progressive: did they ever tell you prices for 3 other insurance companies?

[space-time]

need to shop around for car insurance. I have Amica and I am paying and arm and a leg, and even though my cars are getting older, they increaed my annual premium by about $100.

I remember when Progressive that those TV ads where they claimed they could give you a quote, and also quote from 3 other major insurance companies. I called them once; after I got their quotation, they said they could not give me prices form other companies because the computer locked up.

Then a few years later I tried online. Then they said that feature was not available in my state at that time.

Now I will start shopping around again this upcoming weekend, and I plan to all usual major firms, Geiko, progressive, state farm, natiotionwide, all state, the hartford, etc and I thought I would give progressive one more chance.

Any other company I should check out? am I better off with a local agent?

[Marc Anthony]

I have no experience with Progressive but was always suspicious of the "3 other prices" shtick. They are in business to sell their product, not send business away; my money is on their system being geared to tell you what they want you to hear. You may want to check out Met life. When I switched to them, my rate was half that of my previous insurer.

[space-time]

Thanks!

[Chakravartin]

Progressive gives you estimates of the rates at 3 insurance companies, but they aren't necessarily national insurance companies or good insurance companies and they won't give you another 3 estimates after the first three.

You're best off talking to an independent insurance broker who deals with several different companies and if you can't do that just pick three reputable insurance companies, call their local offices and get estimates over the phone.

[fromish]

Let us know the results of your research. Amica is supposed to be an excellent company-good service, fair and fast claims settlement, fewer random cancellations-so a comparison with equivalent quality companies would help me a lot. I tried Allstate and claim resolution was not a good experience in terms of fair or fast settlement or service.

[mstudio]

I switched to Progressive about 4 or 5 years ago. About a month after I got the policy, we had a huge hail storm and I had big damage to my two cars. They sent an adjuster out who wrote me a check on the spot and said if it doesn't cover the damage, let them know, they'll give me more. Since then, I've had a few windshields replaced, again, a check on the spot. My rates have not gone up, in fact down because the cars are getting older. They were almost half what Hartford was for the same coverage. Oh yeah, and if I pay the entire 6mo bill at once, there is a nice discount.


I don't work for Progressive.

[Trouble]

Progressive and GEICO have always been more expensive than my current insurance.

[space-time]

FWIW:

We live in NJ. both of us have excellent credit history (fico high 700's or low 800s). Late 30's

We never caused an accident, no tickets (not even parking tickets)

We got driver's license in Romania, I got it in 1989, wife in 1991. I drive in US since 1997, wife since 2004.

I drive a 97 Civic, 9 miles round trip to work. Wife drives a 2001 Civic, soccer mom, probably 15k/year.

We currently pay 1400/year, but next year Amica wants 1500. We do have a higher insurance for medical bills, I believe 300k. Just in case.

We also have insurance for uninsured/underinsured motorists.

I did make a claim about 5 years ago when someone hit my bumper, Geiko (his insurer) took care of it. Wife also made a claim when someone at Target scrathed her car, again, geiko (the other driver's insurer) covered the bill. We never made claims to our own inurance, and we were never at fault. In fact in both cases our cares were not moving.

Am I paying too much? I don't know, but I need to find out.

[Pam]

Years ago someone here suggested Safeco. Been with them ever since. Good rates but I've never had a claim so I don't know about that end. They don't do homeowner's insurance but they were still the cheapest without that discount. My homeowners ins is reasonable on it's own.

[Speedy]

I have Auto-Owners. Bought a six year old car and on the way home from the dealer I got shelled by a belly dump hauling paving materials. $3k in damages. I called the insurance company to let them know about the car and at the same time I started the claim. They covered the damages on the used car because I had another car with full coverage that was one year older.