is that for your house too? That seems insanely high. I'm young (24), single, have an '04 Corvette and an '09 Honda. I pay ~$1350/yr.



My BEST insurance quote is through State Farm right now, and I have one prior (a speeding ticket) that occurred about 4 years ago, and I pay almost as much for my Astra as you do for both of your cars. I'm right about your age, too.


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## MA_PE (Aug 10, 2009)

z06dustin said:


> Is that for your house too? That seems insanely high. I'm young (24), single, have an '04 Corvette and an '09 Honda. I pay ~$1350/yr.


It's a MA thing. Just last year MA auto insurance got deregulated by the state. Prior to that with state oversight rates were pretty constant for all companies doing business here and they were very high. Now the rates are set by the state but they are still really high.

If you put a car on the road here with just the compulsory coverage required to drive it, you're looking at ~$800/year. Start adding coverage for the vehicle itself, factors for demographics (age/male vs female/safe driver surcharges/etc.) and it goes up pretty quickly. I have two teenage sons driving and it's ~$1500 each just so that they can have a car to drive. The whole thing stinks.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Aug 10, 2009)

^Ouch! Add a little on to what it costs for one of your kids and you'd have our premium for the two of us.

NY insurance rates were no bargain either. I was around $1500 or so when I got my license back in '96.


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## Master slacker (Aug 10, 2009)

jeb6294 said:


> We've got our house and cars with USAA. We're able to get that because wife's dad and g-dad were both military so we qualified. ... they seemed like their service is also first-rate.


x 100000000000!!!

USAA for _EVERYTHING_.


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## csb (Sep 10, 2014)

Alright, I'm bumping this:

Who do you use for car insurance?


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## NJmike PE (Sep 10, 2014)

New Jersey Manufacturers mjm


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## blybrook PE (Sep 10, 2014)

State Farm (Geico won't insure the plow truck, too old they claim)


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## Road Guy (Sep 10, 2014)

Had State Farm since either 88 or 89... Been pretty happy with them....it's nice to be able to say.. We've been with your for 25 years.... These aren't the dents your looking for....,,


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## Ship Wreck PE (Sep 10, 2014)

Yes State Farm is pretty fair. I have been with them since 86. Their bank is really fast. When I bought my boat, I just called my agent and he had a check the next morning.


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## engineergurl (Sep 10, 2014)

Nationwide... no complaints...

Wow I just realized we've been with them 10 years...


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 10, 2014)

AmFam for the cars and Progressive for the bike.


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## Flyer_PE (Sep 10, 2014)

Allstate for both car and home.


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## Ble_PE (Sep 11, 2014)

State Farm for everything and I've had no complaints at all. I've had claims on my car (uninsured driver backed into my wife's van and left) and my house (hail storm, new roof and siding) and they were great to work with.


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## csb (Sep 11, 2014)

I have been with Allstate since I was a teenager, but the quote they just have me was ridiculous. For a 2011 Tacoma and a 2011 VW, they want $1336 for the six-months. Online quote from Progressive for the same coverage plus more (use of rental car if our car is damaged, gap insurance) is $443 for the six months. I suddenly wasn't feeling so loyal to Allstate. That includes having our house insured with them.


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## Flyer_PE (Sep 11, 2014)

That's way high. I'd have a talk with them to make sure they didn't do something really stupid when they generated the quote. I'm paying less than half that for coverage on three vehicles.


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

Are you eligible for USAA? Wasn't your dad in the Air Force?


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## csb (Sep 11, 2014)

Yeah, my actual agent is out of the office, so it's his office manager generating the quote. So far all the other companies I've contacted have quoted me less than half that as well.


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## csb (Sep 11, 2014)

Road Guy said:


> Are you eligible for USAA? Wasn't your dad in the Air Force?




He was, which means I am. I'm not sure if I can call them, because both hands are holding onto my ankles so tightly from that Allstate quote.


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## IlPadrino (Sep 11, 2014)

USAA since 1994... around the world and across the country - never a problem!


