Insurance Rates

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

You guys driving your '03s, what are you paying for insurance? Especially you State Farm types



I called State Farm today and they quoted me $73 a month, or about $13 a month more than I'm paying now. Wasn't too happy to hear that. They said being it's an all-new vehicle they will run it higher to start with until a track record is established. I buy that.



They only had numbers for Laramie trucks, the SLT only may be a buck or two less. This was quoting a 3500 quadcab 4x2 shortbed SRW, compared to my current '01 2500 shortbed 4x2 quadcab.



Vaughn

 

[Fireman]

I'll bet they never lower your rates!



Fireman

 

[lawdog1]

You my need to get you a new insurance company, watch out for "Snake Farm. " They will put knock off, not factory, parts on your truck if you wreck it, after charging you big time rates. They won't hesitate to drop you if you encounter a string of bad luck... There little commerical gingle should be "Like a good neighbor, State Farm will peek through you blinds, rumage through you garbage, deny your claim and then send you a bill for their time. " Sorry, little bit of animosity toward the insurance establishment. I figure if you die having collected more claims money than you paid in premiums you won, good luck!

 

[Ncostello]

Who has good rates and luck with who. State Farm has had me brainwashed for 12 years that anyone else will do just those things you mentioned lawdog1.

 

[E7mack96]

Liberty Mutual

if a claim, they cut check on spot, and you fix it how you like. They have always spec'd dealer parts on my claims. Rates are fair too.

 

[DIESELMAN]

My insurance went way down with Farmers, until I realized they were insuring mine as a B3500 VAN! Otherwise it is about $30. 00 more per 6 months than my '01.



I've had 1-800-We-Don't-Care before but have now been with a Farmers agent for 10 years now. Great service, knows me by name, really informal and easy to deal with a real person.



BTW, I had to sue State Farm to insure me against an uninsured drunk driver to get them to pay the claim, then they canceled me and all my immediate families policies, and sent ME a bill for background research ( I treatened suit again, bill dismissed )

 

[Ncostello]

As stated earlier, I've been with SFarm for 12 years and have never had a problem with them. My dad has used the same agent all his life. I have my house and three vehicles with them. The rates seem fair to me. I've only had two claims, hail and a deer collision. They were great on both. They even made the GMC dealership redo some of the work from the deer collision cause my agent wasn't satisfied. I thought it looked good but he pointed out some things they could have done better. For some reason, they didnt charge me any deductible either for the hail or the deer. His office is 5 blocks down the road from me.



Of course, I've never had any real big claims (such as uninsured drunk drivers, personal injury accidents), so I dont know how they would do then. I'm always willing to save some cash but they tell me other insurance companies will cut corners for their cheaper price, and SFarm wont.



What about Progressive, Geico... anyone see all their ads on TV?

 

[David Muench]

I'm with State Farm too. I think it depends highly on the agent. I had to go with SF after every other local insurance company told me to either get lost or pay commercial rates for my 2001. 5 chassis cab. It didn't matter that I wasn't using it commercially or didn't even own a business.



Actually there was 1 company that didn't do either of the above. . They insisted that I didn't know my own VIN number. I gave it to them a few times and each time they'd send me back a quote with the VIN changed 1 letter that indicated whether it was a chassis cab or a regular 3500. I'd complain, they'd say I was wrong. Yeah. .

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I agree with David M that the agent makes a difference. Mine has treated me well, had my house broken into twice, made two claims, they gladly paid me out of replacement costs and that was that.



I recently had an issue with the windshield of my truck where I had it replaced but the vendor did a shoddy job. I did not want to take it back to the incompetent glass tech and instead went to my agent. After a trip to the claims office they gave me the A-OK to get it taken care of at another shop, no charge to me at all.



I do admit I haven't shopped around and could probably save if I went to Farmers or Pemco or some other agency. I've never had a vehicle claim other than windshields and never have gotten a ticket. I've had a good relationship with State Farm for many years though and am hesitant to jump ship.



Vaughn

 

[JWerkheiser]

Lawdog, I work for State Farm (don't sell, just write programs) and I know what the company culture is. I don't appreciate the characterization. That being said, we've been in a couple of fender benders (other guys fault) over the last 5 years. After a year or more of negotiating and threatening legal action in each case, their insurance companies finally paid us what the repair costs were. Guess who they were insured by? The companies that advertise cheap rates and fast claim payments. Guess what else? They put aftermarket parts on too. Hmmm And I recommend not having a string of claims with ANY insurance company right now. Talk in the industry is that they are ALL re-evaluating their underwriting and tightening down on frequent claimers. Sorry, I DO take it personally.

 

[Pit Bull]

Re: Liberty Mutual

Originally posted by E7mack96

if a claim, they cut check on spot, and you fix it how you like. They have always spec'd dealer parts on my claims. Rates are fair too.

