Car insurance rip off! I am MAD!!

**leighcat** · 04-29-2010, 05:29 PM

I just called my car insurance company right after I bought the house and I switched to a homeowner which saved money. Then I switched to paperless option which saved more money. Now I am up for renewal in June. They RAISED my rates to MORE than it was before changing to homeowner and paperless option. I am tired of this. They increase my auto insurance every 6 months!! I am going to try to find a better insurance company. I am so mad. It went up about $17 a month!

**dcompton** · 04-29-2010, 05:54 PM

Definitely shop around. Mine keeps going down, not by much, but every little bit helps, as the cliche has it.

**Vanilla** · 04-29-2010, 05:57 PM

Sorry to hear that.
First check your current & previous policy coverage, see if there is any changes, such as the deductible amount (homeowners & auto can be different amounts). Use your current policy as a guideline, call or check online for quotes from different companies, if you find better deals elsewhere, then call your insurance agent to see if they can give you the same deal, or ask for an adjustment to coverages/deductible to fit in your budget.

Good luck.

**frugalfranny** · 04-29-2010, 06:00 PM

Be sure to call them and ASK THEM why the increase!!

I just 'fought' with my new agent and got it lowered back to where it had been when I did the same thing. Combined policies......

Read all the ITEMS on the house policy and car policy too...(that could have raised it)........they had a BUNCH of errors on my policy that I wouldn't sign until they were corrected. Like.......even what my house was MADE OF.....not impressed with him but.........when you cancel and let them pro-rate it you get screwed too.

**leighcat** · 04-29-2010, 06:24 PM

My house insurance is a different company than the car. I am going to get ahold of my house insurance company and try to get my car under the same company as the house. If it is less, that is than my current company. I will go over my policy and see if there are any changes.

I don't dare call the company till tomorrow or next week when I have cooled off. I may just end up cussing them out lol!

**Natalie's Nesters** · 04-29-2010, 06:45 PM

Go get them girl! Insurance..pain the rear, but you need it! Good luck!

**Greebo** · 04-30-2010, 09:38 AM

Shop around - call 4 or 5 providers. Get *COMPREHENSIVE* quotes on homeowners and auto combined. You might end up paying more for homeowners but saving overall with auto, or vice versa.

**druthb00** · 04-30-2010, 10:18 AM

Gotta love insurance companies...oh wait, no you don't

My favorite online quote 'trick' I've noticed since moving is that in FL, you can get 'stackable' coverage. So if you have 2 vehicles insured at 10,000/person 20,000/accident, the coverages could be combined if you were to get into an accident up to 20,000/person 40,000/accident. When I went through Progressive and did my policy online, it asked how many vehicles before it quoted the policy at the end (obviously.) So when I got to the end, low and behold, they quoted me for 'stackable' coverage. Uh....why in the world would I need that if I only have ONE vehicle? Changing it to non-stacked lowered the price substantially. Nice, Progressive. Real Nice.

**Jessesbride** · 04-30-2010, 10:48 AM

Check out GHS Insurance. They are awesome! Their rates are almost always cheaper than everyone else. That's who we use. For both my DH's truck & our house. We did use USAA for full coverage on my van b/c it was just cheaper for us to do it that way. Hope this helps!

Kim

**mombottoo** · 04-30-2010, 10:56 AM

Insurance companies are notorius for doing this! We have our insurance with Liberty Mutual, around here they have really great rates. Saved over $700 a year switching to them a few yeas back. Now, when it's time for renewal I still check around & they still have the best rates.

**frugalfranny** · 04-30-2010, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by leighcat

My house insurance is a different company than the car.

Mine always was too. I got the best rate this way. Have had it combined only ONE other time until they got too high. Then did it again this year........think it has leveled out now, but it was a mess for awhile due to THEIR ERRORS that they had on the policy for the house. (incorrect sq. footage, incorrect building materials, etc.)

If they send an 'independent' measuring team out to check the square footage, be sure to find out what they gave as the amt. to the insurance co. One major mess up on my new policy and I was being charged for it.

I HATE getting quotes but try to do it every year - if the policy increases ---or every other year, just to make sure I am getting a decent rate.

**Jmarie** · 04-30-2010, 02:03 PM

like many have already said.. Call your insurance company and find out why your policy is increasing. Im not sure who you have, but every six mos. my premimuim drops and esp. since I'm married, and am a homeowner. Before I added my homeowners insurance with my automobile policy, I shopped around. I found that Geico was cheaper than my current provider by about 400 for the same coverages. I called my insurance company and we went line by line to see why/how Geico could be soo much cheaper, and in the end, they matched Geico price.

I guess in short, call and see why your premimum are increasing and shop around, they may be willing to price match to keep the business.. at least thats what happended for me and DH

**McD** · 04-30-2010, 02:06 PM

We just switched all of our insurance providers this year as well. Here are my suggestions to you based on what helped us:

If you can swing it/feel comfortable doing it, raise your deductibles. We raised ours from 500$ to 1000$ and saved significantly.

Keep auto/home policies through on provider for multi-line discounts.

Check and see if your employer or your SO's employer has affliations with any insurance companies. By doing this, our homeowner's insurance went from $800ish annually to $400ish annually, FOR BETTER COVERAGE.

Good luck.

**Saule** · 05-02-2010, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by leighcat

My house insurance is a different company than the car. I am going to get ahold of my house insurance company and try to get my car under the same company as the house. If it is less, that is than my current company. I will go over my policy and see if there are any changes.

I don't dare call the company till tomorrow or next week when I have cooled off. I may just end up cussing them out lol!

You often get a discount by placing both policies with the same insurer. Some insurers work through captive agents, such as State Farm, Allstate, Farmers. Most of the others work through Independent Agents - going to one of those will give you the most options from one place. Others are internet driven, such as Progressive and Geico,

Before switching, check with your state's Insurance Department - they all have websites just google [name of state] insurance deparment, Look for a consumers area and/or for a complaints against insurers area. Try to avoid, if you can very low rated companies - you may not have a choice, depending on your record, however.

Remember that insurance company employees are humans and make mistakes. What differentiates things is how well a company responds to mistakes. Looking at the records of companies as on file with your state's insurance department will give you a feel for how well they do. And, take it from me, there is a lot of insurance fraud out there, and companies are required by law to investigate suspected fraud. I am an attorney in insurance, and am presently investigating a case, where a lady out of work for over a year and without a trust fund was supposedly buying 200 dollar shoes for her teenager - at 3 am in the morning - at a location which was an empty lot. Shoes supposedly burned up in a fire. Happens more often than you think and drives up rates for all of us.