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Insurance Policy Exclusions

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Why do insurance policies have exclusions? Do insurance companies convince you to buy insurance, then send you a policy with so many exclusions, it is almost impossible to be paid for a claim? Are there bad insurance companies with more exclusions than other, more reputable insurance companies? You buy auto or home insurance to insure your property, why should there be ANY exclusions in your insurance policy? Are insurance policy exclusions another way insurance companies rip you off?

A psychological benefit of buying insurance is it gives the buyer peace of mind. If you buy homeowners insurance, you don’t have to worry about the financial consequences of something bad happening to your house. If you buy auto insurance, and ask for “full coverage,” you don’t have to worry about paying for damage to your car.

A wise insurance buyer does not rest that easy. All insurance policies have exclusions and limitations, and you need to know them, to make sure you are buying the coverage you need.

Unfortunately, home insurance & auto insurance do not cover you for everything that can happen to your car or home. But insurance policy exclusions are not arbitrary to avoid paying any claims. Exclusions are used by insurance companies to avoid covering things the policy, and the policy rates, were not designed to cover.

For example, homeowners insurance excludes damage to your home caused by vermin, such as rats, or insects, such as termites. Auto insurance excludes damage to your car caused by mechanical break down.

Rodent infestation, or termite damage to a house,  are home maintenance issues easily in control of the homeowner. Likewise, with car insurance, it is the responsibility of the car owner to maintain their car. Because these things are excluded by your auto & home insurance, the costs involved are not considered in the insurance rates. Imagine how expensive car insurance would be if the car insurance company picked up the bill every time a car broke down. There are other financial products, such as car warranties, to help people cover these expenses.

In addition to excluding causes of damage resulting from common maintenance issues, insurance companies exclude damage from events, where the damage is so catastrophic and expensive, they would bankrupt the insurance company.

For example, your homeowners insurance covers the cost of damage to your home from riot or civil commotion, but the costs involved to the large number of customers from war or nuclear contamination are too excessive, so damage to your home from war or nuclear contamination are excluded from homeowners insurance.

Sometimes exclusions, or policy limits on coverage, are used to remove the cost of claims not applying to the average customer.

Homeowners insurance liability doe not cover you for the use of an aircraft. Unless you fly planes, this exclusion is not a problem for most homeowners and their families.

Homeowners insurance policies limit how much they will pay for the theft of jewelry, because not everyone has jewelry, and they shouldn’t have to pay more for homeowners insurance for expensive jewelry claims which will never apply to them.

Do some insurance companies have different exclusions than other insurance companies? Yes, but insurance companies have many of the same exclusions, and insurance companies use very similar wording in their insurance policies.

There have been a lot of court cases & verdicts over the years, to determine exactly what the policy wording means, involving many claims situations open to interpretation. When insurance companies deviate from the usual phrasing, they may open themselves to pay for claims not intended to be covered. Policy language can also change based on new court decisions and new issues involving unexpected claims, such as the issues and costs involved with the illness and property damage associated with toxic mold.
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Most insurance companies used to use a standardized policy form (or their own version of it), published by the Insurance Service Office. Some insurance companies still use these forms, but many insurance companies use their own policy forms now, which effects how the customer is covered.

When it comes to auto insurance, in my opinion, there is still very little difference among insurance companies’ policies, when it comes to covering claims.

Auto insurance policies may vary as to what conditions they will cover a rental car, or a newly purchased car, or how they will cover a friend driving your car. For most customers, these differences do not matter much, and won’t result in huge unpaid claims other car insurance companies would cover.

The more important factors for most people buying auto insurance are price and customer service. I strongly believe in shopping for the best combination of price and customer service for car insurance, which you can find by going to my website home page.

However, with homeowners insurance, there can be BIG differences in coverage available, exclusions, and policy language, which can create a situation where a large lawsuit is covered by one insurance company, and not covered by another insurance company.

For example, some insurance companies exclude coverage under their homeowners insurance policies for “concurrent causes of loss.” If one of the causes of loss is excluded, all the damage caused by the concurrent causes of loss is not covered.

Using the situation of Hurricane Katrina to illustrate this exclusion, many homes sustained flood damage from a flood surge, as well as wind & storm damage from the hurricane. Since flood damage is excluded by homeowners insurance, there would be no coverage for ANY of the damage, whether caused by the winds of the hurricane or the flood surge, if you have the concurrent loss exclusion in your homeowners insurance policy.

The effect of different policy language and exclusions in homeowners insurance becomes apparent for those few people experiencing a large property loss or liability lawsuit.

Although many homeowners are likely to never need the broader protection available from some home insurance companies, the costs of not having the proper coverage can be catastrophic for those who end up needing it.

Because these differences come up infrequently, many insurance agents are not aware how much homeowners insurance coverage can vary among insurance companies. Many agents may tell you all homeowners insurance is the same, but some insurance companies have better prices or service.

If you own a home, don’t play Russian roulette with your biggest financial asset — find knowledgeable insurance agents knowing the difference in homeowners insurance policies, and shop to find the best coverage you need at a reasonable price.

Do you know what’s excluded in your insurance policies? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insuring Guns & Homeowners Insurance

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Are insurance companies anti-gun? No, but people who own firearms need to know the common limitations in homeowners insurance policies for guns, and how to discuss getting the proper coverage with insurance companies, without getting their homeowners insurance canceled.

Some gun owners feel insurance companies are sending a political message, when they may refuse to offer homeowners insurance, or cancel coverage, for firearms owners keeping guns in their homes. Insurance companies are not really concerned with 2nd amendment rights, but they are concerned with paying out large claims regarding the use of guns, such as a wrongful death lawsuit, if someone is accidentally killed by the use of your gun.

The good news is insurance companies differ as to how concerned they are with their customers owning guns, and many insurance companies have no problem with responsible gun ownership, and do not ask you a lot of questions about your firearms. For most gun owners, getting homeowners insurance is no problem.

A greater concern for you should be if your homeowners insurance policy will protect you from lawsuits, if you have to use your gun to defend yourself, your family, or your home or property. Whether you have coverage in this situation depends on the insurance company you choose, and other factors, and I will discuss this matter in a separate blog post.

In the mean time, shop around for homeowners insurance where the policy says specifically you are insured for using reasonable force to protect yourself and your home. Have your insurance company show it to you in writing. Don’t get ripped off by buying a homeowners insurance policy without the coverage you need as a gun owner.

This blog post will tell you how the basic homeowners insurance policy limits coverage for the loss of your guns, how to insure your guns properly, and what to say to insurance companies to avoid problems, and cancellation of your coverage.

The usual limitation on a basic homeowners insurance policy is limiting coverage for your guns to a certain dollar amount if they are stolen.

For example, you may have a $1,000 limit for ALL your guns (not per item) if they are stolen.

If you have 3 guns, worth $5,000 to replace with the same kind and quality (make sure your homeowners insurance has the replacement cost option, like most customers have) and all of your guns were stolen, you would have a property loss of $5,000. Subtract your deductible from the property loss.

For this example, we will say you have a $500 deductible. $5,000 minus $500 leaves you with a claim for $4,500.

But since your policy has the $1,000 limit for guns in the event of theft, you get only $1,000 for all 3 guns. Whether one or all your guns were stolen, the most you could get for the claim is $1,000.

Now, if all your guns are damaged in a fire, you don’t have the limitation, since it applies only to theft, so you would get $4,500 ($5,000 cost to replace or repair the damaged guns, less your $500 deductible).

Why is there limited coverage for guns on your homeowners insurance? It is not because insurance companies hate gun owners. Guns, like certain other types of personal property (jewelry, watches, camera equipment, stamp & coin collections, etc.) are targeted by thieves, but not every homeowner has these types of property.

Every homeowner has the risk of their house burning down, but not every homeowner has the risk of theft of $50,000 of jewelry, and does not want to pay higher homeowners insurance rates to cover these types of claims. Customers usually have the option to adjust their insurance coverage to cover their high value items, if they need it.

Do you need to adjust your homeowners insurance coverage to properly cover your guns? Here is what you need to consider to make this decision:

1. How much would it cost to replace all your guns with the same kind and quality if they were stolen, and compare the cost to your deductible. Do you really need insurance on them?

It may cost $5,000 to replace your guns, but if you have a high deductible, like a $2,500 deductible, the most you could collect from a claim is $2,500 — without considering the dollar limit for guns on your policy.

You could pay more for a lower deductible, and more gun coverage, but if you have a claim, it could also increase your rates a lot.

Paying more for homeowners insurance to cover smaller claims, which will increase your rates even more if you file them, is rarely a good idea. Having 2 claims in 5 years can often get your homeowners insurance canceled, leaving you to purchase a high risk policy to insure your home, with limited coverage and very high rates.

Paying out of your own pocket to rebuild your stolen gun collection is no fun, but it may be a better option than losing your homeowners insurance.

If the cost to replace your guns, if needed, is bearable for you, you may decide you don’t need to have insurance for them.

I can’t speak for all homeowners insurance companies, but most companies limit coverage for guns only if they are stolen. The best option for you may be to better protect your guns by buying a gun safe.

2. If you think you need insurance coverage for your guns, contact your insurance company and find out about your homeowners insurance policy’s limitation for guns, and what you can do about it.

What is the limit for all guns? Is there a per item limit, too? Does the limit apply to anything other than theft?

The answers to these questions will depend on the details of your own homeowners insurance policy, so you need to ask your agent or insurance company. Ask about the cost to increase your guns coverage.

