It's funny, I wasn't planning on switching car insurance. What happened is, I had a claim on the homeowners two years ago. Suddenly I get a letter saying they want contractors invoices showing what work was done, two years later. I explained that I did the work myself and did not keep the receipts. I asked if they could have someone come by to verify the condition of the house. They said they don't do that. They will drop me by May 1st if I cannot satisfy their request. My only option is to send them pictures. So I decided to shop around, glad I did.

I'm about to shop around myself, as we are building a new house. Been with State Farm for 20+ years but they don't cover our new address as of March 1st.

Prices for everything we buy keep going up. "Sorry. Have to charge more. Our expenses are up. We're sure you understand."

Meanwhile the people who pay us money say, "Sorry. Can't pay you any more. Our expenses are up. We're sure you understand."

I'd been with State Farm for probably 25 years or more. After another increase I called the agent and said we were going shopping. "Sorry - nothing we can do." Well, Geico premiums were 50% of what St. Farm was charging for auto and homeowner's for identical coverage. Felt silly for not checking sooner. Once we were fully switched over we got a call from the State Farm agent saying they'd like to meet with us to see what they could do to earn back our business. Um... too late!

I had Geico when I was younger and was quite happy with their service (Back when it was Government Employees Insurance Co). The price was also pretty good. My friend totaled my car by going the wrong way down a one way street and Geico handled everything (and it was a messy law suit too). I was very impressed with their level of service. When I moved back to NJ, they wouldn't cover me (they didn't underwrite in NJ at the time). Had Allstate, HOLY EXPENSIVE. Shortly after though, I was able to get NJ Manufacturer's as I was working for the state for a little while and their coverage is very low. Have a claim on my wife's car which they handled well. very easy.

For my classic cars I use Hagerty. The prices are pretty competitive but I like all the work they do lobbying for classic car market. I pay $173 a YEAR for my 76 Porsche. I also had Grundy at one point, good also. I like that Hagerty has some flexible options (like pay me and I'll fix it myself) yet I haven't had an opportunity to use it (happily).

I'm happy with State Farm, but it's not cheap. About 130 a month for my DD. But that's full coverage and I'm a year off from 25. I'll shop everyone next year!


I have Hagerty on the bug and the Porsche. Had to use the free roadside assistance last week with the Porsche. They had me home in about an hour, good service from the driver who put the car right in my driveway. Free tow!

First time homeowner. Signed up with an acquaintance being the local Geico agent for home and fleet of autos.
11 months into policy had wind damage to the roof of my home. Filed claim. Geico (Homesite Insurance Co.) decided I had damage to 50% of my roof. I went out of pocket to re-roof the entire house. During the roofing, a freak out of nowhere storm blows up and while 4 Mexicans are taking shelter in my garage water is coming through the shingleless roof and into my home.
Can't find the roofing contractor (read "Boss") for nothing. Call Geico tell them what is going on. Geico/Homesite opens new claim and sends out Servpro to my home. Servpro starts setting up about 6 blower fans and 3 giant de-humidifiers.

Servpro attempts to have me sign their contract saying I am liable for the bill before they turn any of their equipment on. I tell them to F**K off as Homesite called them not me. If they wanted to risk getting paid by Homesite, then turn the equipment on. Otherwise, hit the road. They start the equipment then order delivery pizza and have a pizza party in my driveway.

About 10 days later Servpro stuff is STILL running in my home. By now I'm on the phone with Homesite urging them to send the adjuster back out to see what is going on. These Servpro guys have absolutely no intent of closing out this job. Finally get them gone after removing a 3'x2' piece of drywall that otherwise they would have spent god knows how long to attempt to "dry out". Geico/Homesite picks up the tab for Servpro to the tune of about $3400.

Policy renewal comes up, no problem. Go a year no claims. 60 days or so before the 3rd renewal get letter of "non-renewal". Fight Geico/Homesite tooth and nail over this. Had to jump through several hoops including getting the wiring in the house checked out by an electrical contractor......oh, and the "age of the roof" was one of their problems. I explain to them the roof was now only a little over a year old. Finally get policy reinstated but at a considerable increase; no coverage for mold and the $500 deductible is now 2% of the value of the home (of course the value of the home increased by about $40,000 according to them!) and then in the 4th year of the policy the deductible went to $5,000. I submitted receipts for the entire cost of the roof at the "non-renewal" event to the tune of around $8,000.

After year 4 I went shopping for other insurance. All the other insurers see 2 claims in one year. One for roof damage and one for water damage. The ones that would give me a quote were ridiculous. The others wouldn't touch me. So that's where Geico/Homesite have me by the short ones. Without a doubt they subrogated on the roofers liability insurance and got their money back that they paid me on the claim and probably then some. Geico/Homesite knows the real story of how things happened. I have no doubt that info did not get shared on the insurance database CLUE Report. I'm currently waiting for 5 years to pass since this incident so I can hopefully get coverage elsewhere. In the mean time, I cuss that damn gecko everytime he pops up on my TV.

And as far as Servpro goes, "like it never even happened"......oh, you'll know it really did happen.

Instance #2: My dad had a local agent for auto/home for 46 years with NO claims. They jacked up his rate by double. We signed up with same local Geico agent before my debacle, they set him up with a policy by the Travelers. First year fine. Second year 50% increase and same jump through our hoops BS. At the end of the policy term we informed Geico/Travelers he had switched to another insurer, so no need to renew the Travelers policy. Travelers never got the message. Sent a collection agency after him for "non payment" on a policy he did not have. That took more than a year to finally clear up including the new insurer transmitting documents to the Travelers indicating coverage.

That's my story. And as far as that Gecko goes, he's no poker player. He wants to see your hand before he'll attempt to save you 15%, probably on the lines of 10% for the first year. But he'll get his 10% and probably another 10% back in the second year, IF you are a good boy.