Life Hacks, Reviews and Referrals

[kybkh]

I've always sought out advice before making purchases or when trying to resolve an issue. Figured we could maybe start a thread to help each other trouble shoot everyday life.

So, I'll start with a basic question and we can see what happens.

1. What is the best way to price home and auto insurance?

[Speaker to Animals]

Write down the twenty insurers you think are least likely to fuck you over in the event that you need to collect on the insurance policy. Number them from 1 to 20. Take a 20-sided dice and roll it.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Allstate turned out to be HALF the price for insurance, to Progressive. Also, I'm pretty sure that you'll see a massive discount by bundling multiple vehicles into a single policy, rather than separate.

Remember, there's very little chance that either of them will pay you, so just go by price.

[Fife]

1. What is the best way to price home and auto insurance?

My $0.02, based on 25+ years of working both for and against these people:

First, make your own judgment on what coverage/limits/riders/&c. you need, based upon some research and evaluation of your personal position. You are certainly able to do this on your own without a salesman telling you what he wants to sell to you. (Whatever auto insurance you think you need, go up to the next tier of limits; the marginal cost vs. return is not bad at all; go big big on UIM limits. Also look at what subrogation rights a policy has against your right to recover; I don't know the KY law, but hopefully there is no right to recover unless you are truly made whole by a third party.)

Then go to your county's Kentucky Farm Bureau and ask for written quotes for what you need. They will be happy to print those out for you. One thing you can count on from your Farm Bureau is competent, fair customer service both in shopping for coverage and when you have a claim, and no run-around bullshit.

Then go to an independent agent in your town with a good reputation and ask him or her to print out for you all the quotes that are better. If you don't automatically wind up back at the Farm Bureau, you can evaluate any competitors who win on price on service and non-shittery.

If you can beat Farm Bureau on price, take a written quote back to your county agent and ask him to take a look.

[Speaker to Animals]

State Farm never gave me trouble, but the claims were always relatively small (Chicago drivers smashing the side of my cars in parking lots, dindus breaking in and stealing the navigation system at the unsecured train station parking lot I paid hundreds of dollars each year to use, etc.).

[SuburbanFarmer]

Oh yeah - don't ever pay for "glass" insurance - windshields, etc. You can get it replaced for under $200, and your deductible will be much higher than that.

[Speaker to Animals]

Seriously, I don't really price shop. There are a few insurers I don't have quite as much reason to distrust and I just go with them. If I start reading stories from people about them fucking people over, they go off the list. The cheap insurers are probably not a wise investment at all in my opinion.

State Farm, Allstate, Geico, etc. seem like a better gamble, though what do I know.

[kybkh]

1. What is the best way to price home and auto insurance?

My $0.02, based on 25+ years of working both for and against these people:

First, make your own judgment on what coverage/limits/riders/&c. you need, based upon some research and evaluation of your personal position. You are certainly able to do this on your own without a salesman telling you what he wants to sell to you. (Whatever auto insurance you think you need, go up to the next tier of limits; the marginal cost vs. return is not bad at all; go big big on UIM limits. Also look at what subrogation rights a policy has against your right to recover; I don't know the KY law, but hopefully there is no right to recover unless you are truly made whole by a third party.)

Then go to your county's Kentucky Farm Bureau and ask for written quotes for what you need. They will be happy to print those out for you. One thing you can count on from your Farm Bureau is competent, fair customer service both in shopping for coverage and when you have a claim, and no run-around bullshit.

Then go to an independent agent in your town with a good reputation and ask him or her to print out for you all the quotes that are better. If you don't automatically wind up back at the Farm Bureau, you can evaluate any competitors who win on price on service and non-shittery.

If you can beat Farm Bureau on price, take a written quote back to your county agent and ask him to take a look.

[Okeefenokee]

USAA