For example, you ask about increasing your $1,000 gun limit to $5,000. Even though you have $5,000 for all your guns, there may be a $1,000 per item limit. If you have one gun worth $4,000, the $1,000 per item limit makes this a poor option for you. Are accessories, like scopes, and ammo also included in the gun limit?

Some insurance agents & insurance company representatives make the mistake of subtracting the deductible from the coverage limitation.

For example, your agent may tell you with a $5,000 gun limit and a $1,000 deductible, the most you can collect for the theft of your guns is $4,000.

However, you can collect up to the full amount of the limit amount, as long as the property loss, less your deductible, is the limit amount or more. That is if you have $6,000 or more worth of guns stolen, and a $5,000 gun limit, and a $1,000 deductible, you can collect $5,000 for the claim.

Some insurance companies may not offer higher limits beyond $5,000 for your firearms. Some insurance companies may allow you to schedule your guns (list the items specifically, for a specific amount, based on an appraisal or bill of sale) for expensive guns or large gun collections.

3. When you contact your insurance company and ask about gun coverage, they may ask you questions about the guns you own and how they are kept. If the insurance company decides your situation poses a “substantial increase in hazard,” you can see your homeowners insurance canceled, and you will have difficulty getting replacement coverage.

Usually, this applies in less common situations, like if you have an assault rifle, or a shooting range on your property. Though, if you are an avid gun enthusiast, this may apply to you. I never had an issue with it in my work experience, but I have read complaints about some insurance companies refusing to insure people keeping loaded guns in their homes.

You never want to lie to an insurance company, but you don’t want to volunteer information they are not asking of you.

I suggest, if you need to find out information from your homeowners insurance company about guns, you ask about your insurance company’s policy towards guns on behalf of a “friend.”

Ask if the insurance company has any concerns regarding guns, and how they cover guns. This is even more important when you talk directly to the insurance company, and not your agent.

If you have an extensive gun collection, contact an independent insurance agent, representing several insurance companies, who does NOT insure your home. Ask about a separate insurance policy to insure your guns. These types of policies are called inland marine policies or personal property floaters. A separate policy for your guns can keep you from having problems with your homeowners insurance, and avoid higher rates or cancellation of your homeowners insurance due to claims.

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Washington State Home Insurance Reviews: Complaint Ratings for 20 Major Companies

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Does your home insurance company have a lot of complaints? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Will you find out you company is good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here I provide complaint information for the 20 largest (by Washington market share) homeowners insurance companies, and rate them based on their 2010 Washington complaint record (2011 complaint data not available yet). Learn about the best & worst companies. Continue reading →

Washington State Auto Insurance Reviews: Complaint Ratings for 40 Leading Companies

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Does your auto insurance company have a lot of complaints? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Do you know if your company is good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here I provide complaint information for the 40 Biggest (by Washington market share) auto insurance companies, and rate them based on their 2010 Washington complaint record (2011 complaint data not available yet). Find out the best & worst companies. Continue reading →

Credit Scores for Auto & Home Insurance

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What does credit have to do with insurance? Why are insurance credit scores used to rate & qualify you for car insurance & homeowners insurance? If you have a clean driving record, why should you pay higher auto insurance rates if you have bad credit? What if you have only an average credit score? Is using your credit report just an excuse to charge you higher rates? Are you being ripped off? I will explain in this blog post why insurance companies use credit scoring, and give you the knowledge you need to get the best insurance rates for you.

How can insurance companies order your credit report? Isn’t that illegal?

A few states do not allow insurance companies to use your credit information to qualify you or rate your insurance policy. Some states limit the use of credit, but most states allow insurance companies to use your credit information to determine the price of your insurance.

For example, in Oregon, when you apply for home or auto insurance, the insurance company uses your credit to rate your policy. But if your credit gets worse, the insurance company can’t increase your insurance rates because of it when your insurance policy renews.

In fact, in Oregon, customers can request their credit be reviewed once each year, and if their insurance rates go down because of better credit, they will get a better price. But if their credit is worse, their insurance rates cannot go up. A lot of people in Oregon are saving money each year by requesting to have their credit reviewed.

In other states, you may have the option to have your credit reviewed each year, but you may have to pay higher rates, depending on the results.

So, the first insurance shopping tip regarding use of your credit, is know how your state allows insurance companies to use your credit. Start by asking your insurance agent or company for information, and then check out your state department of insurance website (click the link to go to my website to find the one for your state) for how your state regulates insurance companies’ use of credit.

When you contact an insurance company for an insurance price quote, they usually get your permission to order your credit, in addition to other reports (such as your claims history). Or, if you get an insurance quote online, you agree to the use of your credit in the terms of service.

However, the insurance company you have now does not need your permission to order your credit report, since as your insurance company, they are considered to have a “need to know” certain information about you.

For example, your homeowners insurance company may non-renew (cancel at your renewal date) your policy if they found out you have had a bankruptcy or foreclosure. The insurance company can order your credit information, but the insurance company still needs to comply with your state’s insurance laws, so if your state does not allow the cancellation of your home insurance due to bad credit only, your insurance company cannot cancel your insurance.

Some insurance companies are more quick to cancel your insurance coverage than others, so always check to see if your insurance company has a good complaint record.

Why do insurance companies use your credit, and what does your credit have to do with your insurance?

Insurance companies love using credit because it is very accurate in predicting future claims. The explanation is, people who are careful with their credit, are also careful in other aspects of their lives, and less likely to have claims. People who are reckless with their credit tend to be reckless in other aspects of their lives, such as driving habits, and have more claims. The statistics agree with this assumption.

However, what is true for an overall group of people (people with bad credit) is not necessarily true for the individual. A careful, responsible person who maintains and protects their house & car from damage, and drives defensively, can have their credit ruined by the unexpected costs of a major illness.

Insurance companies often have an appeal process from extraordinary events damaging your credit, such as identity theft, bankruptcies due to medical bills, and sometimes divorce if bad credit resulted from a vindictive spouse.

These appeals are rare, and although many people feel they are blameless for their bad credit, it is hard to qualify for a credit appeal which will be worth your time to lower your rates. Make a few calls, and speak to several people at your insurance company about it to see if an appeal is an option for you.

You may know your credit does not make you a higher risk of claims for the insurance company, but insurance companies have to treat all people with the same risk characteristics equally, and they cannot make an exception for you.

What you need to know about how insurance companies use credit when shopping for insurance

Here is your second insurance shopping tip: allow the insurance company or agent to order your credit report.

Some insurance shoppers do not want their credit report ordered, fearing it will make their credit score go down. I understand this concern, particularly if you are buying a house and need to qualify for a mortgage, since high credit scores are so important these days.

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Don’t be afraid to allow an insurance agent or company order your credit. The agent or insurance company representative never sees your credit report. The insurance company’s computer program reads your credit information for certain characteristics, such as late payments, to develop an insurance score.

The insurance credit score is a numerical scale using your credit information and other information to rate your insurance quote.

For example, one insurance company may have an insurance score scaled from 1 to 15. 1 is the best. 15 is the worst. People with really good credit may score anywhere from 1 to 5, with people scoring “1” getting the lowest rates, based on the specifics of their credit information. All these people may pay their bills on time, but other factors, such as length of credit history, or available credit, may have some people with good credit scoring better than other people with good credit.

I worked for a certain insurance company over 2 years, and checked the rates for my auto insurance each time it renewed. I saw my Insurance Score go from a “6” to a “1” over time for no apparent reason. A far as I know, my credit had not changed.

If you ask for a price for auto insurance or home insurance based on estimated “good” credit, you will get a meaningless price, because the insurance company is not likely to guess your correct insurance score.

Some insurance companies may low ball you with the most optimistic price, and then when you want the policy it is hundreds of dollars higher.

Other insurance companies, not wanting to mislead you, may be too pessimistic, and quote you a price hundreds of dollars higher than the actual price, leading you to keep shopping and miss the insurance company with the best price for you.

Here is another shopping tip: Give the insurance company all the information it needs to get you the most accurate and best credit score. Most agents are content to get your social security numbers and dates of birth for you and your spouse. But also make sure you give the insurance company all addresses you have lived at for the last 5 years, or at least your current address, and the address you have lived at the longest in the last 5 years. I have seen this make the difference from a very good insurance score to a great insurance score.

If you co-own the car with someone to whom you are not married, have the person with the best credit be the primary owner (first named insured) of the policy. Unless you are married, insurance companies will usually use the credit of only the first person listed on the policy.

Good credit can help you get low insurance rates!

Say you have a speeding ticket or two on your driving record. If you have bad credit, too, you may not qualify for some insurance companies, and have to pay high risk auto insurance rates.

However, if you have a ticket or two, and good or great credit, you may still qualify for low auto insurance rates with insurance companies having more sophisticated rating plans. Good credit is such a strong predictor of a low risk of future claims, some insurance companies will charge you only a little more for one or two moving violations.

Whether you have good or bad credit, insurance companies will treat your credit differently, so it really pays to shop all the major insurance companies to find the best rates for you. You will find some insurance companies will want to charge you double the rate of other insurance companies for the same coverage.

 What if you have a clean driving record but bad credit?

 You will still be rewarded for your good driving record, even though you have bad credit. If you can find an insurance company with low rates for good drivers and does not use credit, get a quote from them. But I don’t think there are any more.

There are auto insurance companies not using credit, offering insurance for high risk drivers, (DUIs, multiple at-fault accidents, etc.), but unless you have a really bad driving record, you will pay less with a standard or preferred auto insurance company using credit.