Me to for the last 37 years

 

[lawdog1]

JWerkheiser if you want to take my comments about State Farm personally, I am sorry, but I feels like I feels. My best friend's father has been a State Farm Agent for 30+ years and has a solid income, is a good man, and is well respected in the area. I like him as a person, but don't like the company for whom he works. Further, he is often not happy with State Farm, all he ever talks about is about how they ride him about his loss ratio, how they are cutting his commissions, etc. I know that he, as a man, is fair and provides good service to all of his customers, but the company that is backing him is often not a "good neighbor. " For independent verification of this statement see deiselman's post. In my experience State Farm and Allstate seem to be two of the most recognized Insurance Company names in the court room, not representing policy holders, but getting sued by them. JWerkheiser, I am sure you are an honest hardworking individual and I mean no insult to you, but I don't trust State Farm as a corporation. That's my two cents, but rest assured I am not attempting to impose my will on anyone, please form your own opinions. 'Nuff said, lets talk about trucks.

 

[JWerkheiser]

Would like to talk trucks, but someone started talking insurance. And, if you think about it, the biggest companies are the biggest targets because the lawyers see the deepest pockets. The highest profile lawsuits in the last 5 years are for industry standard practices that the biggest companies get targeted for because of the potential income for the lawyers. And anyone complaining about insurance rates should contact their state's bar association to find out why. Just look at liability vs collision. Incredible. Oh well, at least someone is getting rich besides dieselman...

 

[Prairie Dog]

I have Farmers, and my previous ride was a 93 2WD. My rate went up $257 a year.

 

[DIESELMAN]

Originally posted by JWerkheiser

Oh well, at least someone is getting rich besides dieselman...

Werkheiser, If my wife finds out I'm rich, I'm screwed ,



I was 20 when I got hit by a drunk, my Agent, a real neighbor, said don't worry about it, then the claims adjuster told me "I shouldn't have been out at night!" as if it was my fault. Wrong thing to say! Mothers a DA, brothers a cop, friends all lawyers.



30+ letters and meetings and all they offered was your vehicle is totalled, lets see what the chick that hit you can do when you get out of the hospital. And the famous, "Its Not OUR fault".



I sued ONLY for actaul damages, put things back the way they were, and for medical. NO pain and suffering ( it was 20 years ago ). I won, but am not richer because of it, and the final total was within the limits of my coverage.



AS to the topic, the 1-800 companies don't come close to the real agent rates, I think you can even get better rates at the same company with different agents. They are all businessmen just the same.



..... except for Werkheiser,,, he's a computer nerd

 

[JWerkheiser]

LOL on the geek comment. Pretty close, but I can't be since I have a wife and the kids are mine, if you know what I mean.



As far as the wrecks, on one my wife was supposedly 20% at fault because some guy ran a stop sign and she T-Boned him. Something about him having control of an intersection, even though SHE didn't have the stop sign. She went through a lot of physical therapy and pain plus fighting the ins company on payment. Bent the frame on my Dakota, too, so I went through a lot of mental anguish. Somehow they wouldn't pay for mine though. Plus, they tried to tell my wife she was partially responsible for her injury because she mentioned to the physical therapist that she was having pain when she held the kids. I guess she shouldn't hug the kids.

 

[DIESELMAN]

Mine ... . '82 Wide Glide, feet down, wife (fiance) , stopped at a red light. Hit from behind by a car doing 45+ through the red light ( and me!), landed at the sidewalk on the far corner of the intersection, wife landed where we were hit, car went under her... ... ... must have been mine fault, didn't have those tennis shoes with the flashy lights in 'em!



Cost the Insurance Company $71,000, + lawyers, investigators, etc, $115,000 more!

 

[JWerkheiser]

WoW!!!

 

[jryan11518]

Insurance

We switched from Farmers to 21St Century. Have had one claim and they paid off, and did not raise rates (it was our fault). Before going with them I checked with Geiko and Wawanesa sp. They were all less than what I had.

I was an agent for farmers years ago. It is very hard for these company agents today. There rates are put into a computer and the questions you answer generate the premiums. All these agents are required to sell the company product. The hard part is that they know of other good companies that beat the pants off of their rates, but they cannot disclose this to you or you would not buy from them. I had many friends in the industry and we would all discuss these facts among ourselves (with no management listening) but we had no control of the situation.

The best advice is to purchase your Insurance just like you do your truck. Shop around, get quotes ask questions there are reasonable rates out there.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Ok - lets not beat up on the insurance companies anymore. After all, according to what they tell the IRS, they havent made any money in 30 years. It's only by way of thier dedication to thier customers that they go on covering us!

I think Archey Bunker put it best when after a small fire in his house he asked his ins agent (who was turning him down) "What about the "HELPING HANDS?" and his agent said "Well sometimes all you get is the finger!"

Sorry but I just had to have some fun with this too!

I truly dont want to offend anyone.

Now are there any lawyers out there to pic on...