Car Insurance Companies: Which are good?

[racer_f50]

Hello all. Pretty soon I'll be moving to Michigan, and will need to sign up with a difference insurance company since mine doesn't go there. So of course there are plenty of choices, but which ones are really worth using?

I think we could make this quite a useful thread for anyone in the market for a new insurance company.

It would be great if you guys could give your opinions of your current/past insurance providers. If possible, include the following in your post:
-Name of company & years you've been with them
-Did you have any accidents or tickets while with them?
-Customer service
-Claims process (if you had any incidents, how was the process?)
-Rates
-Any problems or unethical behavior (like trying to get out of paying for something)
-Anything really great about them?
-Would you recommend them? Yes/no.


I'll get us started.

Company: American Family Insurance
Years: 8
Accidents: 1, not my fault. '88 Cadillac DeVille was totalled.
Tickets: 1, running red light (by like 1 second, fucking cop). Again the Cadillac's fault, it was too heavy to stop Resulted in slightly higher premium, but nothing outrageous.
Customer service: Very good
Claims process: Seemed pretty quick, not much hassle at all. Nothing to complain about since they gave me a check for the car's value.
Rates: For liability the rates are pretty competitive I think. My '91 Celica is probably $70/month or less.
No real problems with them, but nothing that great either.
Recommended: Yes

Thanks a lot to anyone who participates
Also, if you know anybody who uses one of the national providers who don't have many offices (like eSurance, Progressive, or Geico) how do they like them?

[racer_f50]

nobody here uses car insurance?

I'm really in need of advice on what companies are good and which try to screw you over, and I'm sure others would be curious as well.

[sameerrao]

I've used Progressive, State Farm and Allstate so far. Progressive was what i started with. They had liberal entry policies. So even though I had very little US driving experience they accepted me. However, I had real lousy agents so that put me off the company. Also i believe Progressive is expensive. I then moved to State Farm - very good agents and good experience with them. They would drop my insurance rate promptly every six months. But I moved to Allstate because State Farm doesn't have a decent umbrella insurance policy (Cars + home + flood insurance for home). They also didnt have any renter's insurance (against theft) back when I was living in an apartment. They have stopped flood insurance completely.

Allstate offered me a good rate thanks to a comprehensive umbrella policy. I am very happy with them.

Wish I could give you more info about claims and customer service but (touch wood) I haven't had cause to explore these areas.

[blinkmeat]

did i miss the ass day memo?

[TNT]

USAA is what my family has been on and they have been the cheapest for sometime, well for us.

[racer_f50]

Thanks for the input so far guys.

sameerrao: Your experience with Progressive is what I kind of expected from a company like that, I didn't even know they had local agents until a month ago. State Farm and Allstate seem much more down to earth, I'll have to compare rates between them again since they're my top 2 choices at the moment. I'll only need Car + Rental insurance right now.

TNT: Can't say that I'd heard of USAA before, I'll definitely look into them. Has your family had good experiences with the services they provide (beyond the low rates)?

[TNT]

Originally Posted by racer_f50 Thanks for the input so far guys. sameerrao: Your experience with Progressive is what I kind of expected from a company like that, I didn't even know they had local agents until a month ago. State Farm and Allstate seem much more down to earth, I'll have to compare rates between them again since they're my top 2 choices at the moment. I'll only need Car + Rental insurance right now. TNT: Can't say that I'd heard of USAA before, I'll definitely look into them. Has your family had good experiences with the services they provide (beyond the low rates)?

yeah we have, but we are military so i am not sure if that limits people joining or not but here is there website

www.usaa.com