Here is my final insurance shopping tip: Whether you have good credit or bad credit, shop with ALL the leading insurance companies to save hundreds of dollars on insurance, and find the best price for you.

What do you think about insurance companies using credit? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

New Jersey Auto Insurance Reviews: Complaint Ratings Ranking 32 Major Companies

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Does your auto insurance company have a lot of complaints? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Will you find out your company is good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here I provide complaint information for the 32 largest (insuring 10,00 vehicles or more in NJ) auto insurance companies in New Jersey, and rank them from best to worst based on their 2010 NJ complaint record (Accurate 2011 data not available yet).

I’m always blogging to help you get the best policies and prices for auto, home, & life insurance, so bookmark or place my website in your favorites!

The New Jersey Department of Banking & Insurance website is the source of my information about car insurance complaint records. I provide the New Jersey complaint index for each car insurance company, but I devised a letter grade system to make it easier to tell an insurance company with a great or good complaint record, from an insurance company with a poor or average complaint record.

Here’s my grading system:

A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.

A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.

B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.

C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.

D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.

F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. More than twice as much as average!

Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an auto insurance company.

I also list the New Jersey complaint index number. The lower the number, the better the complaint record: 1 is average. Below 1 is better than average. More than 1 is worse than average.

32 Top Auto Insurance Companies Ranked from Best to Worst by Their 2010 NJ Complaint Records

1. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)

2. Palisades Insurance Group = A+ (No complaints)

3. Esurance Insurance Company of New Jersey =  A+ (No complaints — but Esurance ranked last for complaints in 2009, and had the 5th worst complaint record in 2008).

4. IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)(IDS is part of Ameriprise insurance, and sells auto insurance directly to the public and through Costco).

5. Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)

6. Chubb Insurance Company of New Jersey = A+ (No complaints)

7. Founders Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)

8. Electric Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints — but Electric Insurance Co., which has discounts for GE employees, had the 3rd worst complaint record in 2009, and the 7th worst complaint record in 2008.)

9. Bankers Standard Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints)

10. High Point Insurance Group = A+ (.105)

11. AAA Mid-Atlantic Insurance Group = A (.436)

12. Encompass Insurance Group = B+ (.547)

13. Progressive Insurance Group = B (.695)

14. Selective Insurance Group = B (.707)

15. State Farm Insurance Group = B (.768)

16. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group = C+ (.902)

17. Travelers Insurance Group = C+ (.907)

18. Geico Insurance Group = C (.968)

19. Citizen’s United Reciprocal Exchange = C (.969)

20. New Jersey Skylands Insurance Association = D+ (1.269)

21. Praetorian Insurance Company = D (1.498)

22. USAA Insurance Group = D (1.567) (USAA sells only to the military, their immediate family members, and honorably discharged veterans).

23. Hanover Insurance Group = D (1.738)

24. Amica Property & Casualty Insurance Company = D (1.757)

25. American Commerce Insurance Company = D (1.836)(American Commerce Insurance is sold through AAA offices across NJ)

26. Farmers Insurance Group = D (1.895)

27. Allstate Insurance Group = F (2.433)

28. Metropolitan Insurance Group = F (2.496)

29. Mercury Indemnity Company of America = F (3.107)

30. Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company = F (3.860)

31. IFA Insurance Company = F (6.425)

32. Personal Service Insurance Company = F (8.240)

Now you know the complaint records of the major auto insurance companies in NJ, you are ready to shop for a lower rate with a good car insurance company. You really can save a bundle on car insurance, but many people fail to find the savings, because they don’t check the rates of ALL the leading auto insurance companies. Don’t be one of the suckers paying too much for auto insurance. By shopping your auto insurance each year, you can find a better price and better customer service. My website has the information to help you do it.

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New York Auto Insurance Reviews: Best & Worst Complaint Ratings for 10 Top Companies

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Does your auto insurance company have a lot of complaints? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Can you be certain your company is good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here I provide complaint information for the 10 biggest (by New York market share) auto insurance companies, and rank them from best to worst based on their 2010 complaint record.(Accurate 2011 data not available yet)

I’m always blogging to help you get the best policies and prices for auto, home, & life insurance, so bookmark or place my website in your favorites!

The New York Department of Financial Services website, and my own website, are the sources of my information about market share & complaint information.

New York lists 2011 complaint ratios, but the complaint information is from 2010. The New York complaint ratios compare the number of each auto insurance company’s upheld complaints as a percentage of the average of its last 2 year’s New York auto insurance premium.

Calculating the NY complaint ratio in this way helps you compare a large auto insurance company with a smaller auto insurance company — the company with the lower number for its complaint ratio has less complaints. The New York complaint ratio allows you to compare two insurance companies, but unlike the national complaint ratios I use on my website, you can’t use the New York complaint ratio to tell whether one insurance company has a better than average, or worse than average complaint ratio. The insurance company ranked number one has a better complaint record than the insurance company ranked number ten, but you can’t tell if the car insurance company ranked number 10 has a worse than average complaint record.

Therefore, in addition to ranking the ten largest auto insurers in New York, from best to worst, by their New York complaint ratios, I use my letter grade system, based on each car insurance company’s national complaint ratio listed on my website (see the link below), to make it easy to tell if an insurance company has a better than average or worse than average complaint record.

I also list a few large car insurance companies which you may want to avoid, based on their complaint records. I will also note a few auto insurance companies with very good complaint records.

Here is my grading system explained:

A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.

A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.

B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.

C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.

D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.

F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. More than twice as much as average!

Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an auto insurance company.

Insurance companies frequently have several subsidiary auto insurance companies. For example, GEICO has 3 subsidiary companies on this list. Make sure you know the correct name of the insurance subsidiary quoting or insuring you, to check the proper complaint grade.

10 Largest Auto Insurance Companies in New York Ranked from Best to Worst by their 2010 New York Complaint Ratings

1. New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance Company = A+ (.0130)

2. Geico General Insurance Company = B+ (.0156)

3. Progressive Northern Insurance Company = B+ (.0225)

4. Geico Indemnity Company = B (.0227)

5. Government Employees Insurance Company (a GEICO company)= A (.0336)

6. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company = A (.0361)

7. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company = B+ (.0475)

8. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance Company = B+ (.0504)

9. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company = B+ (.0547)

10. Allstate Insurance Company = C (.1423) (Notice how high the number is for the New York complaint ratio, in relation to the other 9 ranked insurance companies. This Allstate insurance subsidiary has 140 upheld complaints in 2010, which stands out at as an alarming signal.)

Major Auto Insurance Companies in New York with Poor Complaint Records

Allstate Insurance Company = C (.1423) (As noted above in number 10).

 Allstate Indemnity Company = B (1.2310) (The national complaint ratio, as represented by the letter grade is okay, but the New York complaint ratio indicates this is another Allstate subsidiary having problems in New York.

Country-Wide Insurance Company = D (NAIC 1.30) (.3643)

AutoOne Insurance Company = F (NAIC 3.88) (.2474)

Esurance Insurance Company = D (.1998)

Permanent General Assurance Corp. (The General auto insurance) = F (NAIC 2.62) (.8171)

Auto Insurance Companies in New York with the Best Complaint Records

Erie Insurance Company = A+ (No 2010 auto insurance complaints in New York).

New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance Company  = A+ (NAIC .08) (.0130)

Kemper Independence Insurance Company = B (1.33) (No 2010 auto insurance complaints in New York).

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company = B+ (.0081)

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JD Power 2011 Auto Insurance Claims Satisfaction Study Reviewed

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JD Power recently released its 2011 auto claims satisfaction study. This JD Power study surveys auto insurance customers to see how satisfied they are with how their Comprehensive or Collision claim was processed when their car was damaged. This blog post will give you my opinion of the study results, and how I think the truth behind the numbers can help you find a better auto insurance company.

Usually, when I review JD Power insurance studies, I try to sort out the winners from the losers. But looking at the scores of the higher-rated car insurance companies, I’m not convinced the auto insurance companies rated above average are significantly better than the auto insurance companies rated as average (By the way, never use one source of information to determine the quality of an insurance company. Click the link below to go to my website for other useful information to evaluate insurance companies).

For example, JD Power studies use a 1,000 point scale. The industry average score for this study is 846 points. The Hartford scored 858, and was given a rating of “better than most” (4 power circles). This is only 12 points higher than the industry average on a 1,000 point scale. Country Insurance scored 853, only 5 points less than The Hartford, but was rated at “about average” (3 power circles). Is The Hartford providing better claims service than Country Insurance, or are they really about the same?

I will dig deeper to show you the car insurance companies I think are performing better than most, based on this study, but I want to focus first on the losers. The bottom 5 auto insurance companies have a greater point range from the average than the top-rated auto insurance companies have from the average. Also, when it comes to car insurance claims, average insurance companies can be guilty of providing poor customer service, so car insurance rated less than average should be a concern for customers.

Here are the bottom 5 auto insurance companies, and their numerical scores from the JD Power study, rated as “the rest” (2 power circles), which is below average. Remember, the higher the number the better the claims service:

Farmers Insurance (804)

Esurance (800)

Encompass Insurance (789)

Commerce Insurance (772)

21st Century Insurance (771)

If you are insured with any of the above car insurance companies, you should shop for a better insurance company. Believe it or not, you can save money AND get better customer service.

Okay, so those were the losers of the study, are all the other car insurance companies really average? No, a few insurance companies are better than average, but some of them do not operate in all states, have restricted membership, or require you to have a clean (or mostly clean driving record to qualify.

