BrokeBackNShoutin said:Erie's been around for like 80 years. One of the reasons why you haven't heard of them is that they do not advertise. Because of that decision, they are able to keep their rates lower than other insurers. However, you can check their J.D. Power numbers as of late and you will see how they are usually number one or at least top five.

My entire family has Erie-through the same agent. We've all had great service (from corporate as well as the local agent). If you have a spotless driving record and good credit it will be hard to beat erie overall. Being a cheapskate, I've compared MANY options, what I've found is that Erie is cheaper than even most poorly rated companies...and Erie is very reputable.

The only claims experience I've had so far was for a broken windshield-I was driving down the road, rock hit windshield, cracked it. I called my agent from my cell, and within 10 minutes of the crack I had an appointment for someone to come to my house to "repair" the crack. After the repair I wasn't happy with the fact that it was still visible so I called my agent again-someone came to my office the next day and replaced the windshield on the spot...total cost=$25 deductable!! No rate increase associated with that. Also, I've had 2 speeding tickets in the past 3 years and have seen no premium increase thus far-the most recent was just registered with DMV about 4 weeks ago--so we'll see after Erie catches wind of that.

I use Horace Mann. They specialize for people in education. Have never been able to beat their rates.

I've been with State Farm since I started driving (late 80's) since my parents were with State Farm. I have Auto and Renter's Insurance through them and have never had any problems. Had a car totaled by hail while I was in college. Had an accident in the late 90's. No problems with them. My insurance went up by less than $5 when I moved to NC from Texas but since then has dropped due to discounts. In addition, I have a guaranteed renewal clause...so they can't cancel me. That doesn't mean they can't raise my rates extremely high if I end up making too many claims, but I'm guaranteed renewal.

I've been using American National for both my homes and cars for the past 8 years. I haven't asked for much out of them (one claim for a cracked windshield, which was fixed promptly). I haven't found anyone that could beat their auto rates, but the real draw for me was their homeowner policy. WAY cheaper than the rest. Two of our houses are in florida. Post Hurricane Opel, most insurance companies wouldn't even touch an older house, let alone give you a good price. I will say though that they're not much in the Corporate level lines of communication, and for a period of time we were shuffled through a number of different agents.

awoyemihu said:we switched from traveller to allstate last year, that was the lowest we could find at that time.
so far so good. i'll try that 5% per 6 months thing as previously mentioned.

i have another question, how do you guys get ur quote? local agent, online, phone, or through 3rd party search? did you notice any difference?

Keep an eye out for Allstate to see if they will bump the rate on you. We've been with ours ~10 years and each year was a little increase each time. Regarding quotes, I did the online ones through each company's site. I find that if the company requires a local agent, it is hit and miss because each one will be different and you're better off checking into relative's/friend's agents instead of blindly searching for one. Haven't done any quote comparison sites yet.

mapson said:awoyemihu said:we switched from traveller to allstate last year, that was the lowest we could find at that time.
so far so good. i'll try that 5% per 6 months thing as previously mentioned.

i have another question, how do you guys get ur quote? local agent, online, phone, or through 3rd party search? did you notice any difference?

Keep an eye out for Allstate to see if they will bump the rate on you. We've been with ours ~10 years and each year was a little increase each time. Regarding quotes, I did the online ones through each company's site. I find that if the company requires a local agent, it is hit and miss because each one will be different and you're better off checking into relative's/friend's agents instead of blindly searching for one. Haven't done any quote comparison sites yet.

thanks for the input. traveller did the same game for me and after a few years the rate is unbareablly high -the reason i switched to allstate. is the game designed like this? switch -switch...

woyemihu said:thanks for the input. traveller did the same game for me and after a few years the rate is unbareablly high -the reason i switched to allstate. is the game designed like this? switch -switch...

Hmmm...Travelers was one the ones I was considering based on their initial quotes.

Join the Military. Eligibility Test

SantaC said: I've been to their website and have even called them. My father served in the military but was not a USAA member at the time, so they are telling me that I'm not eligible to join through him. thats my understanding too. my dad is a wartime vet but he cant get USAA insurance and neither can I

I've been with many insurers over the years. I think the whole car insurance industry is a big scam (less than 50% of the premiums is going toward claims, the rest is overhead and fat management compensations), so I'm always looking for a better rate. Here's my personal rating of the insurance companies I've dealt with over the last 8 years. This is just my subjective rating, so YMMV.

2 drivers, age 30-40
2 cars, 1993 and 2003 model years
No accidents, no claims
Liability coverage only

• State Farm - VERY expensive but decent service
  
• ALLSTATE - expensive, poor service, many horror stories on the web
  
• GEICO - one of the cheapest, 24/7 service. Was with them for 4 years but they weren't lowering my rates. Now 2nd best.
  
• AMEX (now Ameriprise) - BEST DEAL RIGHT NOW. Been with them for 2 years now. Got an unbelievable quote on their site and they stuck to it. Paying about 20% less than at GEICO and get more coverage.
  
• AMICA - Used to be good but now requires FULL coverage on at least 1 vehicle. Dangerous precedent. Hope the others don't follow suit. Last thing I need is higher premiums for coverage I don't want.
  
  Also got quotes from ESURANCE, TRAVELER's, Progressive - rates were way too high.