I received my renewal statement for auto insurance in the mail the other day. Usually I just autopay it and forget it, but in today's atmosphere of declining income and restrained spending, I actually gave my policy a once-over. Hmm... $864/6mo for 250/500/100 coverage (BI/TBI/PD), $750 deductible. Seems a bit high, maybe I'm carrying too much coverage?



So I chat with the G/F who works for the Insurance Commissioner's Office (in Health Ins), and she seems to think the rate is quite high...



Off to the internets!



I log onto Esurance, provide my SSN and a blood sample, and my rate comes back as $409/6mo for identical coverage with a lower $500 deductible. Now I'm wondering if this is too good to be true? Or have I just been raped repeatedly by Farmers for the last decade?



Thus bringing me to my current quandry- is Esurance any good when it comes time to file a claim? Are there other insurers out there that are particularly good with claims service, that perhaps won't charge me like I was a 16 year old FD driver? In Farmer's defense, the claims handling (when I needed it about 8 years ago) was phenomonal, so that's one reason to pay a bit more for insurance. That, and Farmer's won't pull your driving record unless they have to pay out on a claim or are underwriting a new policy.

It definitely pays to shop insurance every few years. I have no knowledge of Esurance, but I seem to recall reading some fairly negative stuff about Farmers. I've been with Erie for a couple years now. Quite happy with pricing and service. I was with Allstate for years, but they're quite expensive. GEICO seems to be pretty cheap, but I hear mixed reviews.

We're with GEICO, esurance was actually a little more. All insurance co's ******* blow, you gotta argue with them to get anything done and they rarely act like they want your business.



GEICO does pretty much blow ass, they try to push you around, make you go to their shop, they didn't fight for **** to get my deductible back from the other driver even though it was her fault. Same old **** with every insurance co thought really.

That's one thing I've appreciated about Farmers. The one time I had to file a hit-and-run claim, they paid for my repairs and rental with $0 deductible and then sued the other guy (I got his plates) to recover the entire cost. They went to court and lost the case (circumstantial), but never asked for reimbursement of the deductible- as I understand it they were basically like, "yeah, we know it wasn't your fault and your family has $5m coverage on 5 drivers and a home, so we'll just let this one go."

Allstate is satan, i used to have them, they are a ******* nightmare. I had them several years ago, never again.

ask a local broker or insurance office, personally I would not use one of those online insurance places

I am on the NAIC website and it's saying that Allstate's 'complaint ratio' is 1.07, v esurance 1.49 and farmers 1.02. The national average is 1.00, and a higher number means more complaints...

i have allstate. Thus far theyve fixed the 3 no questions asked and been very friendly about the whole thing. Then again i pay out the ass to start with, with a 100.00 deductible.

I have used State Farm for way too many years and every couple years I shop for prices and nobody seems to beat their rate for me anyway. Well I used progressive once and it was a cluster &%#*. Went to pay the car off and was told I owed 1800 bucks more! Seems they never got their paperwork to my lender. So the lender put coverage on my car too and never told me. Progressive lost or didn't have paperwork for proof to lender and I was in the keep it mode back then. Found mine after some digging and faxed all I had to the bank to get the title released. Was when I bought my 3rd gen, quite some time ago. In all fairness a guy I work with uses them and thinks they are great! Was like 100 bucks savings over that 18 months. Hate to think what might have happened if I had to use that company.

I did NOT have a good experience with Progressive.