I’m choosing the 3 highest scoring car insurance companies in the study. These 3 insurance companies also rate as “among the best” (5 power circles) in the “Settlement” category, which to me, is the critical test of good claim service — are customers getting a fair settlement for their damaged cars? Here they are:

USAA Insurance (889) — Unfortunately, you need to be in the military, an immediate family member of someone in the military, or an honorably discharged veteran to qualify.

New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance (885) — offered only through member employers if you live in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.

Auto-owners Insurance (890) — not available in all states.

Here are three additional high-scoring car insurance companies which were rated “better than most” ( 4 power circles) in the “Settlement” category of the study.

State Farm Insurance (878)

Amica Insurance (865)

American Family Insurance (862)

If you have a few things on your driving record, or other problems when you can’t qualify for these insurance companies, and you are looking for a better auto insurance company, consider these two auto insurance companies, rated “about average” (3 power circles) in this study, usually offering car insurance to almost all drivers.

Geico Insurance (840)

Progressive Insurance (836)

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Oregon Home Insurance Reviews: Complaint Ratings for 25 Top Companies

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Does your homeowners insurance company have a large amount of customer complaints? Will you have problems placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Is your company good or bad at claims & customer service? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. This blog post provides complaint information for the 25 largest (by Oregon market share) home insurance companies, and ranks them from best to worst based on their 2010 complaint record. (Accurate 2011 data is not available yet)

I’m always blogging to help you get the best policies and prices for auto, home, & life insurance, so bookmark or place my website in your favorites!

The Oregon Insurance Division website is the source of my information about market share & complaint information. I provide the Oregon complaint index for each homeowners insurance company, but I devised a letter grade system to make it easy to tell an insurance company with a great or good complaint record, from an insurance company with a poor or average complaint record.

Go to my website home page to see complaint ratios on homeowners insurance companies (or to find complaint information regarding auto insurance) not on this list.

Here is my grading system. I also list the Oregon complaint index number (the lower the number the better the complaint record).

A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.

A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.

B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.

C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.

D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.

F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. More than twice as much as average!

Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an home insurance company.

Insurance companies frequently have several subsidiary homeowners insurance companies. Make sure you know the correct name of the insurance subsidiary quoting or insuring you, to check the proper complaint grade.

25 Home Insurance Companies Ranked from Best to Worst by their 2010 Oregon Complaint Ratings

1. North Pacific Insurance Company = A+ (No complaints in 2010)

2. USAA Insurance  = A (.28) (USAA sells only to the military, their immediate family members, and honorably discharged veterans).

3. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company = A (.33)

4. Property & Casualty Insurance Company of Hartford = A (.39)

5. USAA Casualty Insurance Company = A (.50) (USAA sells only to the military, their immediate family members, and honorably discharged veterans).

6.  American Commerce Insurance Company = B+ (.54) (American Commerce Insurance is sold through AAA offices across Oregon)

7. Oregon Mutual Insurance Company = B+ (.58)

8. Country Mutual Insurance Company = B (.72)

9. Federal Insurance Company = B (.83) (Part of Chubb Insurance Group)

10. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company = B (.84)

11. Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon = B (.87)

12. Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company = C (1.01)

13. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company = C (1.03)

14. Allstate Insurance Company = D+ (1.23)

15. Sublimity Insurance Company  = D (1.31)

16. Safeco Insurance Company of Oregon = D (1.34)

17. Farmers Insurance Exchange = D (1.35)

18. American Family Mutual Insurance Company = D (1.42)

19. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company = D (1.42)

20. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company = D (1.46)

21. Allstate Indemnity Company = D (1.86)

22. Foremost Insurance Company = D (1.87)

23. Valley Property & Casualty Insurance Company = D (1.92)

24. Foremost Signature Insurance Company = F (2.14)

25. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance Company = F (2.87)

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Oregon Auto Insurance Reviews: Complaint Ratings for 25 Major Companies

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Does your auto insurance company have a lot of complaints? How good is your company? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Do you know if your company is good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here I provide complaint information for the 25 largest (by Oregon market share) auto insurance companies, and rank them from best to worst based on their 2010 complaint record. (Accurate 2011 data is not available yet)

I’m always blogging to help you get the best policies and prices for auto, home, & life insurance, so bookmark or place my website in your favorites!

The Oregon Insurance Division website is the source of my information about market share & complaint information. I provide the Oregon complaint index for each car insurance company, but I devised a letter grade system to make it easy to tell an insurance company with a great or good complaint record, from an insurance company with a poor or average complaint record.

Click on the link below to my website to see complaint ratios on auto insurance companies (or to find complaint information regarding homeowners insurance) not on this list.

Here is my grading system. I also list the Oregon complaint index number (the lower the number the better the complaint record).

A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.

A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.

B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.

C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.

D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.

F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. More than twice as much as average!

Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an auto insurance company.

Insurance companies frequently have several subsidiary auto insurance companies. Make sure you know the correct name of the insurance subsidiary quoting or insuring you, to check the proper complaint grade.

The 25 Top Auto Insurance Companies Ranked from Best to Worst by their 2010 Oregon Complaint Records

1. Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company = A (.33)

2. IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company = A (.39)(IDS is part of Ameriprise insurance, and sells auto insurance directly to the public and through Costco).

3. Allstate Fire & Casualty Insurance Company = A (.39) (There is no data on complaints for this Allstate subsidiary company in  Oregon, so I list the national complaint ratio from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website. See the link to my website above for more information about the NAIC complaint ratio).

4.  State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance Company = B+ (.51)

5. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company = B+ (.52)

6. USAA Casualty Insurance Company = B (.61) (USAA sells only to the military, their immediate family members, and honorably discharged veterans).

7. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company = B (.63)

8. Oregon Mutual Insurance Company = B (.66)

9. Country Preferred Insurance Company = B (.69)

10. Country Mutual Insurance Company  = B (.70)

11. Mid-Century Insurance Company = B (.70) (Mid-Century insurance is a part of Farmers insurance (sold by Farmers Agents), and offers nonstandard auto insurance to people with lapses in insurance coverage, tickets, accidents, under 3 years driving experience, reckless driving, DUII, etc. This is a very good complaint record for a nonstandard auto insurance company, but if you now have a better driving record, or one year of continuous auto insurance, you may be able to save a lot of money by shopping your car insurance and finding a standard or preferred auto insurance company with much lower rates.)

12. American Family Mutual Insurance Company = B (.74)

13. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company = B (.84)

14. Progressive Universal Insurance Company = B (.85)

15.  Nationwide Insurance Company of America = B (.87)

16. Safeco Insurance Company of Oregon = C+ (.91)

17. Geico Indemnity Company = C (1.03)

18. Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon = D+ (1.20)

19. Progressive Classic Insurance Company = D (1.33)

20. USAA insurance = D (1.37) (USAA sells only to the military, their immediate family members, and honorably discharged veterans).

21. Geico General Insurance Company = D (1.39)

22. American Commerce Insurance Company  = D (1.50) (American Commerce Insurance is sold through AAA offices across Oregon)

23. Allstate Insurance Company = F (2.11)

24. Property & Casualty Insurance Company of Hartford = F (2.20) (Part of the Hartford Insurance Group)

25. Coast National Insurance Company = F (3.20) (Coast National Insurance is a nonstandard auto insurance company, part of Bristol West Insurance Group, which is part of Foremost Insurance Group, which is a part of Farmers insurance, sold through independent agents. Nonstandard auto insurance, as noted above, is for “high risk” drivers. So if you have accidents, tickets, lapse in insurance coverage, etc.,  you may have a hard time qualifying for car insurance with other insurance companies. You should contact Geico, Progressive, & Esurance if you want to switch to a nonstandard auto insurer with a better complaint record. See the ad below for links to their websites).

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Rear End Collisions & Auto Insurance

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Are you always at fault when you rear-end another car? Rear end car accidents are the most common type of car accidents. When you rear end another car, your auto insurance rates may increase by 30% to 40%, or even MORE if you lose a safe driver discount, in addition to the accident surcharge.

What if the car ahead of you stops suddenly, for no reason, and you can’t stop in time to avoid hitting the car? Will your car insurance rates go up, even though you were not tailgating or speeding? Isn’t that a rip off?

Unfortunately, if you rear end a car, you are almost always considered at fault for the accident. If the car in front of you slams on the brakes and stops, you are required to have maintained a safe following distance & speed, in case of this possibility.

What if an animal darts in front of the car in front of you, or even worse, a child? You need to drive defensively, not just to prevent your own mistakes, but to prevent your involvement in the mistakes of others.

There are some circumstances where you may not be at fault when you rear end another car. If a car rear ends you, and pushes you into the car in front of you, the driver rear ending you is responsible for the damage to your car, the car in front of you, and any injuries.

For example, if the car in front of you stops suddenly, you stop and avoid hitting the car in front of you, but the driver behind you hits you from behind and pushes you into the rear of the car in front of you.

Sometimes, if a car suddenly cuts in front of you from another lane of traffic, causing you to rear end the car, you may not be at fault. If the damage to your car or the other car indicates the point of impact was not dead center of the other car’s rear end, may support your version of the event.

However, some states require the driver rear-ending the other car to prove they were not negligent. Knowing what is true, and being able to prove it, are two very different things, particularly if there are no objective witnesses, ambiguous physical evidence, and it is your word against the other driver.

Maintaining a safe following distance may not protect you from rear-ending another car.

