Posted: 6/4/2007 4:16:56 PM EDT
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Anyone have a recommendation or sell insurance. Hit me with an IM. |
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Whom do you have auto insurance with? it is typically a smart idea to have auto and home together as you can get a combined discount. You then can talk to them also about an umbrella policy which will increase your liability insurance. If have a good credit rating, this will help reduce the cost of your insurance also. (a little fact most people do not realize) |
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Amica. No particular agent. Totally hassle free and the cheapest for me for both auto and homeowners. I had some roof storm damage. Amica cut me a check for $20k based on an adjuster's assessment. My neighbors all have many more hassles with their roofing companies. One neighbor only got $12k. Different situations, but it seems like Amica bends over backwards to make it easy for me. |
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I have switched several people to my agent for American Family. If your record is semi-clean driving wise and haven't had any major problems in the past, you will probably wind up with a rate much lower than you'd think. I've had several people that said they couldn't believe how little I was paying for insurance. Contact me via IM if you're interested in details... |
I've gotten the same stunned responses from people on some of my policies with them. Homeowners on the cabin is significantly cheaper than most peoples, auto and homeowners on the house are middle of the road, and the "toys" are a little higher (but they treated me well when I had a couple claims on them last year). I've had American Family for over 10 years and my family has had them for at least twice that long and have never had a problem with a claim. Your experience with a particular insurance company may be influenced by your agent being knowledgeable and helpful. They can be your advocate to help you only pay for the insurance you need and help you through any claims. For what it's worth, my parked cars have been hit more than once by State Farm insured people and their claims process (at least for the hitee) was rather painless, aside from having to go to their service center for their estimate, incidentally, who's payments came out higher than both of my private estimates. |
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+1 to getting home and auto together. You'll save money for sure. I sold insurance for American Family for several years, but I really don't think there's much of a difference between the big companies (State Farm, Farmers, etc). You're better off finding an agent that you like and that is good at his/her job -- he/she will save you the most money and be helpful in a claim situation. Also, you're better off finding an agent who's been in the business for a while -- a decade if you can -- they're the ones that live off their book of existing policies, instead of newer agents who have to write new policies constantly to meet quotas (to avoid being fired) and are still learning the system. New agents live off of high-risk policies with a high turnover rate, and the job itself has a high washout percentage, so you could end up tossed around between new agents over and over again as they are hired and fired (I've seen that happen... then the customer finally ends up with a good, expeirenced agent, but already hates the company and is VERY unpleasant to deal with.) Also, a couple other thoughts -- it is a common misconception that you can only cancel/change your insurance (auto or home) upon is annual or semi-annual renewal. You can cancel any policy at any time -- BUT make sure that you don't cancel it or let it lapse until you have a NEW POLICY IN FORCE. You'll usually pay a lot more (twice as much or more) for auto insurance if you start a new policy without an old one in place, even if you were in good standing a few days earlier. For example, at AmFam we had two different car insurance rates -- "standard" and "preferred." "Standard" cost about twice as much for the same coverage as "preferred." The trick was that you had to have at least 6 months of continuous auto coverage, with any company, to be eligible for "preferred". So we'd get people who wanted to switch to AmFam, so they cancelled or let their coverage with their other company lapse before they showed up in our office. Then they were ineligible for "preferred" until they'd paid out the @$$ for six months of continuous "standard" coverage. |
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I would stay way clear of AMICA. I asked them for a quote on Renters insurance at the beginning of April. I explained I owned some firearms. We were leaving town for a few weeks and they promised to get back to me the next day. 7 weeks later I get a cryptic voicemail at our old address saying they could not help me "because of the firearms." A few days later I got a written letter that merely said "we [Amica] are unable to pursue your inquiry" but with no details. I have tried to contact this person several times over the last 2-3 weeks but they have never responded to my inquiries. I want to make sure they did not act on bad info. They seem to be ignoring me. Terrible customer service. I have had AMICA for my car for 5 years and have never had to file a claim. I got AMICA in the first place as it was recommended as a great company to deal with. However, they seem to be blatantly anti-firearm (my firearm situation is nothing spectacular -- no home range or anything -- just some guns that are usually in the safe/cabinets since I rarely get out). Chad |
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I finally got someone at AMICA to talk to me. They did not know why people were not responding to me but they told me the notes on the account made it appear that I was running a gun business from home (ie, FFL selling firearms). I told them that I was only selling accessories and parts and not guns themselves but did own some guns. I gave complete details to try and correct the info they had and it is being resubmitted. We'll see how it turns out. AMICA has a good reputation for customer service in terms of responding to claims etc so lets hope it works out. My car is with them for almost 5 years now and I'd hate to have to switch. Chad sorry for intruding on a local MN / great lakes board. I was searching for "insurance" threads and did not realize it was in a local board until after I replied. Sorry |
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I would NOT use AMICA. They refused to issue me a renters policy last week because of firearms. They would not be more specific but this was the second go around with them on this. They seem to have some sort of paranoia about firearms. I explained that Autos were a much higher statistical liability to insure but... I've had my Auto through AMICA for the last 5 years almost and have been pleased with teh coverages offered and the overall attitude but they seem to have a gun phobia that is unheard of in the industry -- every other company I asked for a quote had no problems with anything I said about firearms. Chad |