Insurance Followup - Thanks

canesfan · 07-24-2017, 09:37 AM

Per this thread I wanted to thank those who added their input. I decided to bite the bullet and spent the weekend comparing companies and plans. Fun weekend.

Anyway, I'm pretty certain I'm going to switch everything to Geico. For the same coverage (except not having a stand alone RV policy) they cut my auto insurance by 2/3 and my home insurance by about 1/4. That doesn't include any "bundle" discounts for having them all with them, I guess I'll have to either call or wait and see what they might add up to.

I was planning on just going with an RV plan with Progressive for a year until I could figure it all out, but after looking at that price, and then getting one from Geico for just the RV and my truck, it didn't make sense.

I'm still fine tuning the numbers, but I think I'm almost ready to jump and my auto policy renews in a week, so good timing. And if Geico's roadside service is any good I'll save another $80 or so not having to buy a roadside service policy. I had great experience with Coachnet which covered all our vehicles and will keep them in mind if Geico fails like Good Sam did. Hopefully not.

Btw, I looked at Geico, Progressive (I DESPISE that lady in their ads), AARP/Hartford and USAA/whoever.

Thanks again for the input!!!

Javi · 07-24-2017, 09:50 AM

Congrats... like I said earlier, they saved me 50% over Farmer's which I been with for more than 40 years..

**sourdough** · 07-24-2017, 10:02 AM

Congrats here as well. You found out what I did when I switched from State Farm after 30 years. I only tried to use their roadside assistance once and they couldn't find anyone to respond in less than 4 hours. I did the repairs myself. In their defense, I also had Good Sam and a couple of other roadside plans that couldn't do any better (I was in a very rural area). I even called my buddy that owns a tire shop 60 miles away and it was the same story.

NealBlue · 07-24-2017, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canesfan

Per this thread I wanted to thank those who added their input. I decided to bite the bullet and spent the weekend comparing companies and plans. Fun weekend.

Anyway, I'm pretty certain I'm going to switch everything to Geico. For the same coverage (except not having a stand alone RV policy) they cut my auto insurance by 2/3 and my home insurance by about 1/4. That doesn't include any "bundle" discounts for having them all with them, I guess I'll have to either call or wait and see what they might add up to.

I was planning on just going with an RV plan with Progressive for a year until I could figure it all out, but after looking at that price, and then getting one from Geico for just the RV and my truck, it didn't make sense.

I'm still fine tuning the numbers, but I think I'm almost ready to jump and my auto policy renews in a week, so good timing. And if Geico's roadside service is any good I'll save another $80 or so not having to buy a roadside service policy. I had great experience with Coachnet which covered all our vehicles and will keep them in mind if Geico fails like Good Sam did. Hopefully not.

Btw, I looked at Geico, Progressive (I DESPISE that lady in their ads), AARP/Hartford and USAA/whoever.

Thanks again for the input!!!

What?? You don't like Flo??

canesfan · 07-24-2017, 11:59 AM

So all that just changed real fast. I had to call and ask a question. I was told since the kids are at school more than six months of the year they each have to have their own policy, they can't be on mine. I have NEVER heard that before and my current insurance knows they are at school and have their cars with them. Strike 1 for Geico.

**sourdough** · 07-24-2017, 03:57 PM

How old are your kids?? My daughter went to college for 5 years, year round, and there wasn't a problem. Maybe you're giving too much minutia to the reps and they are just trying to wing it with all the non essential info you're giving them? All Geico asks me when I change vehicles is 1) who are the drivers, 2) the ages, 3) is it used for business/pleasure, 4) where is its primary residence and 5) how many miles per year. In the case of my daughter, her home address was mine. The car was in my name. She attended school but that was not her (or my) permanent address. It's like all of my vehicles. They show to be a TX residential address. I travel well over 6 mos. of the year. Sometimes a vehicle may be gone from there for months....it's of no consequence. Heck, my Jeep lives at our NM house most of the time....but, that's not its permanent address. I take it back to TX from time to time and when I sell this place it will come back to TX to its permanent home.

canesfan · 07-25-2017, 05:33 AM

They're both in grad school. One is only 10 minutes away, the other 4 hours, both in state. They both have their own apt and address, but that's no different than having an address in a dorm, at least to me. Maybe in the insurance world it's different. But, the person I spoke to didn't know that. All he asked was if they were away at school more than 6 months a year. Being my current insurance never had a problem with that, all they wanted to know was if they had a car with them, I didn't feel I needed to say differently. The cars are in both my and their names, me as cosigner. They still have my address on their DL and consider this their main home, for now, anyway. Daughter gets married next year, so I only have about 9-10 more months to deal with that, and since she's still local I'm inclined to leave her on. Have to rethink the son. Sigh.

**sourdough** · 07-25-2017, 09:13 AM

I suppose there are enough variables in your situation that you probably fall into some "category" crack in the insurance world. It's a shame it just can't be simple.

canesfan · 07-25-2017, 09:47 AM

Yeah, I was thinking that too, but like I said, the only thing the guy asked was were they away at school more than 6 months a year. The online application didn't ask that. It didn't even ask if they were full time or part time students. It didn't ask if they commuted or lived at school. It didn't seem to really care. The only school related question I recall was how far did they commute to work/school (and I put 5 miles because that's accurate from their apartments). Oh, and it asked of my daughter, but not my son, was she a B or better student. It's all goofy and I'm thinking I'm going to ignore it. I'm thinking of calling again as not having an application going and just asking about the student thing and see what answer I get. Thing is they are SO aggressive and pushy I hate to talk to them again. I had to stop the guy yesterday mid sentence and say "can I ask my question???" He was trying to setup when I wanted the policy to start and how I was going to pay and I told him 3 times I wasn't ready yet and just had a question and he wouldn't shut up.

canesfan · 07-25-2017, 11:15 AM

I just redid the AARP/Hartford application just for the heck of it and took note that it only asked if they were attending school "more than 100 miles away from home". I clicked both yes and no to see if I clicked yes if any other option would open up but nothing did, or if it would tell me I needed a separate policy, but nothing happened. I guess I might then only affect the rate. Who knows. Like you said, why can't it be simple. I know insurance companies have different policies in different states, but it look like different companies have different policies in the same state.

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