Once I was driving on a highway in the right lane, maintaining a safe following distance from the car ahead. A car from the left lane cut in front of me to get to a highway exit. The car’s rear bumper came within a foot of the front of my car, as it sped up and passed in front of me, while moving to exit the highway. If the driver had to slow once he cut into my lane, or if I had increased my speed at the wrong time, I would have rear-ended his car, and proving I was not responsible for the accident may not have been possible.

Be careful, even with a very low speed impact, when you rear end another car, and there is no apparent damage or injury.

I have seen situations where there appeared to be no damage or injury, but the person who rear-ended the other car gets a letter from a lawyer a year later, claiming they are responsible for injuries caused by the accident. A lot of people consider being hit from the rear in a car accident as winning the lottery, and rush off to a chiropractor and a lawyer’s office, with a claim of whiplash, or a back injury. They build their case over time and come after you when they think they can get a nice settlement.

This is where it helps to have an agent. You are required to report all accidents to the insurance company. But if you call your insurance company’s claims phone number, to report an accident without damage or injury, it becomes part of your claims history, which may subject you to higher rates by losing an accident-free discount, and most likely result in higher rates when you shop your auto insurance.

Contacting and asking the advice of your local agent often prevents this type of accident from becoming part of your claims history, while meeting your obligation to report all accidents to the insurance company. If you buy your auto insurance directly from the company, like Geico, Progressive, Amica, or USAA, you don’t have this option.

As you can see, you can still be considered “at fault” for accidents, even when you drive safely. To avoid higher car insurance rates in these situations, many companies offer a feature called “Accident Forgiveness,” which if you have on your policy before the accident, will protect you from higher rates.

Some insurance companies provide accident forgiveness for their long term customers at no additional cost, and some companies let anyone have it by paying more for it. This feature is a great option for newly licensed drivers, or drivers with a history of having an accident every 3 to 5 years.

What’s the best thing to do if your car insurance rates go up because of an at fault accident?

You should shop around for the best insurance rates. The insurance company having good rates for you before the accident, may have the highest rates for people with an accident on their record.

If you are concerned with not paying higher rates BEFORE you get into an accident, shop around for the best auto insurance company offering accident forgiveness at a reasonable price.

As I often say, your driving profile changes all the time. In addition to changes in your situation, auto insurance rates change all the time. The insurance company having good rates for you 5 years ago may be the most expensive auto insurance company for you now.

Don’t make the common mistake of sticking with the same car insurance company for no reason. If you don’t check the rates for ALL the leading auto insurance companies each year, you are probably paying way too much for car insurance. Check out my list of all the leading auto insurance & home insurance companies.

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Get Your Insurance Questions Answered & Problems Solved!

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People often have questions about how their auto insurance or homeowners insurance works, or how they should handle a claim. In our wired and socially networked world, many people’s first instinct is to turn to the Internet. People will put questions into an Internet search engine such as, “Who is insured to drive my vehicle?” Or, “Can I get money back if I cancel my insurance?” And the ever-popular “How much does it cost to insure…” which I discussed in a previous blog post.

The Internet is a great resource, but not for accurate information about your own insurance policies. Even I, a 20-year insurance veteran, can lead you astray.

The laws and regulations regarding insurance vary greatly by state. For example, a practice like using your credit information to rate an auto insurance policy may be legal in one state, but prohibited in another state.

I have sold insurance in many states in the past, but insurance laws & regulations change frequently. I have no doubt what I learned about New Jersey state insurance law in 1992 is completely different now. I certainly have no business telling anyone what is allowed, or not allowed, regarding New Jersey auto insurance.

You will notice when I talk about insurance, I use words like “often” and “usually” when talking about what most (not all) insurance companies do, and often disclaim by stating, “if not prohibited by law.”

For example, having one year of continuous auto insurance without a lapse of coverage is needed to qualify for auto insurance in many states.

However, it used to be in California (and may still be), auto insurance companies cannot decline to offer auto insurance for not having previous auto insurance. Since I have not sold California auto insurance in over a decade, I should not be considered the best source for what is going on for California auto insurance now. Even if I had stopped my involvement in California auto insurance only 3 months ago, my knowledge could be out of date if there was a change to auto insurance law & regulations a month ago.

Also, each insurance company may interpret the law differently. In Oregon, where I live, auto insurance companies can use only your most recent three year driving record (other than drug or alcohol related driving offenses). But one auto insurance company told me they use a 5 year experience period when I tried to get an auto insurance quote from them. It’s possible this insurance company is not in compliance with the law, or found a way to comply with the law while still using a 5 year driving record history.

In addition, many auto insurance & home insurance companies use different policy language in their insurance policies. This may be expected by people not working in the insurance industry, but there was a time when most insurance companies used the same policy language.

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One major auto insurance company covers a newly purchased car for only 14 days until you notify the insurance company and insure the recently acquired car.

How you are insured depends on the wording of your insurance policy. If I do not currently work for your insurance company, and have access to your policy, I don’t know how you are covered.

I provide a lot of useful information to you, but the only accurate source of information for YOUR insurance policy is someone working for YOUR insurance company NOW. So, when you have questions about your insurance policy, ask your agent or company representative.

Now, it is still possible your agent will be incorrect, or the insurance company may not be properly following the state (or federal) insurance laws & regulations.

If you think your insurance company is not treating you properly, contact your state’s regulatory authority over insurance. Here is a list of websites for each state’s regulatory body, usually called a “department of insurance.” Some states have great information about state insurance laws and consumer information, and all states tell you how to file a complaint against your insurance company.

Use the Internet to get a second opinion, to see if you have a valid complaint against your insurance company, but take any advice (except mine?) with a grain of salt.

A lot of the information on the web about insurance is bad or generic. Message board responses can be completely wrong, too, even from insurance industry veterans. Never rely on only one person’s opinion. But if more than one person advises you the same way, you should consider the advice.

I would love to help you with your insurance questions. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Best Insurance Rates For The High Risk Driver

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Are you under 25 years old? Have you had a lapse in auto insurance coverage? Have you been licensed less than 5 years, or have your driver’s license reinstated for less than 5 years? Do you have tickets, accidents and claims, or merely a less-than-perfect driving record with less-than-perfect credit? Do you have a major moving violation, like excessive speeding, driving while uninsured or with a suspended driver’s license, reckless driving, or a DUI? Do you need an SR-22?

If you have a combination of these characteristics, or even one of some of these characteristics, you may be considered a “high-risk” driver, more likely to have claims, by car insurance companies.

Auto insurance is a major cost for most people, but for “high-risk” drivers, car insurance can be extremely expensive. The good news is, for low risk drivers and high risk drivers alike, auto insurance rates vary a lot between car insurance companies, with some insurance companies charging twice as much as others. You can save a lot of cash by shopping your auto insurance.

The ads you see and hear for auto insurance are true. You can save hundreds of dollars each year by shopping your car insurance. How can all these auto insurance companies claim to save you so much money?

Car insurance companies are not lying about the amount of savings. The hundreds of dollars they say they can save you is based on the average savings of customers switching to their auto insurance. What the auto insurance companies don’t tell you is that not everyone contacting them for an auto insurance quote will save money. People getting auto insurance quotes saving them hundreds of dollars switch their car insurance, but people getting quotes not saving them money, or costing them more, do not switch their auto insurance.

What does this mean to you? All car insurance companies can save some people a lot of money, but no single car insurance company has the lowest rate for everyone. The only way to really save a lot of money on car insurance is to get price quotes from all the leading auto insurance companies, so you can find the car insurance company with the best rate for you.

Many people pay too much for their car insurance because they do not shop for better rates each year, or if they do shop, they don’t check the rates of all the leading auto insurance companies.

Whether you are considered a “high-risk” driver, or a “low-risk” driver by insurance companies, you can save a ton of money by shopping for the best rate. But when auto insurance companies consider you a “high-risk” driver, you won’t be eligible for many auto insurance companies, because not all car insurance companies insure high risk drivers. Many high risk drivers get frustrated shopping for car insurance and have a hard time getting price quotes from more than a couple of insurance companies.

I’m writing this blog post to help high risk drivers know the leading insurance companies insuring high risk drivers (This segment of the market is called nonstandard or specialty auto insurance), so they, too, can avoid paying way too much for auto insurance, because they failed to find the car insurance company with the best rates for them.

First, here is a shopping tip: Go to the auto insurance company websites to get price quotes. Do NOT contact local agents for price quotes. Normally, contacting local auto insurance agents is the best way to get price quotes. But many insurance agents are not interested in selling car insurance to high risk drivers. Insurance companies like State Farm, Allstate, Farmers & American Family insurance usually sell nonstandard auto insurance, but many of their agents are not interested in selling it. If you request an auto insurance quote directly from the car insurance company, or the car insurance company website, you are more likely to get a price quote, if nonstandard auto insurance is offered by the company, and you are eligible.

Here is a second shopping tip: in addition to checking the rates of the auto insurance companies I list in this blog post (Clicking on their Google ads to get quotes is a great idea), click on any ads for online insurance agencies specializing in high risk drivers. Some nonstandard auto insurance companies sell insurance only through independent agents, and you can’t get an auto insurance quote from their websites.

Here are the leading auto insurance companies (listed alphabetically) offering nonstandard auto insurance for high risk drivers. Not all of these companies offer nonstandard auto insurance in every state, and not all high risk drivers may qualify — particularly people needing auto insurance without a US driver’s license, or more than one major violation, like an alcohol or drug-related driving offense, driving without insurance or a suspended license, reckless driving, etc.

