Car insurance question. (Geico vs Farm Bureau)

[Frankie Hunt]

I am looking to save some money on car insurance and wanted to get some feedback before I make a move. We have my company vehicle and 2 others. We have 3 drivers right now (me, wife, 17 year old son) We will soon be adding a 16 year old son and another vehicle to the mix. And probably another vehicle about a year down the road. We all have blemish free driving records, knock on wood!

For what we have right now Farm Bureau costs $1988 per year and Geico will cost $1456 per year. Thats $532 per year savings. Adding an additional car with Farm Bureau will add another $1000 per year to our cost (going to 3 cars insured with 3 primary drivers). I haven't priced Geico on that yet but I think it will be less.

I have been VERY pleased with Farm Bureau and hate to change but the difference in price is going to make my mind up for me. I was in a collision with someone about 2 years ago. It was the other guys fault. He had KY Farm Bureau and they were great to work with. Another incident, we had a storm come through the neighborhood. Farm Bureau put a new roof on my house without blinking. A neighbor had to fight State Farm and even then only got 1/2 a roof replaced, the 1/2 with most of the damage. I am not changing my home owners policy, just citing examples of working with Farm Bureau.

Anyone have any bad experience with Geico?
Is there any bait and switch tactics, such as dramatically raising the prices after a year?
If a young driver should be less than perfect are they quick to boot you?
Why should I not switch?
Anything else I should know?

I really don't want to be penny wise and pound foolish.

Thanks,

[Kent Fitzgerald]

My experience with GEICO has been good. I was about to say that I had never had a claim with them, but then I recalled that LMOL's car was hit-and-run in a parking lot a few years ago, destroying a front door and fender. The whole claim, repair, and rental process was handled very painlessly, and I had almost forgotten about it until now. No surprises in the rate department.

[Jim Benante]

Esurance is a very price competitive insurer. I have them, but haven't had a claim. I saved a lot of money vs. Travelers who I had before. I had Geico before Travelers. So in summary, I have found Geico > Travelers > Esurance as far as price goes. I had a claim handled well with Travelers then they jacked the price up so I looked around and found Esurance. All else has been great with Esurance for me. I don't know anyone else with Esurance so I am just one person speaking about my insurer for vehicles.

[Robert Mickley]

I've been with GEICO for 9 or 10 years, never had a claim. But the are the only insuarnce comapny I've had give me a rate decrease, 3 times since I've been with them.

[Matt Meiser]

I'm watching this thread close as my wife and I had a discussion about our insurance today. We have FB here in Michigan. The one thing that makes me nervous about swtiching is how great our agent has been. My parents have used the same agent we now use since they moved to the area 28 years ago. However I'm worried that he will soon retire. He has always fought for things for our family, such as putting the correct driver on the correct vehicle even when it wasn't corporate policy. For example, our newest, most expensive vehicle is a secondary vehicle and our daily drivers are older--11 years old in my case. By default FB wants to assign the oldest vehicle to be the secondary which would make our rates (even) higher.

One thing to think about is the big picture of having all your insurance with the same carrier. Check what your rates will be splitting them up--what discounts do you lose?

[Frank Hagan]

Get a competitive quote, and tell your agent you got it and are considering changing. Usually they can do something extra for "customer retention".

[Frank Fusco]

We had Geico for several years and their accounts information was a mess. I had to give them up just so I would know what was going on, rates varied by month, they had our names wrong (completely), etc.
Now with Shelter. Great service and rates. We have had two storm damage claims at about $13,000.00 in three years. Payment was prompt with no hassle.
Those kids are going to drive up your costs. Fact of life. When our daughter married and moved out it was dramatic how much our auto rates went down.

[Stuart Johnson]

If you can stop by a couple repair shops and ask them how the companies handle claims. Do they pay for complete authentic part repairs, are the insurance estimates accurate.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with talking with your agent if you have one. If not, consider talking with an "independent" agency that represents a number of carriers. But also check out some of the direct quotes...Progressive/Drive has been very good to me and there have been no competitive offers that came in lower...to date.

[Eddie Watkins]

I had FB for my house and cars for about 10 years but never had claim. I recently changed to a company called American National Property and Casualty (ANPAC) and saved about $600 a year on my house and $300 semiannually on my cars. I really hated to change so I called FB and gave them a chance to match the price and they couldn't do it. It helped me make the decision that a guy I work with has ANPAC and had just filed a claim which they had handled painlessly. Also, after 3 years of no claims, they start giving you a 10% rebate each year. The company is out of Springfield, Missouri so they may not be in your state but they seem to be all right.
Eddie

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I've checked with GEICO several times over the years, living in various places, and they've never been anywhere close to beating StateFarm. Maybe I oughta try again now that the gecco's running things...:p

[Matt Meiser]

Well, I tried pricing insurance from Geico just for kicks. Geico would cost us $1504 every six months for two mid-30's drivers with good records and 3 cars. Farm Bureau charges us $1001 for the exact same coverage limits, but lower deductible on comprehensive, roadside assistance, and rental reimbursement on the car we use for vacations. Forgot to price those on Geico.

[Kelly Anderson]

I had GIECO for a little while and they raised my rates every 3 months or so with no clames or tickets, nothing. They started out lower but watch out for the increases.

