Hubby and I are having a "H..." of a time with our insurance company this year. First our truck insurance went up over $200.00. Now our homeowner's insurance more than quadrupled!!! This is just in the span of a year! We knew our house was undervalued so didn't mind that part of the premium going up somewhat, but even our personal property and "other" structures coverage quadrupled. I'll tell ya...we could build a really huge replacement home, chicken coop and barn if we burned this place to the ground and collected!! Or would we be accused of "insurance fraud"?!! I think they're the ones who should be accused of fraud!! Is anyone else having problems? BTW, we're issured with OneBeacon in Boston, Ma. Does anyone know of any insurance companies where I could get an online quote? Can ya tell I'm a little P.O.'d about this!!??

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2002

Answers

Marcia I found a website called allquotesinsurance.com that claims to let you comparison shop for auto, home, life, and small business insurance. I haven't used them so I don't know how good they are. I have both our cars and our house though MetLife, I get a good deal on it through my employer. Progressive Insurance has an on-line site to comparison shop for auto insurance. You have to watch them though, they'll give you a good rate for a year and then jack it sky-high the next. Geico also has low auto insurance rates, but get one little claim, even if it's not your fault, and they cancel your policy. I know this from first-hand experience. My car got broken into and some stuff stolen, right after that they decided that I was a "high-risk driver" and cancelled my policy.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2002

Heck yes, shop around! There can and often is a *huge* difference between companies in what they quote for identical insurance. We have the Hagan vehicles covered through MetLife so I naturally figured that they'd give a good quote since they'd have all of our insurance. Ha! They were damn near double the cheapest quote! I said, "y'all really trying to compete in the homeowner's market in Florida are you?" and the agent just shook her head and said, "no, not really. They got so spooked after hurricane Andrew they've been trying to get out of the Florida market altogether." Even Farm Bureau was $200 a year cheaper than what MetLife quoted.

We eventually ended up going with AllState since they're local. Look in the phone book for your Independent Insurance Agent. They can check a half-dozen or more small insurance companies and can often come across with a decent quote for insurance comparable to what the big guys quote. I got quotes from six seperate companies when I was looking and there was a $500 a year spread from cheapest to the most expensive for comparable insurance.

........Alan.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2002

We took your advice, Alan, and found a local independent agent. Funny thing...he can work out a better policy for our lifestyle with the SAME company (OneBeacon) at a substantial savings! Our other agent was not willing to go the extra mile for us! I'm so tired of making phone calls and filling out online questionaires...my poor keyboard is worn out! Thanks Sherri! You know...some of those online questions ask what kind of dog do we have?!! Anyways, thanks for the help!

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Marcia,

While I was doing my searching I came to the conclusion that the ultimate quote you receive depends quite a lot on how you answer their questions. Phrase your answers one way and get one quote, phrase them another way - giving essentially the same information WITHOUT lying - and get a much cheaper quote.

The insurance game really is a racket, isn't it?

.........Alan.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Shop, Shop, Shop. Ya I know it's a pain in the rear but I think if consumers would exercise their right to shop more often, it would keep companies a bit more honest. We just got settled in our homestead and i'm not sure if we put more effort into the physical part or the mental part which consisted primarily of shopping. It seems most bank and insurance companies offer a reasonable deal to a certain segment of the market and everyone else gets ripped. We found rates anywhere from $175 to over $500 dollars per year for homeowners insurance. The Good rate came from State Farm and yet in our last home they offered among the highest of rates. That was a different niche that they apparently weren't as interested in. Loan rates varied all over the place. Out of frustration with poor service, we made one additional phone call to a bank which gave us a 4 1/4 % loan. That was 1 and 1/2 points below their nearest competitor. Often in the past when our rates went up we would moan and not do anything about it but no more. If they want to keep our business , they'll have to keep earning it.

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2002