Allstate Insurance

American Family Insurance

Esurance (being purchased by Allstate)

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Geico

The General (Permanent General Assurance Corp)

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Nationwide Insurance (Titan Auto Insurance & Victoria Auto Insurance)

Progressive Insurance

Safeco Insurance

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Unitrin Direct (owned by Kemper Insurance)

Now you know where to shop, start shopping for a better auto insurance rate today. It is important to shop your auto insurance each year — even for good drivers with low rates. Click the ad below to get quotes from some of the nonstandard auto insurance companies discussed in this blog post.

As time goes by, you will qualify for lower car insurance rates when you shop, as you get older, have more driving experience, and a longer auto insurance history. Drive safely and pay your bills on time to improve your credit. When tickets, accidents, and claims get older, and you have a better credit score, you will one day qualify for standard or preferred auto insurance rates.

Many people pay too much for their insurance because they never shop for better rates, or if they do shop, they don’t check the rates of enough companies. For a lot of people, the best auto & home insurance companies are the ones with the coverage they need at a lower price. With auto & home insurance, you don’t get better service or coverage because you pay more. Some of the best companies have competitive rates. Some companies charge twice as much as others for the same coverage. But no single company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Which nonstandard car insurance company has the best rates for you? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insurance & Small Claims

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My last blog post explained why insurance is needed to protect people from large financial losses. A wise insurance customer is selective when filing claims, and uses their insurance only for large claims.

But why do insurance companies punish you with cancellation or much higher rates when you file claims? You pay for the coverage, and if the claim is covered, isn’t that what you pay for? Insurance agents & companies brag about what is covered by their insurance policies, but then they advise you to not file a claim when a small claim occurs. Isn’t that a rip off?

The contradiction lies between selling you on why you should buy their insurance, and properly advising you on the use of your policy, to avoid cancellation from being deemed a “higher-risk” customer, once you have purchased the policy.

Insurance companies pay claims. Insurance companies don’t sell insurance expecting to never pay any claims. Insurance companies insure hundreds of thousands of customers, if not millions, and some of them will have claims.

Insurance companies determine their rates based on the average claims costs of a certain risk class of customers. If you are considered a preferred risk or average risk, you don’t have a problem getting insurance or paying reasonable rates.

When you are considered a “high risk” customer you pay higher rates, or your insurance policy is canceled, and many insurance companies may decline to insure you.

Frequents claims, even if they are small claims, are a major expense for insurance companies to process, and are an indicator you are more likely to have claims in the future than the average customer.

Say you live in a bad neighborhood and park your convertible on the street. You have an alarm, and you never leave anything in your car, but every couple of years, someone cuts your convertible top to break into your car. You can carry a low Comprehensive deductible, and you place a claim each time it happens.

What if it happened every year? What if it happened every month? Every time it happens, you have coverage.

Your annual Comprehensive premium cost $100. Your insurance company has paid you $24,000 to replace your convertible top 10 times in the last year, plus the insurance company had the cost of adjusting the claim.

The cost of the average Comprehensive claim may be $6,000, and the average customer has one Comprehensive claim every 5 years.

Because you have Comprehensive claims more often than the average customer, you are considered too high a risk to insure. The insurance company does not have a rating plan to adjust the cost of your Comprehensive premium to reflect your greater risk, so your insurance company may no longer offer Comprehensive coverage for you at your next renewal.

Customers with an average risk or preferred risk of having a claim do not want to pay higher rates to cover people with a much greater risk of having a claim. Insurance companies, not wanting to lose low risk customers because of higher rates, cancel the insurance of high risk customers.
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The above example was exaggerated to explain the concept. In reality, to qualify for preferred auto insurance, you want to have no Comprehensive claims in 5 years, other than glass claims. You can often get by with one Comprehensive claim, but two claims in 3 or 5 years (depending on the state you live in) may mean some insurance companies will not quote you when you shop your insurance.

People should not use their insurance unless the cost of not using it is too high for them.

Couldn’t insurance companies avoid small claims by changing their insurance policies to not cover them? Some insurance companies do this, particularly when claims expenses keep rising, by such things as no longer offering lower deductibles.

However, competition between insurance companies has them offering broader and broader coverage to make their insurance company stand out in the market.

For example, some insurance companies offer broader coverage for personal property on their homeowners insurance policy.

A selling point from an agent might go like this, “Say you are moving your big screen TV and you accidentally drop it. We’ll cover damage above the deductible and many insurance companies don’t offer this coverage!”

In this situation, if you fall for the sales pitch, you pay more for your home insurance to cover small claims. But if you drop your TV and call to place the claim, your agent may advise against it, and if you do put in the claim, and have another claim in the next 5 years, you may see your homeowners insurance canceled.

Sometimes broader coverage is worth the money, if it gives you better protection from catastrophic claims.

For example, dwelling insurance can be on a more limited “named peril” basis (the policy states what causes of damage are covered, such as fire, falling objects, windstorm) or and “open peril” basis (if the cause of damage is not excluded from coverage in the policy, it is covered).

Open peril coverage is always worth purchasing.  I once heard of an homeowners insurance claim denied by an insurance company, when a dam broke and flooded the home. Damage from flood was specifically excluded under the “open peril” policy, but the case went to court, and a judge determined the cause of damage to the home was the breaking of the damn, not a flood, which was NOT excluded under the “open peril” policy. If the homeowner had a named peril policy, there would have been no coverage.

Shop for the insurance you need, and ignore the hype of broader coverage covering only small claims you can afford to pay yourself.

Have you filed a small insurance claim and regretted it? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Should I file an insurance claim?

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If something happens to your home or auto, and it is covered by your home insurance or auto insurance, should you file a claim? Why wouldn’t you file an insurance claim? Isn’t that the reason you buy insurance? Sometimes filing an insurance claim, even though it is a legitimate claim and you have coverage, is not in your best interest.

Isn’t that a rip off? The insurance company wants you to pay for insurance, but they don’t want you to use it. Why bother having insurance in the first place?

Before I explain why filing some insurance claims is bad for you, and not just bad for the greedy insurance company wanting to keep your money, let me explain the real reason why you need insurance.

The purpose of insurance is to protect you from an event which would ruin you financially if you do not have the insurance.

For example, you buy a house, financed by a mortgage. You make your mortgage payments for 10 years without incident.

Then, in the 11th year, 75% of your house burns in a fire. Your house was worth $300,000 when it burned down. You still owe $150,000 on your mortgage. The city requires you to pay for the cost to demolish and remove the 25% of your house still standing.

Without any homeowners insurance, you have lost the $150,000 equity in your house, your mortgage company will demand you pay the $150,000 balance owed on your mortgage immediately, and your city will charge you for the demolition & removal costs of the remains of your home.

You no longer have a place to live. You lost all your personal property in the fire. You paid $120,000 in mortgage payments over the last 10 years, and end up with nothing.

Without homeowners insurance, or without the proper amount & coverage, many people would be financially ruined and have to file bankruptcy. You lose everything you own in the fire, you are broke, in debt, and you can’t rent an apartment because of your ruined credit.

That is what insurance is for: to protect you from catastrophic events which can ruin your life. Obviously, these are the types of claims you DO file.

Fortunately, catastrophic events do not happen to everyone. Most people go their whole lives without having a house fire.

Although you are not likely to need your homeowners insurance to protect you from financial ruin, losing your home to damage from fires, hurricane, tornadoes, etc. is not so unlikely you can ignore the risk. This is why insurance was created.

Here is how you should consider insurance: you give up a relatively small amount of money (the insurance premium) to have the insurance protection you need if you are one of the unlucky few who need it.

Insurance companies can afford to pay you $500,000, to rebuild your house & replace your personal property, when your home burns down, even though you have paid only $7,500 in homeowners insurance premium over the last 10 years, because of all the other homeowners insurance customers paying their premium and not having a claim.

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Say, in the example I used above, The customer’s home did not have a fire. The customer paid $7,500 in homeowners insurance premium over 10 years, and has never had a claim.

Does the customer wish his roof will blow off his home, so he can pay his $500 deductible, but get his “money’s worth” from his homeowners insurance? I should hope not.

Home & auto insurance is not gambling. You don’t “win” by having a claim. The insurance company does not “win” by you not having a claim, because the insurance company will be paying someone else’s claim. And there is ALWAYS someone having a claim.

When you look at a large number of people, the number of people having claims, and the average dollar amount of a claim, is predictable. This is how an insurance company knows how much to charge each customer to pay claims, and make a profit.

Paying for auto or home insurance is the lesser of two evils. You give up your money in exchange for protection from a large financial loss which may never happen — and you hope it never does.

Over the years, insurance coverage has become broader to attract customers. Fire insurance became homeowners insurance, covering much more than fire.

Some auto insurance companies offer deductible rewards and accident forgiveness to get your business, but these features encourage you to file a claim.

Some homeowners insurance companies offer expanded coverage for personal property.

Say someone steals your $1,000 mountain bike, and you have a $500 deductible. You can file a claim and get paid $500.

Having your bike stolen is unfortunate, and it’s a shame for it to cost you money. But when you think about the real purpose of insurance, would the theft of your mountain bike cause you financial hardship?

Small claims are a big expense to an insurance company, and filing them can make your insurance expensive, or get your policy canceled by the insurance company.

Future blog posts will discuss property insurance — home, condo, mobile home & renters, then auto insurance, to help you know when and when not to file claims, and what can happen to your insurance when you have a claim.

Have you filed an insurance claim? Did you regret it later? Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Can your company or agent match auto insurance rates?

