We’ve had good luck with both State Farm and Geico when we’ve had accident claims in the past. USAA was our nightmare.
It’s interesting that some had success and some nightmares with the same companies.
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We had State Farm for many many years, and never had a single problem with them. And that was during a time when I had a couple of accident claims.
Progressive was fine…but it took my son sending a message on FB for them to actually resolve his claim. He still has Progressive and is happy with them. In the end they took good care of him.
Things do get complicated when the driver of the car is not actually the owner (in my experience).
Depends on if you are hitting or you are hit.
The best insurance companies are the ones you never need!!
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Some possibilities:
- Different sub-companies under the same brand.
- For auto, whether you are going through your insurance company or the other driver’s insurance company.
I confirmed with dealer body shops - for them - they don’t like state farm. But others like them and they are biggest.
I had a claim through Donegal the other year - I get why they are cautious - the car dealer went back four times - every time they take a part off they find more damage. In their case, they had a contracted claims person - probably reps a lot of companies. State Farm was always an 800 #, not a dedicated person.
State Farm gives you a rental car for 30 days.
Ours was 20 - but they extended - but not easy.
You shouldn’t have to explain that (and you know) the car isn’t done.
Well, the policy will list all the allowances. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Why should they pay for more if it exceeds what the policy states?
If you are hit by their driver and they can’t get the car repair timely, why should I pay?
And why do they low ball everyone - and it’s not me - it’s from car dealers - two of which and I only asked 5 - won’t even work with them.
In fact, the body shop (2nd - in Arizona) said normally they say 3-4 weeks but with State Farm they tell people 6-8.
In the end, not easy - but they did come through - but based on feedback from my dealers, I wouldn’t want them.
But again- your experience differs.
The other driver’s insurance company should be expected to aggressively resist your claim.
And they did - and with the dealer (two) - as six weeks wasn’t enough for them to agree with the first dealer and I refused to sign that I would pay the difference.
Interestingly, just reading today State Farm had a class action against them in this exact thing.
For whatever reason, at the second store, in Arizona, the bill was higher and we had the same threat but State Farm ended up covering it all…go figure.
In our case, when our car was totaled by a distracted Ambulette driver with a CDL (who was ticketed at the scene), GEICO went after her insurer for our deductible and the whole thing ended up not costing us a dime. Well, we did need to buy a new car, but their payout was a very fair assessment of the car which was totaled. This was in NJ (since I know state laws differ).
We have had Amica for 20 years for both home and car insurance. I’ve been very happy with the service so far. We have had storm related roof damage claims and car claims (one not our fault and another our fault) and they have dealt efficiently with them.
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My mom has had State Farm for decades and has always thought they treated her more than fairly when there have been claims (in the early 90s after a hurricane, and in recent years for her car). In fact, they ended up totalling a very new Lexus SUV due to rodent damage (the car had less than 150 miles on it) and a year or two before she’d had an accident that was her fault.
In terms of car insurance, I’ve been hit by a Progressive driver, and they took care of things well. When I hit a driver, my Geico insurance also took care of things well.
When I had AAA home insurance after a hurricane basically totalled my house (Hurricane Katrina), I had one of the best experiences out of anyone I knew. It wasn’t a fast process, but it was faster than most others.
We have ASI (which is related to Progressive), and at first they gave a low-ball estimate of some roof damage, but after more documentation was provided, they ended up covering the bulk of the roof replacement (again, after another hurricane). (We only had to pay for an upgrade for the roof to sustain winds of 150 or 170mph, whereas I think they only covered 130 or 150mph.)
And, unsurprisingly, our state has a hard time getting home insurance companies to come to our state. Companies like State Farm only cover you if you are an existing customer, but they haven’t written new policies in about 20 years. And yes, our home insurance rates are quite expensive (as are our auto insurance rates…I recall moving to Louisiana back from North Carolina, and my car insurance doubled due to just the change in location).
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Funny about Amica - very expensive in TN but for years and years - like monthly or weekly - we get the direct marketing piece - and they always spell the last name wrong!! Whatever database they’re buying is wrong.
I have called for rates b4 - very expensive. Carriers are leaving TN and jacking up rates due to Tornadoes.
A region where a single event destroys a large amount of insured property is a place where insurance companies want to limit their exposure, since the insurance business works by covering diffuse risks. Ordinary car crashes, house fires, etc. occur in a more predictable diffuse manner than a flood or wildfire destroying all of the cars and houses in a region.
Our experience with State Farm continues to be good. Our car goes in the autobody shop next Wednesday. State Farm contacted Enterprise to authorize $50/day for car rental. That’s enough that we can get a comparable car to our Ford Escape, for about a month (we should need only a week or so). Enterprise will drop the rental car off at the autobody shop so we don’t have to drive downtown to get it.
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We have USAA for both home and cars, and have been very happy. D is in escrow for a house and called USAA for a quote (she has her auto insurance there). They don’t cover her area. It’s Southern CA, not in a fire zone.
Looks like she’ll go with Amica. It was the best price compared to other companies, and has a “recommended” Consumer Reports rating. She also may move her car insurance to get the bundle discount.
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LIke @Bromfield2, we had Chubb on our previous house. We had two claims. One was major – a tree fell through our roof during Hurricane Sandy. It took a while for them to get going, but eventually they paid everything without issue. The other claim was smaller and they did not have an issue paying. Chubb also insured two condos as part of the same policy. I don’t think they did our cars.
We bought a second house and then put the first one for sale. The agent we used to get us insurance on the new house priced it for Chubb and Hanover. He said that the Hanover Platinum was offering a similar kind of policy to Chubb but was trying to get into the higher end business and their pricing was significantly lower. Hanover insuraec both houses, the condos and the cars. We sold the old house and the two condos. Hanover was very good when my car had an issue. We have not had a claim on the new house.
So no complaints about either Chubb or Hanover and positives for both, especially Chubb’s handling of Hurricane Sandy.
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