when insurance savings isn't savings at all
Ohioguy
ago. I mentioned I was paying about $510 a year for our house
insurance. Our neighbor mentioned that she was paying less than that
for insurance on both her house and her car.
At that point, I immediately found myself thinking of savings - we
pay about $180 to insure each of our 3 vehicles annually. If I could
get 1 of them included in what we are currently paying for house
insurance, and still be paying less ... well, it sounded like $200 a
year in savings or so. Not a lot, but worth following up - especially
since we also have two houses, and 3 cars. (savings could be magnified)
I decided to write to her insurance agent. I explained all the
details, plus printed out our current coverage policies. I told him I
was writing because our neighbor told us she was paying less than we
were for the house insurance, and got her car coverage as well.
I told him that we currently have our car insurance through 1
company, and house insurance through another. (car through progressive,
house through Farmers) I was hoping that by having them through the
same company, we might get additional discounts.
I specifically told him that if he felt he could save us $150 or more
a year, (currently we're paying $1,517) to please write up a policy and
send us the details.
What did I get in the mail? A policy that would have us paying a
HIGHER amount. 9% more, to be exact. Where did the savings go? Our
neighbor has exactly the same house, built a few months later. We have
never had any insurance claims. I have no idea why an insurance agent
would bother to send me insurance papers with a higher cost, when I told
him up front I was looking for savings.
Rod Speed
Why dont you ask him why its so much more expensive than your neighbour is paying ?
Vic Smith
First off 3 x 180 = 540.
540 + 510 = 1050.
Where did the 1517 come from?
Aside from the math problem, I don't think insurance claims mean
anything to an insurer unless you have a policy holder history with
them.
I've been with the same State Farm agency for 35 years or so.
They insure my 4 cars and house.
There is a multi-policy discount but I don't know the details.
When I first went with them they cost the about the same as every
other policy I checked out, but I liked their people and service.
When Allstate sent me a solicitation a few years ago saying they
would beat my current insurance costs, I sent back all my coverages
and premiums. I was an Allstate employee too.
They didn't even respond.
I have had a few auto claims with State Farm and had no problems.
I just tossed away an old ambulance bill from 1999 when one of my kids
caused a crash and because he was 17 the locality required an
ambulance come and check him out even though there were no injuries.
When I got that bill for $425 I called my agency,
That kind of bill for a city ambulance service was unusual then and I
only had liability on the car.
I was told to send it in, and never heard another word about it.
When the kids were an age where it counted toward premium price, the
folks at the agency have always been good about shuffling "primary
driver" around on my cars to keep premiums down too.
They make a good profit on me, and are smart enough to keep me from
looking elsewhere.
No sense talking about my insurance costs because they're different
everywhere.
I check around occasionally and don't see another insurer that can
come close.
My point is your history with them seems to count with State Farm.
Might be the agency operator too.
That State Farm is privately held probably makes a difference too.
I don't even want to talk about how Wall Street analyst expectations
and "shareholder value" affected Allstate operations.
And what that does to premium price.
Anyway, I'm only talking about my experience., and I'm sure there are
plenty of counter-examples.
You didn't say anything about your neighbor's insured amounts, or why
you wrote to her agent instead of talking to him.
There are many moving parts to human transactions and if you don't pay
attention to most of them you won't do as well as you can.
--Vic
Dan Birchall
> What did I get in the mail? A policy that would have us paying a
> HIGHER amount. 9% more, to be exact. Where did the savings go? Our
> neighbor has exactly the same house, built a few months later.
A couple decades ago, I was a programmer at a company that sold software
to calculate insurance premiums.
Is the agent proposing the exact same coverages your neighbor has on
their house? Do you have the exact same model and year of car, driven
a comparable amount, with drivers of comparable ages and genders? (You
mentioned that you've got some kids; if they're driving, they probably
cost more.) Do you both have the same pluses insurers look for (smoke
alarms? fire extinguishers? non-smokers?)
If the answer to all these questions is yes, then I would guess that
they've gotten a break for being long-time customers, or something.
But I'd bet lunch that the answer to all those questions _isn't_ yes. :)
-Dan
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"If you like to stand on your head and spit pickles in the snow, on the
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- Langston James Goree VI
h
The OP is a tax-evading douchebag whose biggest insurance problem is his
speed-demon wife. He'll never get a decent rate for a combined cars/house
policy as long as he's with a speeder who racks up points. Sucks to be him.
For many, many reasons. Too many kids, law-breaking wife, no imagination,
desperately fly-over-state mentality, etc.