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## Dark Knight (Sep 11, 2014)

All State


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## goodal (Sep 11, 2014)

When we moved I played switcharoo with insurance. I had been with State Farm for a decade. They were pretty high to cover the new house. So I went with AAA for everything for a year and was not happy with them at all. Now with Allstate and have no complaints.


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## mudpuppy (Sep 11, 2014)

I've got Progressive on my car and Jeep and AAA for my house. I seem to end up switching every couple years because they offer you teaser rates to start with and then start jacking them up over time. Though this time I signed up for Progressive's program where they put a black box in your car to monitor your driving behavior for a few months and give you a discount if you meet their targets. I think I got like a 23% discount so we'll see if that continues.


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

We were offered the black box thing and turned it down although we probably would save money in the wife's car does she drive super slow me not so much ..

I don't recall our exact payment but I want to say every six months for each car is like 400 bucks maybe? Full Coverage.....


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## engineergurl (Sep 11, 2014)

hubby had a bad experience with USAA, just saying


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## snickerd3 (Sep 11, 2014)

every insurance company can have good and bad experiences depending on the people you deal with.


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## YMZ PE (Sep 11, 2014)

^ Agreed. I've had good experiences with State Farm, AAA, and National General (never had a policy, but they insured someone who hit me - they were wonderful).

Speaking of home insurance, how often are you supposed to adjust your coverage? Every time you buy something expensive that you keep in your house? Or remodel? Or...?


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

I have been in a wreck twice with progressive customers (they were at fault )in the last couple of years they were not major wrecks but from my side progressive was a total pain in the ass to deal with.....


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

About the home insurance just read your policy lots of times there is a pot of money set up for furnishings and minor improvements that's already covered...

I would think if you remodel your kitchen you would need to let them know but if you added a sunroom or something to the structure you may want to?


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

Meant to say if you remodel your kitchen you would not need to let them know..??


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## csb (Sep 11, 2014)

Our one wreck with Allstate was when my husband hit a deer. The shop they authorized to do the repairs had his truck for over a month and did a crappy job.

I'm pleased with my Allstate home insurance and was okay with my auto until this last quote.


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## snickerd3 (Sep 11, 2014)

One good thing in IL, you can take it to any shop you want and insurance still has to pay. Sure some companies have preferred locations and it make the bill payments easier, but they have cover work anywhere. I wish IL had the super nice windshield replacement requirements like other states.


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

That's odd if you have been with them a long time... When we had a one car wreck last year SF told me that I could get up to $10K in repairs before I would be in danger of my rates going up.. That was my first claim

In 20 years.....


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## snickerd3 (Sep 11, 2014)

SF told you $10K? The back of my policies say $700 in payouts could raise rates, unless it was due to acts of god.


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## engineergurl (Sep 11, 2014)

CSB- maybe he meant that was for the year and all policies?


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## csb (Sep 11, 2014)

Nope. Clearly stated 6-months for just the autos. I've sent an e-mail asking why it will be so expensive, cc-ing my actual agent.

And the wreck he had was in 2012 and it didn't affect our rates then. Accident forgiveness and all that jazz.


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

20 years, two drivers, no claims, that's what they told me- I was worried about rates going up because I had just moved and I didn't have the same agent who I had known since High School...

I actually bumped a sign on the interstate on the way to eat lunch with cement and dex a month ago , I need to get a dent / scratch fixed but I wanted to at least put a year in between the other claim..... it was impressive though, I was admit tingly speeding (due to Dex.s poor directions) and came over a little hill and all lanes were stopped, I swerved into the gore area doing around 75 mph and locked up the brakes, hitting the merge sign that's in the gore area (no damage to sign) The auto 4WD kicked in and I think that kept me from spinning.. It was hard to believe I didn't plow into 4 -5 cars to be honest..

I plan to shop it around since we have a $500 deductible maybe I can get a jerry fix without going full quarter panel replacement..

also yeah - what deductible do you have? the higher deductible does save us around $300 a year for both cars..