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So, you have shopped for the best auto insurance quote, with all the leading auto insurance companies, as I recommend. I know I’m still searching for that $9 a month auto insurance I see advertised, but I think I am more likely to find Bigfoot before I find it. You can save a lot of money on auto insurance by following my shopping advice, but don’t get fooled by deceptive advertising. Continue reading →

Road Rage Not Covered By Auto Insurance

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How does your car insurance help you, when your daily commute turns dangerous, and another driver intentionally drives you off the road, or hits your car, over some perceived slight? What if you are not a party to the road rage incident, but an innocent person caught up and injured in the mayhem? Your auto insurance may not cover the damage to your car, or your injuries at all! Continue reading →

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

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What if, while you and your family are driving home from an evening out, a drunk driver swerves into your lane, and hits your car head-on at 50 miles an hour? The drunk driver was driving with a suspended license, and no auto insurance.

You may have great health insurance & disability insurance, but you and your family can still be out tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs & lost wages not covered by insurance, rehabilitation costs, physical therapy costs, and compensation for your pain & suffering.

Not only does the drunk driver not have insurance, the drunk driver is unemployed and has no assets. How are you going to be compensated for your injuries and out-of-pocket expenses?

The most dangerous drivers on the road often don’t have insurance, so to deal with this hazard, many states require your auto insurance company include Uninsured Motorist Coverage, to protect you and your household family members from injury from financially irresponsible people.

Some states require you to have Uninsured Motorist coverage, and some states will allow the customer to decline having the coverage. But due to its importance, customers usually have to sign a form stating they decline Uninsured Motorist coverage, or choose to have lower dollar limits of Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage, than their Bodily Injury liability coverage.

Most states require drivers to have auto liability insurance, so why is Uninsured Motorist coverage needed at all?

As described in the above situation, some people choose to break the law — possibly because they can’t afford insurance, but need to drive, or they think they won’t need it, and take a chance, or they are criminals, irresponsible people, or have drug or alcohol addictions.

Regardless of the reason, there are thousands of uninsured drivers on the road, and you need to protect yourself and your family from their irresponsibility. You don’t need to be driving to be at risk. What if you or your child was hit by an uninsured drunk driver while crossing in the crosswalk in the middle of the day? You can be subjected to injury by an uninsured motorist be simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Uninsured drivers do not avoid the consequences of their actions by you having Uninsured Motorist coverage. They pay the legal consequences, and the insurance company, after paying an uninsured motorist claim, will pursue the responsible party to get their money back. There are many people paying back insurance companies, or having their paychecks garnished, for accidents they had when driving uninsured.

Another huge concern for drivers are other drivers having auto liability insurance, but having only the minimum amount of coverage required by the state.

For example, in Nevada, the state minimum liability coverage is only $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident for Bodily Injury liability.

Say a teen driver rear ends your car at 30 miles an hour, because the teen was texting while driving. Your out-of-pocket medical expenses, lost wages, pain & suffering compensation equals $50,000. The teen driver’s insurance pays its limit of $15,000 per person, shorting you the remaining $35,000 owed to you, and leaving you with unpaid bills & possibly a desperate financial situation.

Higher risk drivers — inexperienced drivers, drivers with tickets & accidents — pay a lot for auto insurance, so they often choose to have the minimum amount of coverage to be able to afford their auto insurance.

Other drivers, too, want the cheapest insurance possible, thinking they will never need it, so they buy the minimum coverage.

A lot of people take no interest in their auto insurance coverage, choosing to think having auto insurance alone will protect them no matter what happens, only to find out their auto insurance has a low amount of coverage, and they are responsible for all the costs, once their insurance policy has paid its limit.

Just like the uninsured driver, the under-insured driver is responsible for the damage & injury the driver caused in an auto accident, not covered by the driver’s auto insurance.

But in the above example, how are you going to get $35,000 from a teen? Even if the teen was driving their parent’s car, do you want to go through the hassle & expense of a lawsuit?

Uninsured Motorist coverage compensates you for drivers without insurance. Under-insured Motorist coverage compensates you for drivers without enough insurance.

I will use the example of the teen driver, to show you how it works. You are due $50,000 for your injury caused by the teen driver. The teen driver’s insurance pays its per person limit of $15,000.

You have Under-insured Motorist coverage on your auto insurance policy, in the amounts of $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident for Under-insured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. Your policy pays the additional $35,000 you are due from your injury by the under-insured teen driver.

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For example, If, in the above situation, you have a $100,000 per person Under-insured Motorist limit, but the amount due you from the accident was $125,000.

The teen drivers’ car insurance policy would pay $15,000, your policy would pay an additional $85,000 (with your total compensation from the teen driver’s auto insurance, and your auto insurance, at $100,000), and you would be short $25,000 of the proper compensation.

A high-speed accident with a drunk driver can devastate you financially, whether the drunk driver did not have insurance, or had the state minimum liability coverage.

What if your the car accident leaves you a quadrapaleigic, unable to work, and needing nursing care for the rest of your life? Even if you fully recover from your injuries, your costs can be catastrophic to your finances.

As with auto insurance liability coverage, my advice is take as much Uninsured and Under-insured Motorist coverage as you can afford. Most insurance companies will not allow you to take more coverage for Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage than you have for liability.

For example, if you have $100,000 per person, $300,000 Bodily Injury liability, you can take up to $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident for Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage.

If you have a million dollar Umbrella Liability policy, and your Umbrella policy does not offer an option to cover you against uninsured/under-insured motorists, your auto insurance company may allow you to increase your Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage on your auto insurance to one million dollars. Contact your agent or insurance company to discuss your options for Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage, if you have an Umbrella Liability policy.

Please follow this one rule:

Take as much Auto Liability and Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage as you can afford, and always have the same limits for Liability and Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage.

For example, if you have $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident for Bodily Injury Liability, you should take at least $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident for Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage.

As mentioned at the start of this blog post, your insurance company, as required by the state, will have you sign a form if you wish to have lower Uninsured/Under-insured Motorist coverage, than your liability coverage.

Some states include Under-insured Motorist coverage with Uninsured Motorist coverage.

For example, in Oregon, you are protected from both under-insured & uninsured motorists by Oregon’s Uninsured Motorist coverage. Washington covers you for uninsured & under-insured motorists under Washington’s Under-insured Motorist coverage. Other states may list Uninsured Motorist & Under-Insured Motorist coverage as two separate coverages.

If you live in a state where Uninsured Motorist coverage & Under-Insured Motorist are separate coverage, contact your insurance company or agent to discuss the need for having Under-insured Motorist coverage, if you have it at the state minimum level. You may not be able to collect under this coverage, since any driver with less than the state minimum liability coverage is considered uninsured.

Some states offer Uninsured Motorist Property damage coverage, in addition to Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. Uninsured Motorist Property Damage covers damage to your car, similar to Collision coverage, if it is damaged by an uninsured motorist.

Although this is an inexpensive coverage, do not take more Uninsured Motorist Property Damage coverage than the value of your most expensive car.

For example, if you have a brand-new $30,000 car, you don’t need $100,000 Uninsured Motorist Property Damage, because you will never get paid more than the value of your car. But if you may buy a high-end luxury car, you may want to keep $100,000 Uninsured Motorist Property Damage, since you will only save a few dollars every 6 months with less coverage.

Some states don’t offer Uninsured Motorist Property Damage, and rules & coverage vary from state to state, so discuss your needs & the benefits on Uninsured Motorist Property Damage with your agent.

Have you needed Uninsured Motorist coverage? What do you think about its importance? Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Ignoring an insurance bill can damage your credit history

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Often, when someone’s car is not running, being used, up for sale, or if they have switched to another auto insurance company, they choose to ignore the insurance bills they receive. Ignoring insurance bills is a huge mistake, which can harm people’s credit score, if they continue to ignore them. I’m blogging today to tell you why this happens, and how you can avoid it happening to you.

Many people receive letters from their insurance company threatening to refer their account to collections, for an amount the insurance company says they owe on a canceled insurance policy. This happens frequently when people ignore bills and do not cancel their insurance properly. Unexpectedly owing money on a canceled insurance policy, is one of those experiences leading people to feel ripped off by their insurance company.

If you were paid to date on your car insurance, and now you don’t want the insurance anymore, it makes sense you don’t want to pay a bill to give you insurance coverage for the next month. However, not paying a bill does not cancel your insurance as of the due date on the bill.

You know you don’t want your insurance anymore, but your insurance company does not know it. What if you misplaced the bill, and forgot about it? What if the bill was never delivered by the post office? What if you did not have the money to pay by the bill due date? If you want the auto insurance, canceling the policy, because of one missed bill, would cause a lot of problems for customers.

Legally, auto insurance companies cannot cancel you for one missed bill without a cancel date on it. A car insurance company must send you a bill specifying a cancel date, and the state you live in regulates how many days you have, from the date of mailing of the cancel notice, before the date of cancellation.

For example, you receive an auto insurance bill for $100, due November 1st. You sold your car, so you ignore the bill.

The insurance company sends you another bill, 10 days after November 1st, stating the amount of  $200 — for November & December — must be paid, or your insurance will cancel as of December 1st. You ignore that bill.

10 days after December 1st, your auto insurance company notifies you your auto insurance canceled on December 1st, and you owe $100 to pay for insurance coverage until that cancel date, and if you don’t pay it, you will be referred to collections, hurting your credit score.

How could you have avoided the situation? Instead of ignoring the bill, contact your insurance company or agent to cancel the policy, at the time you wanted it canceled.

In the above situation, where the car was sold, you can have the policy backdate canceled to the day after the sale, if you have written documentation of the date of sale, like a bill of sale.

