linguistmama Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Is there a really great website for this? I see so many when I google and I wondered if there is one that people here have found to be better than others. Or is an independent agent likely to be better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 I gave up and found an independent agent. He also ran quotes our house and umbrella policies, and we wound up saving a ton and got better coverage. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynnae Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Independent agent for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 My priorities are different. I want an agent in the area that I can get to know and who I can call if I need help. And I want a company that will pay if necessary instead of stalling. Beyond those two things I want reasonable premiums, but those come first. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 We have a local agent but really the few times we had a claim it was done with strangers over the internet. I'm not sure what the agent really does for us anymore. One of our priorities is that they use factory/brand name parts when replacing things, especially body work. Some companies use third party parts. It happened to us when our van was rear ended a few years ago. We noticed when we went to pick it up that the quarter panel really didn't match. It turned out the shop used third party parts. We informed them that State Farm (yes, the hated State Farm) pays for genuine manufacturer parts and insisted they replace it, which they did at their expense. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 My priorities are different. I want an agent in the area that I can get to know and who I can call if I need help. And I want a company that will pay if necessary instead of stalling. Beyond those two things I want reasonable premiums, but those come first. Yeah this is nice in theory, but in practice I am starting to wonder if it actually exists. I had a local agent thinking how great it would be, but anytime I called, if it wasn't between the hours of 10 and 2, basically I was SOL. Then when I'd call the national office they'd tell me I had to speak to the local agent. But again, it had to be M-F between 10 to 2. And often I'd get an answering machine. They might call me back the same day. MIGHT. They also screwed stuff up several times. Really it was such a lousy experience I don't think I'd do it again. I went with Geico. I have experience dealing with them with a claim and they were very fast. You can contact them any time of day or night. Their website lets you do tons of stuff without having to call. It can't be beat really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Yeah this is nice in theory, but in practice I am starting to wonder if it actually exists. I had a local agent thinking how great it would be, but anytime I called, if it wasn't between the hours of 10 and 2, basically I was SOL. Then when I'd call the national office they'd tell me I had to speak to the local agent. But again, it had to be M-F between 10 to 2. And often I'd get an answering machine. They might call me back the same day. MIGHT. They also screwed stuff up several times. Really it was such a lousy experience I don't think I'd do it again. I went with Geico. I have experience dealing with them with a claim and they were very fast. You can contact them any time of day or night. Their website lets you do tons of stuff without having to call. It can't be beat really. We have Geico right now and I like that they are always available. We have only ever used the road side assistance though so I don't know if we would like how they handle other claims. The roadside assistance was fine and I liked that we could just use the app to request it. But we are looking to cut some expenses if possible so I will contact a broker or two to see what they can offer us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 We have Geico right now and I like that they are always available. We have only ever used the road side assistance though so I don't know if we would like how they handle other claims. The roadside assistance was fine and I liked that we could just use the app to request it. But we are looking to cut some expenses if possible so I will contact a broker or two to see what they can offer us. I had Geico years ago then we switched because we got a better deal elsewhere. Every year I shop around to make sure I'm getting the best deal. So I totally get that. We had a combined home/auto deal with State Farm. State Farm sucks btw. So we left the auto (long story). Then we lost the discount on the combined home/auto of course. So I got a homeowner quote from Geico (they don't actually do homeowners, but through their partners they offer a discount). Doing that saved money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Yeah this is nice in theory, but in practice I am starting to wonder if it actually exists. I had a local agent thinking how great it would be, but anytime I called, if it wasn't between the hours of 10 and 2, basically I was SOL. Then when I'd call the national office they'd tell me I had to speak to the local agent. But again, it had to be M-F between 10 to 2. And often I'd get an answering machine. They might call me back the same day. MIGHT. They also screwed stuff up several times. Really it was such a lousy experience I don't think I'd do it again. I went with Geico. I have experience dealing with them with a claim and they were very fast. You can contact them any time of day or night. Their website lets you do tons of stuff without having to call. It can't be beat really. That's too bad. We have American Family and our local agent is awesome- he's always had time to talk to us when we had a question. We learned about him from a friend (hi, Merry!) and he knew all about their family- he knows his customers. Before we had American Family we had another local agent for about a decade and that guy was also really friendly. Our experience might be so good because we live in a town of 20,000 people. We work out at the gym with our dentist and our family's doctors are folks we see when we're out to dinner and the movies and we always chat like friends. Haven't had any problem with claims but really how they handle claims is SO important. When I have a claim the last thing I want is hassle. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 I have a Farmer's agent and a State Farm agent that I know personally, and they are pretty available to me. Plus I know their staff as well. I can always get help from someone I have actually met, which I find valuable. YMMV. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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