Insurance

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Araxen

Golden Baronet of the Realm
10,216
7,562
I have State Farm right now and I recently did a quote with Geico and they quoted basically at half-price of what State Farm is charging me. Is Geico a good company to deal with when it comes to insurance?
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
Had GEICO a few years now. I've only filed claims for broken windows but they've been extremely quick each time. That said I've never dealt with a human on their end.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
They are fine.

Just know that your rate will go up after 1 year, possibly after 6 months. Basically all insurance companies now do the same shit that cable and phone companies have been doing for years. You get HUGE new customer/introductory pricing discounts, and they all fall away after a certain amount of time and your rate goes up.

It sucks. I sell insurance for a living, and let me tell you, the larger national companies that have been around for decades like State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, etc, never used to do this because it was seen as poor customer service. They would rather give you discounts for longevity, for staying with them year after year. But the Progressives and E-surances of the world came along with new agressive pricing and aggressive discounts like this and started taking so many customers away from the traditional insurance companies, that we had to adapt and follow suit.

So now we are in the same boat as you probably are with your TV service. If you want to go through the hassle of switching companies every single year, they you can probably always find something cheaper than where you are currently at. Its a pain in the ass, and insurance companies in general are less likely to be lenient with you as far as underwriting and claims go if you are a new customer with no history of business with them. If you have an accident right off the bat with a new company, you are boned, your rates are going to skyrocket. Wheras had you been with a company for 10 years with no issues before that accident, your agent could probably make a phone call and get an exception made for you. That kind of personal service is going by the wayside, and customer service in the insurance industry is soon going to be as hated as the TV and telecom industries, because that is the direction that we are all going now :/

Personally, if you're only talking about saving 10 or 20 bucks a month, stay with State Farm, they're a great company. I say this as someone who has never worked for them, and has to compete against them on a daily basis for customers. They are #1 for a reason though, if you stay with them for a long time they treat you great.
 

Soriak_sl

shitlord
783
0
I've been switching back and forth between State Farm and Geico for renter's insurance ever since being required to get it (wtf Pittsburgh). Pretty neat how those discounts work.

That said, I pick the highest dedictibles and Geico gives me better options on that end -- and they also let me pick a really low coverage on personal belongings (State Farm requires min 20k). I really don't want to report a $500 claim just so that they can hike my rates for the next x years, collecting more than $500 in additional premiums. Similarly, if someone breaks any of my shit, I can probably work it out with them... and if not, then I eat a couple hundred dollars in losses. The kind of event where everything burns down and nobody else is liable for it is pretty unlikely... and worst case, I could sell stocks and buy the necessary things again.

Insurance companies are pretty good at getting people to over-insure. For example, they ask you to value everything in your home and insure that amount. But if someone gave me the cash value for everything I have, I wouldn't go out and buy all the same things again. There's probably a ton of stuff I never use, so why bother insuring it?
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Yeah, my company requires a minimum $20,000 personal property coverage on renters policies, but they are so damn cheap it really doesn't matter. Around my city, depending on zip code, you're generally looking at $150-$200 per year for that minimum coverage(further out in the country can creep down under $100 a year), so you're only talking $12-$16 a month or so. When I rented I always happily paid my $12 a month for the peace of mind that if my place burned down I could walk away with a nice $20,000 check. I didn't have much stuff back then, but I also couldn't afford to spend $10k+ out of pocket to replace everything I owned. A lot of time, the people with the least amount of stuff need insurance the most, because they have so little(or no) savings for a catastrophe. It's kind of the same reasoning that I see a lot of people carry low deductibles on their car insurance. A lot of people out there happily pay an extra $20 a month for that $100 deductible as opposed to a $500 deductible. They somehow reason out that they can manage an extra $20 a month, but would never be able to manage an extra $400 all in one pop if an accident happened and they needed their car fixed.

Generally, the most financially sound people carry LARGE deductibles, because they are smart with their money and can actually see the big picture beyond just this current months budget.

You'd be amazed at the amount of people that I argue with trying to talk them into raising their deductibles, laying out the math for them that they come out ahead sometimes in just 1 year, and they still don't do it. People always say "well, what if I have 3 accidents this year and have to pay my deductible 3 times" to which I want to respond "well, then you're getting cancelled so it doesn't really matter, save the money now and go to a higher deductible", but they don't.