Insurance Hckr for home , auto and other

Just refinanced and my yearly auto insurance got bumped like 15% ad home increase by 12%. Any place you guys suggest to shop around…i am in SOCAL… went through an insurance agent last time but now i just shooped around an geioc is like 40% cheaper. SO may go with Auto with there.

I have not found a go to cheap place. Funny you mention geico as it was more expensive for me vs progressive. Also, the general car insurance was literally 2.5x as much, not sure why. Homeowners insurance I shopped around and rates varied from $600-900 for exact same policy from exact same provider (safeco). Didn’t have much luck with zebra.com.

1 Like

Find a local independent broker. They can shop a large segment of the market and let you know what the better deals are for you. Being tied to a single line carrier (Geico, State Farm, Farmers etc) does not allow you to shop a big part of the marker. An agent that has 10, 20 or 30 carriers does.

4 Likes

Talk to a local independent insurance agency (broker). Find one at www.trustedchoice.com or get a referral from friends/family. They will shop around for you and can repeat the process every couple years if rates increase etc…

1 Like

Wawanesa is cheap, although probably not the greatest

Did Geico it had some 15% discount came out around 25% cheaper. Rest i kept same. Anyone used policygenius?

Insurance is usually not something I would try to get the lowest possible price on. Its a combination of coverage, stability, service, and price. Having said that, it is best to definitely shop around every 2-3 years since many companies have higher rates the 1st year, but will have loyalty discount and cash back to reduce cost the subsequent years.

2 Likes

I couldn’t agree more with @idstriker17, cheap insurance is not good insurance. Personally I would focus on the coverage/price of the insurer and the service of the agent. Geico and most other captive insurers try to get you to focus only on price. Shopping for auto insurance is not the same as shopping for an identically optioned car at multiple dealers to get a good deal. The same policy, from the same company, will be the same price regardless of where you buy it.

Side note - buy an umbrella policy!!!

3 Likes

Agreed on all above. I keep my coverage same what was and i try to be with certain insurance carrier only. Not going with downtheroad insurance company. Still not a bad idea to lower the insurance cost if these guys can fight for my $$ and yes if you are in socal do get umbrella and earthquake…

The same policy, from the same company, will be the same price regardless of where you buy it.
^that is very much incorrect, agents have the ability to discount

buy an umbrella policy!!!
^perhaps

Insurance agents have a lot they can do if they want to. My car was hit by a friend driving it and the claim was 32k. He was willing to take responsibility for his mistake and have his insurance company pay for it but I was told that the insurance carries with the car and not the driver so my company paid for it and I was ready for a substantial bump in premium after next renewal which eventually happened.

At that time I moved to a different state and a friend who is StateFarm agent got that 32k claim paid by my last insurance company removed from the record as I was not driving the car at time of that accident. If that was not removed from my insurance claim history I would have paid few thousand more in premium over next 3-5 years so the right agent is definitely worth it.

2 Likes

I am waiting for Lemonade to release their auto insurance program. I got my homeowner’s insurance through them and saved $1200 a year so hoping they’ll save me some on car insurance.

The same policy, from the same company, will be the same price regardless of where you buy it.
^that is very much incorrect, agents have the ability to discount

I can only speak for California but, no, they cannot discount. It’s called “premium rebating” and it’s illegal.

Again, I can only speak for California but: Insurance follows the car. Accidents/tickets follow the person. In CA you should never be dinged by your insurance for someone getting in an accident in your car.

How did you like using Lemonade? Best coverage as well or comparable to what you had before? I’m going to take a look at them for my homeowners too but a little weirded out by not having a person to talk to about it.

I got better coverage at less than half the rate. I don’t know what’ll happen when and if I ever actually need to file a claim, but I am good with what is on paper for now.

1 Like

I use country financial for homes (they have a home protector which covers rentals/2nd homes and uses same liability). BiBerk,Country Financial and Progressive Commercial for commercial property (Go with BOPs and share liability coverage when possible… Geico for cars, it is so cheap and I change things on the app in an instant, helps with getting so many leases lol. The hack is to find the company that is increasing market share in a region (make sure they are good, not cut rate insurance) and try to get affinity discounts (credit union, associations, realtors etc…) that get you a bonus discount. packaging insurance isn’t always the best approach.

I did this a repeatedly couple months ago for auto.

Seems like the best rates at least anecdotally was when a new provider came to town and tried to undercut the competition and pay a whole year in advance vs some form of installments.

YMMV

friendly reminder that low rates and good service do not go hand and hand.

2 Likes

Just like choosing a heart surgeon, with insurance you should always go with the lowest bidder.

5 Likes