<p>We recently received a HUGE premium increase in our homeowners insurance, even though we have never made a claim. I figure it’s about time to look at the whole insurance picture and see if we can do better, as far as rates go. Is there an efficient way to do this? I don’t want to start getting a million phone calls from companies, but I know we need to look around.</p>
<p>I have a related question, too. When you ask someone for a new quote, you want it to be comparable to the coverage you already have (I have learned the HARD way about gotchas/missing coverage in insurance over the years). But I am reluctant to send them my current policy because the current pricing is on it (I figure that incents them to undercut it just a little to get the business, maybe not as much as they would if they didn’t know). What do you do… do you mark out the price info or something? My policies are sitting on the counter because I am ready to do this, but this one stupid issue has kept me from contacting companies. So I am also looking for suggestions on how to do this!</p>
<p>Can you make a copy of the policy and blackout the prices? </p>
<p>I am about to undertake this project as well. There are online quotes available- this may be time consuming, but will give you a sense of who might be lower out there for the coverage, before you allow agents direct access to you. </p>
<p>Also- bundling the car, home, long term, etc might be a way to negotiate a discount.</p>
<p>It looks like there are others out there who are in the same boat that I’m in–ready to look around. Is there anyone who’s done this recently and could pass on some tips?</p>
<p>Anyone used an insurance “broker” for this kind of thing? I’ve heard that is a good way to get true comparisons.</p>
<p>You’re right about them getting you in and then raising the prices.</p>
<p>We have Nationwide who annually raises our homeowner’s by a gigantic amount (they assume huge increases in value). Then I call them and make them put it back. It’s an annoying tradition! They also keep “forgetting” to apply DS’s good student discount. I really also need to change.</p>
<p>I went through this last Dec. I had Allied for years, part of Nationwide. I’d been putting up with increases I thought were a little large, but when my homeowner’s and auto annual increase was 33% (with no claims, stellar credit, and huge deductibles), I decided enough was too much! </p>
<p>My agent kept trying to sell the “personal touch”, but I’ve been in a few auto accidents (not at fault) and the agent disappears immediately, leaving me to duke it out with the adjustor.</p>
<p>I too had them keep upping my home coverage,way more than I would ever use to rebuild. They told me it <em>had to be</em> based on square footage. They also lost our student discounts about every year.</p>
<p>I shopped online and read a lot of reviews from people who had actually filed claims. I did online quotes for lots of places–Liberty Mutual, Geico, Progressive, etc. It is a bit time consuming, but I really prefer on line over humans. It is easy to adjust and play with all the variables (liability, coverage, deductibles, misc credits and extras) and see what difference there is in the premium. I called Liberty Mutual’s human several times, always got an easily understandable American human, and each was courteous and helpful.</p>
<p>I don’t burn bridges. I left Ss coverages w/agent b/c it was still reasonable to do so. Told agent I’d be back when Allied’s premiums ret’d to the ballpark. From her reponse, I’d say I wasn’t the only one fleeing.</p>
<p>We’ve previously always used a broker - so I’m just assuming they did the shopping around. LOL.</p>
<p>Now, for a vacation home, I’ve been doing it all online - I make a spreadsheet (did this for homeowner’s and for auto), listing the coverages/deductibles etc. etc. and comparing the rates. At first we had gone with a recommended local agency (who is a broker). I found substantial savings shopping online on my own. I will say that we once had a homeowner’s (theft) claim which was handled beautifully by that brokerage agency and the carrier they had us with. My fingers are crossed that I’d get the same great results with the carrier I’ve now chosen on my own (of course, no need for a claim would be even better 
).</p>
<p>BTW, Why not black out the premium on your current policy if you want to send out the coverage page to get quotes? What could possibly be wrong with that?</p>
<p>DS also went online for his first auto insurance policy right out of college. I don’t believe he got tons of phone calls. Did things mostly be email. Good idea to create a separate email address for this kind of stuff so your personal inbox doesn’t get overloaded.</p>
<p>We’ve tried contacting individual insurance companies, working with a broker, and online. Results have varied, depending on the situation … one company insures cars and homes, but not recreational vehicles, another insures private houses but not rental houses, another quotes everything but sub-contracts parts of the policy to other insurance companies, etc. What I can say is that the same client information can result in WILDLY different quotations. Oh, and we’ve had the best luck with A-M-I-C-A and S-t-a-t-e-F-a-r-m. YMMV.</p>
<p>We had a mold claim in our house last year, so I am probably toast on this anyway 
Has anyone had any luck with AAA? They have been emailing me, and I was thinking about checking with them.</p>
<p>Also… if I am only partway through a year on my policy, what happens to the premium if I switch?</p>
<p>Sportsmama and int parent, What state do you live in?</p>
<p>Comparing online isn’t a bad idea but be wary of putting your phone number and contact information on a website not associated with the insurance company. I once put in my information on the wrong website bya ccident and got bombarded by phone calls.</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who works in insurance (but not with auto or home) what you are paying for your plan shouldn’t have any effect on the price of the new plan. I always ask someone what they are paying now, just so I can gauge what would be an affordable premium amount for that person. What they say to me has no bearing on what price i quote back to them, it just helps me narrow down the plans by price. If they don’t want to give the rate, I’m not offended I just give them a price range of from x to x and does any of that sound within your means. If you are concious about it, just make a copy and white out the rates and send them that information.</p>
<p>We’ve been very happy w/ Safeco combined auto/home. Home insurance has increased at about 5% per year, so perhaps it is time to check. However, increases do not appear as bad as others claim. We have had only 1 home claim but several auto claims. We did not see any resulting increases, and service was always fast. Our auto insurance premiums have actually dropped 25% over one year, and another 16% the year after that. Then again we removed our son from the policy when he moved out on his own ;-)</p>
<p>In my experience it is cheaper getting quotes online. Some of the bigger companies offer discounts when ordering online, because it is less work for them. But to be safe you could compare quotes online, pick the best offer and try a local agency to see if they can match it or do better.</p>
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<p>Fender, we are in MN.</p>