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Recently, and spurred by the horrific fires in L.A., there’s been a lot of attention on home insurance, including skyrocketing premiums. Like many people, we have our home, auto, and umbrella policies with the same company, and have seen our premiums increase dramatically in the last few years.
I’ve occasionally heard mention, without much in the way of specifics, of a “longevity benefit” in staying with the same insurance company rather than constantly shopping around and switching.
I’m hoping someone with a background in insurance can shed some light on this. First off, is there any truth to it? If so, is the benefit in the form of smaller premium increases for long term policyholders, or a smaller chance of being dropped, or…?
Thanks for any insights.
I’ve with the same Allstate office for the past 21 years. The local office people are great, but the central office people aren’t (no surprise there). I was concerned that I hadn’t shopped my insurance (house, 3 cars, umbrella) and that I might be getting gouged. After a disappointing service experience with the corporate office, I had my package quoted by a local Erie rep. They couldn’t match the pricing on auto and wouldn’t quote HO because my roof is end of life (its in the capital plan to be replaced in next 18 months). I feel better having generally confirmed that my loyalty isn’t hurting me.
How much can you really save and for how long by switching carriers? Ads on TV mention a couple of hundred dollars a year.
One thing people sometimes forget is that our premiums may well be affected by events on the other side of the country.
Insurance companies do track behavior on getting quotes, change carriers, etc on a national database.
I was with Liberty Mutual for 30 years until they sent me a 40% renewal increase. When I called, a rep named Victor said “you should find another insurer”. Loyalty is over.
I’ve been with the same insurer (State Farm) for 35 years. My auto policy, with one claim, now has double the original liability coverage and about four times the vehicle coverage, yet is only 2.6 times its initial cost. With inflation alone and no increase in coverage, its cost should have risen 2.4 times. Another insurer (Progressive) routinely invites me to get estimates, but their advertised premiums are always higher than my current ones. My renter’s insurance has decreased 27% over the 30 years I’ve had it (same coverage and one claim). I wish I could say the same for umbrella coverage; it rose 48% last year after years of only small increases and no claims, similar to Bill’s experience below.
On average i stay with the same carrier for 3-5 years before I start to notice premium drift to the point where it would be foolish to not shop around. Doing so usually gets us better coverage for less dollars- last year our agent actually separated our homeowners policy from the auto and umbrella. The homeowners is with a state pooled plan that actually offers better coverage than our previous HO policy. We live in a coastal community which has impacted our HO premiums even though we aren’t near any direct oceanfront or at risk of flooding, I’m guessing our neighborhood/area is being risk pooled with homes of higher risk. This year our umbrella policy premium jumped 50%, while our auto premium stayed flat. I was told that it was due to liability claims nationally, causing umbrella policy premiums to increase. I did shop around but found our auto insurance policy premium was quite cheap, so just plan to ride it out with the current carrier for auto and umbrella (Travelers insurance).
I have been an AllState customer for decades. All my insurance was with them with zero claims. I recently leased an electric car and was shocked when the agent quoted an astronomical amount without batting an eyelid. I switched to Costco insurance and AllState did not even try to keep me as a customer.
I don’t think loyalty matters anymore.
Costco insurance (American Family Insurance) was new to me as well. Here’s a link with more info.: Auto & Home Insurance | Costco
I emailed them just now to ask if they also offer umbrella insurance.
They do offer umbrellas as part of an auto package. I did quote them for my auto for next year- quote came in higher than 60% than my renewal with Travelers Insurance.
Thanks for the info. and that’s surprising.
There’s Costco insurance? Who underwrites? Thanks