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Home an Auto Insurance

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,248
252
NE Ohio
I'm fed up with my current home/auto insurance co.

My question is; Is it any better or worse to deal with someone with "brick/mortar" here in town or will I get the same or better just going on line?
 
I got a case of the ass at Encova for raising my rates; my local insurance agency of 15 years was no help, worse than, so I shitcanned them.
My cousin works in auto repair and told me that Erie Insurance does a real good job, went with them and am reasonably happy.
Went thru local agent - I like having someone to sit down with if necessary.
See if you have an Erie agent near you and check 'em out. Online customer service is.....online customer service.
 
I have had Ohio Mutual for my business liability and commercial auto for 15 years and am very happy with them. The rates have stayed pretty steady, and they handled the only claim I've ever had with them very well and to my satisfaction. They could not match our current home/auto policy with Grange, so they only have my commercial insurance.
 
The problem with insurance, they’re all good until you need them!

Knock on wood, no home owners claim since being a homeowner and only a couple vehicle claims when the kids started out. That was going on 20 years ago.

We currently have Farm Bureau but haven’t used them for any claims. But those I’ve talked too that have, say they’re good. They did save me a couple hundred on car and homeowners though.
 
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Erie for home and auto. Progressive for boat.

Be aware that a good agent is an asset, but a bad agent a liability. Some times all it takes for a good agent to become a bad agent is their last quarter of claims. May have nothing to do with you, but if they have a bad quarter they could lose performance bonus as it is directly related to profit/loss ratio! They will jettison clients to improve claims ratios, even if it is just the potential for claims in the people you are covering...
 
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Went through Huntington Bank who shopped for us and ended up with a killer rate for auto and home.
 
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As someone who lives on the gulf coast, I don't want to talk about it.

It wouldn't be relatable anyway, none of the big guys like State farm, Nationwide, Farm Bureau will write home policies south of I-10.
 
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We have Erie. Our local agent used to be our neighbor. Great dude with exceptional customer service, and a big gun guy. Erie as a mothership has been great to work with when we've had issues. Their claim process has left us with only one complaint when I went with a shop they recommended that ended up being a shitshow. Ultimately, Erie made it right with us in the end. We also have two life insurance policies through them that rank well within the market.
 
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We currently have Wayne for home and property. Had them for auto but with the next 16 yo driver their rate wasn't competitive. We changed that to progressive about a month or so ago.
 
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We deal with a small-town local insurance broker and we have had coverage through Ohio Mutual for about 4 years. Home, auto, business, and land liability. Very happy with them so far. The only claim so far was dealing with an automotive issue but they were excellent.
 
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We had a large oak tree fall on the house in August and it did significant damage. We have American Family and they’ve been great, first homeowner claim ever so not a lot to personally compare. I’ve talked to my contractors and they say AF is top 5 with USAA being their favorite to deal with.
 
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I'll share some of my pain to make you guys feel better.

5 years ago when I moved here insurance was about $1,000 per 100k of home value. we have to have two policies. A wind policy and a "any other peril" policy. For the any other peril the deductible is your standard $500, $1,000 etc. Companies like State farm will write a any other peril policy but will not cover "wind" which you'll have to get a separate policy from a different company for. The "wind" policy covers any damage caused by a "named storm". They "name" them when they're just a tropical storm off the coast of Africa. The deductible on the wind policy is a percentage 3%, 4% or 5%. OF THE POLICY VALUE. Nope, not the claim, the policy value. So let's say someone has a 600k house and a wind policy with a 5% deductible. A storm comes and does 20k in roof damage. You're out of pocket because your deductible alone is 30k. Since roofs are the primary claim from storms, insurance companies have structured the policies in a way to basically exclude paying for them by upping the deductible.

Today a combined policy is about $1,250 per 100k in house value. So if you have a 600k house expect to pay about $7,250 per year. Companies jump in and out of the market every year so I've never had the same company for more than a year before having to shop policies. They either double the policy renewal price or flat out drop you to get out of the market. Last year I went with a new company and had to take 86 photos of the house. Every room, every exterior side, every roof angle, every bathroom, electrical panels, AC unit data labels, water heater data label, attic access, every plumbing stub out under sinks and toilets and submit them for underwriting inspection. They do this so if the house is a loss they can estimate "replacement value".

Yeah. Great fun. All that to basically have any wind claim under 35k be out of pocket. Disregard the fact that in the last 10 years you paid 72k in policy premiums.

The going consensus is if you have roof damage that isn't going to reach your deductible, make sure before the adjuster get there that your stucko, windows, gutters, and front door arent damaged too, that would be a shame if wind driven debris hit it too, and your floors aren't ruined from rain getting in and just sitting on the hardwood. An electrical surge must have fried all the appliances and electronics. Doesn't everyone keep their Blackstone in the middle of the yard, shame that big limb fell on it.
 
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