[Tom Stover]

We just switched our home insurance to Ky. Farm Bureau and in november will switch our car insurance to them also. We will save over $500 on the combined policies.

[Randy Johnson]

I've been with FB for probably thirty years but when the car insurance comes due next time around I will be switching to Shelter. I have not been too happy with FB since when any problems came up I had to do all the leg work and the one time I tried to file a claim I wound up eating the entire thing. But the reason I am leaving is political.
If you live in a state that has poor or no regulations dealing with the placement of huge confined feeding operations, you may some day find yourself facing the possibility of living a hundred yards from thousands of hogs or cattle. In all probablity the guy who will be making money on it and assuring you that there is no trouble with smell, dust, or water poulution and dry wells will be living a few miles away. You may also rest assured that there will be a representitive from Farm Bureau at the zoning meeting supporting CAFOs REGARDLESS of where they are being built. The one that spoke here claimed the problem was that people were building houses close to CAFOs rather that the other way around. I fully expect to be living well less than a quarter mile from 8000 pigs in the very near future - unless where I live is condemmed to allow the road to be widened for the trucks heading to the CAFO. I will not give money to a company who thinks that is okay.

[Jon Eckels]

Esurance is a very price competitive insurer. I have them, but haven't had a claim. I saved a lot of money vs. Travelers who I had before. I had Geico before Travelers. So in summary, I have found Geico > Travelers > Esurance as far as price goes. I had a claim handled well with Travelers then they jacked the price up so I looked around and found Esurance. All else has been great with Esurance for me. I don't know anyone else with Esurance so I am just one person speaking about my insurer for vehicles.

I have Esurance as well, and am very happy with the price that they offered me.
In NY (especially on long island) car insurance prices are stupid. Absolutely stupid. We used to insure with Allstate, and then with Progressive (I've also insured with a few other companies myself, before getting married). Our combined insurance for two cars was about 4000/year with Allstate, and Progressive was a little less, at about 3600. I was pretty happy with that price (considering how high the prices can be in NY). My wife called esurance just to see what they could offer (geico wouldn't insure us, I guess our credit isn't good enough - it has nothing to do with our driving records, they're clean) We're now paying about 2800 for the year for both of our cars - which BTW are on loans so they have to carry collision, and we have full glass coverage with no deductable.

I know these prices are probably going to sound really high to non-NYers... but around here, that's a good deal. I don't know how they are in other states though.

[Frankie Hunt]

Thanks for all the replies. This gives me a LOT more than just a little green lizard (and a few green backs) to base my decision on!

[Terre Hooks]

I'll offer you this perscpective-

You've been with FB for a certain number of years and you say your driving record/claim record is spotless.

I'm confused as to whether you will be adding 2 teenage drivers or another one and have one currently.


Anyway, you are entering several years of extreme liability here. Save the speech of how good your kids are, how careful they are, etc.

You a desire to find a (initially) cheaper rate plan with a different company. Let's say you switch. 6 months down the road, your wife accidentally bumps into someone while reaching for the cell phone, lipstick, map, etc.

No biggie, but you see an increase of $8 per month after that.

Now, let's say Jr. #1 wrecks his car and causes $19,000 worth of property damage to that 2006 BMW 535i.

Guess what is in the mail in 3 weeks? A cancellation letter from Geico, Progressive, or cheapautoinsurance.com.

Now you are un-insurable with a premium company (State Farm, Allstate, FB, etc.) The only route you have now is to go with the loan-shark type insurance companies and your rates will be triple what they were.


Back this up to where you stay with your current premium auto insurance company and all this happens. They might initially cancel you, but with a letter to them and a threat of taking it to the state insurance board, they will change their mind.


I do not sell insurance, never been in the business, etc. I do have knowledge of this happening.


More than once.

[Anthony Anderson]

Watch out for the biggies, and the ones who guarantee you cheaper rates. The "good neighbors" were denying legitimate health care claims, and the kicker was that they were employing people to make these decisions who did not have any medical training, and no expertise to make those decisions. Big lawsuits followed and they lost, not sure what happened on appeals. Same company, was using aftermarket parts that were sub standard (not used but aftermarket;there is a difference) some of the welds on the hood latch catches were breaking loose which in turn caused the hood to "fly" back into the windshield (imagine that happening at 60mph). There were other suits from the aftermarket parts too (do a google search). Now they are spending millions trying to rebuild their image. We had them ever since I was a kid, after they started to do these things, we dropped them and have never looked back. The good hands people, are competitve in rates, and they have their "pro shops" who they send people to get their cars repaired. What most people don't know is that aftermarket parts are being used to put their car back to "supposed" pre accident condition (I think there is an oxymoron there somewhere). The gecko and the "progressive ones" are extremely bad about this as well. So you might get "cheaper insurance" initially, but in the long run it could really cost you. Right now we have West Bend insurance and they are a good company. Farm Bureau is also a very good company who have been very good to deal with. Cincinnati is another very good company. Farmers Mutual is good too. Nationwide is another good one. I have had mostly dealings with these companies through the auto repair shops and/or personal insurance. Personally I would spend the extra money, unless it will send you into bankruptcy. It is worth it in the long run. Regards, Bill