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## goodal (Sep 11, 2014)

I've got the blackbox from Allstate. If you drive over 10,000 miles a year you get nothing back. I'm at roughly 25,000. So its not even close. I did get a $130 something back just for signing up but thats all i'll see from it. The box wont work in a highlander hybrid, so the wife didn't get one.


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## csb (Sep 11, 2014)

The reply, after I asked, "WTF?!"



> Dear csb,
> 
> Thank you for the note, Don and I had a chance to look at your policy this morning, we noticed that you have Allstate's Platinum Protection Plan that gives you some benefits that you would not get on a regular Insurance policy with other companies. For instance, Accident Forgiveness, 5% of your premium back every 6 months, Deductible rewards ($100 off your collision ded each year - you have accumulated $500 so you would have a -0- deductible in the case of a collision claim). With this in mind you could go to a $1000 deductible on Collision and still just have a $500 deductible. We do have a plan without these perks that the premium is about $325 lower.
> 
> ...


So I can get it down to $1000/six months? Sigh.


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## snickerd3 (Sep 11, 2014)

when we had two cars insured both near brand new(one suv &amp; one sedan) I think we were right about $750-$800 every 6 months.


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## roadwreck (Sep 11, 2014)

We have Amica for our home, life and auto policies.


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## Ble_PE (Sep 11, 2014)

snickerd3 said:


> when we had two cars insured both near brand new(one suv &amp; one sedan) I think we were right about $750-$800 every 6 months.




We're right around this as well.


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## mudpuppy (Sep 11, 2014)

csb said:


> The reply, after I asked, "WTF?!"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sounds like it's time to switch.

It's comparing apples to oranges because my cars are older ('06 Aveo and '97 Cherokee) and I don't drive many miles, but I pay about $500 every 6 months for full coverage on both my cars. And Michigan supposedly has the highest auto insurance rates in the country (though I attribute a lot of that to Detroit).


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## Road Guy (Sep 11, 2014)

call USAA.. they were not able to match state farms rates (for us) but they were not to far off. I have a bank account with them, I like they still refer to me as 1Lt when they call trying to lure me to their home / auto plan...


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## csb (Sep 12, 2014)

Does that mean they'll call me brat?


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## frazil (Sep 12, 2014)

We have USAA for auto and home insurance and we've been very happy with them. We have had to file auto and home claims and they were great with both. For auto, we have a Tundra and an Outback and pay $486 for 6 months.

We did try going with them for a mortgage and did not have a good experience, so I would suggest just sticking with their insurance dept.


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 12, 2014)

I checked ours with AmFam and we pay about $120/mo. for 2 cars and full coverage.


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## snickerd3 (Sep 12, 2014)

what is this monthly bidness with paying insurance?


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 12, 2014)

snickerd3 said:


> what is this monthly bidness with paying insurance?


Well that isn't what our payment terms are, it's just what the amount works out to be.


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## goodal (Sep 12, 2014)

I have mine on monthly. Two 9 yr old cars and a decent size house is $215/mo.


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## engineergurl (Sep 12, 2014)

we pay about $100 on a monthly basis, but our home isn't included since that is escrowed and stuff...


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## csb (Sep 12, 2014)

I spend a lot of money on hookers and blow, so we pay monthly.


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 12, 2014)

csb said:


> I spend a lot of money on hookers and blow *and cake*, so we pay monthly.


Fixt.


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## YMZ PE (Sep 12, 2014)

knight1fox3 said:


> csb said:
> 
> 
> > I spend a lot of money on hookers and blow *and cake and especially bacon*, so we pay monthly.
> ...


Re-fixt.


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## Road Guy (Sep 12, 2014)

usually if you pay at the 6 month mark it saves you a few bucks..


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## snickerd3 (Oct 3, 2014)

i wonder if the home insurance rate will go down if we tell them we got rid of the pool


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## Road Guy (Oct 3, 2014)

it should, they are a large liability (kids break in and drown in them all the time)..

Was it a separate line item in your statement?


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