So, even if you made the mistake of ignoring the first 2 bills, you could still have your car insurance policy properly canceled as of the day after the car’s sale, when you contact the insurance company or your agent when you received the third bill, if you provide your insurance company with documentation of the sale date. If you auto insurance was paid up to the sale date, you would owe nothing.

My advice is don’t ignore any bills, and contact your insurance company as soon as you are ready to cancel it.

Your insurance company may make a few attempts to collect the money owed on a canceled policy, before it is turned over to collections.

Once your account is turned over to collections, it can still be fixed, if you don’t owe anything, and can prove it by showing proof of the sale date, or duplicate insurance coverage, if you switched to another insurance company. But your credit score will be lower in the mean time while you sort it out.

What if, instead of the car being sold, it was not being used, or it was out of service? These are situations where auto insurance companies will not backdate cancel your policy to a previous date. You can still cancel your auto insurance by contacting your agent or insurance company, but your auto insurance will be canceled only as of the date your cancel request was received.

In the previous example, if you ignored the bills, you would owe for the insurance covering you, even though you did not want it, until December 1st, and must pay the $100 owed to avoid your account being referred to collections.

Had you contacted your insurance company (contacting your agent is always preferred, if you have one) when you received the first bill due for November 1st, you could have canceled your policy sooner, and possibly not owed anything more to the insurance company.

Canceling your auto insurance when your car is not running or being used, is not usually a good idea, but I will discuss the reasons why, in another blog post in the future, as part of my blog series explaining what to do in various situations when you want to cancel an insurance policy.

There is one situation when it may be okay to ignore an insurance bill without owing money to your insurance company.

When you policy is up for renewal, and you no longer want the insurance, or if you switched to another insurance company at your renewal date, you could ignore your renewal bill, without owing anything more, even though you may get a second notice of the renewal being due.

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Also, just because you do not have to renew your auto insurance, it does not mean your auto insurance company will not try to make you pay more when you don’t accept your auto insurance renewal.

I worked for one insurance company, where in a certain state, it had to extend coverage for 7 days beyond the renewal date, even if there is no renewal payment made by the customer, as required by state law.

These policies would cancel on the 7th day after the renewal, but there was a period of time when there was a computer glitch (which was eventually fixed), where customers were billed for the 7 days of coverage beyond the renewal, which were not supposed to be billed.

Some customers knew it was not owed, and called the insurance company to correct the error. But I’m sure many people simply paid the bill. Don’t be one of those people.

Another complication arises when you are on an automatic payment plan, like deductions from a bank account, or payroll deduction, which may trigger acceptance of your auto insurance renewal.

Once, I had a customer on a payroll deduction plan, have auto insurance coverage extended over 6 months after the customer changed jobs, moved, and insured with another insurance company.

In the customer’s mind, when the payroll deduction stopped, the auto insurance should have canceled.

The payroll deduction plan from the customer’s employer takes over 45 days to show payments from the customer’s pay check, so it took a very long time for the insurance company to know there was a problem, remove the customer from payroll deduction, mail a direct bill, then mail a cancel notice.

The policy eventually canceled with a large amount referred to collections, when the customer finally contacted the insurance company to explain the customer insured elsewhere a long time ago.

The customer could have avoided a lot of aggravation, and the temporary damage to the customer’s credit, by contacting the insurance company when the customer changed insurance companies.

Simply follow this one rule:

Always contact your insurance company (better to contact your agent) when you wish to cancel your insurance for any reason.

If you receive an unexpected bill, after you have received confirmation of the cancellation of your insurance policy, contact the insurance company (agent) for an explanation. You may still owe money to the insurance company for coverage until the cancel date, or it may be in error. Either way, if you don’t expect to owe anything, you deserve an explanation of your billing.

Here is one secret your insurance company does not want you to know:

Companies often require a certain dollar threshold for it to be worth it for them to refer your account to collections.

For example, owing $5 to the insurance company may be under the threshold, and therefore your account won’t be referred to collections, it won’t be a part of your credit history, and your credit score will not be lowered.

Don’t expect your insurance company to volunteer their dollar limit triggering a referral to collections.

However, if you owe a small amount, call your insurance company, be nice & polite, tell them you want to pay it, but money is really tight right now, and you are worried about it being reported to a credit agency. Your insurance company or agent may tell you about the dollar threshold, to put your concerns to rest. But if you owe the amount, even if it is small, you should pay it.

Has an insurance bill messed up your credit? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Alfa Insurance Reviews: Complaint Ratings & Customer Satisfaction Ratings

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Most insurance company reviews on the Internet are lacking in useful information. My insurance company reviews & insurance shopping tips, along with my evaluation of the major auto insurance & home insurance companies by state, should help you determine the best insurance company for you. This blog post will take a closer look at the Alfa insurance companies

About Alfa Insurance: Alfa Insurance, not to be confused with Alpha Insurance, which is a different auto insurance company, was founded in 1946, as Alabama Farmers Federation, to provide fire insurance to its members, mostly Farmers. Alfa Insurance is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, and now has 1 million customers in 12 states.

Alfa Insurance Group consists of three insurance companies:

Alfa Insurance — This company sells auto & home insurance through its own agents in Alabama, Georgia, & Mississippi.

Alfa Alliance — This company sells auto & home insurance through independent agents in North Carolina, Tennessee, & Virginia.

Alfa Vision — This company sells nonstandard auto insurance (drivers with accidents, tickets, DUIs, no insurance, or few years driving experience, etc.) through independent agents in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, & Virginia.

You can see the last 3 years of complaint ratios for all the Alfa Insurance companies on my Web site. I have posted the latest complaint statistics for 2011, 2010, & 2009 (2012 will be available Aug 2013) which you can see here.

What if you have no insurance or a bad driving record?: Even if you have had a lapse in auto insurance coverage, tickets, accidents, or you are just licensed, Alfa Vision insurance should be able to help you in the states it operates, as listed above. You can go to the Alfa Insurance company Web site to find a local agent.

Alfa Insurance Claims & Customer Service: JD Power rates Alfa Insurance at 3 power circles (about average) for overall customer satisfaction in its 2011 National Auto Insurance Survey. In addition to the Overall Satisfaction being rated about average, all the other individual categories making up the Overall Satisfaction, such as Policy Offerings, Pricing, Billing & Payment, & Contacting The Insurer, were also rated at 3 power circles (about average). The industry average for this study was 790 out of 1,000 points. Alfa Insurance scored 787 out of 1,000 points for this study.

I checked the Internet for customer reviews of Alfa Insurance, and found the typical complaints, mainly about claims, you find with all insurance companies.

The JD PowerAuto Insurance Claims Study does not rate Alfa Insurance, probably because of its regional nature, and small market share nationwide.

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Alfa Insurance received a 4 power circles (better than most) rating in the 2010 JD Power National Homeowners Insurance Study, but it was not rated for the 2011 JD Power National Homeowners Insurance Study.

My assessment: According to JD Power, Alfa Insurance is your average insurance company. However, because Alfa does not have a large market share nationally, the only JD Power survey we have to use is the 2011 National Auto Insurance Study. Like all auto & home insurance companies, you will hear claims stories from people saying Alfa is the worst company in the world. Other customers are extremely happy with how their claims were settled by Alfa.

Examining the 2010 national complaint ratios from my Web site (linked above), if you are in Alabama, Georgia, or Mississippi, and qualify for Alfa Mutual Insurance Company, or Alfa Mutual General Insurance Company, for your auto insurance or home insurance, Alfa may be a very good choice for you, if they offer you a good price or better coverage, since the complaint ratios are better (in some cases, much better) than the average insurance company.

The other Alfa insurance companies have higher than average complaint ratios, for either auto insurance or home insurance.

If you have a bad driving record, under 3 years driving experience, no insurance, etc., do not be too alarmed by Alfa Vision’s complaint ratio, since high complaint ratios are common with nonstandard auto insurance companies. If Alfa Vision has a good price for you, consider the cost & complaint ratios of the other nonstandard auto insurance companies for which you qualify.

When you can’t qualify for standard auto insurance, it can be hard to find a company willing to insure you, and the cost of the insurance can be very expensive, so price may be more important to you than the company’s complaint ratio. When you are in this situation, it is even more important to get price quotes from as many insurance companies willing to insure you. Although your auto insurance is expensive, you can still save a lot of money by shopping for the best price.

Few auto & home insurance companies have great reputations for customer service & claims handling. My opinion of Alfa is it’s like most insurance companies — mediocre.

If you are like me, the best insurance company has the lowest price for you. Many people pay too much for their auto insurance because they never shop for better rates, or if they do shop, they don’t check the rates of enough companies.

How to read complaint ratios: Lower than “1″ is better than average. The lower the complaint ratio, the fewer confirmed complaints against the company. The higher the complaint ratio, the more confirmed complaints against the company. For example, .18 is very good, but 3.5 is not so good.

Have you had any experience with Alfa insurance? What do you think about this company? Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Multi Car Discount & Auto Insurance

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Do you insure all your cars with the same insurance company? You should consider it, if you want the best price on auto insurance.

Sometimes married couples like to maintain separate car insurance policies for their cars, with different car insurance companies. Maintaining separate auto insurance policies usually costs the couple a lot of money, because multi car discounts are often a 20% savings, or more, on each car.

I understand some couples like to keep their auto insurance separate, with the same auto insurance company they had when they were single, particularly if each spouse has a good relationship with their agent, & they are happy with their insurance companies.

When you get married, even if you decide to keep your auto insurance separate, both of your insurance companies will need the information on your spouse, and you will need to update your marital status to married.

Most newly married couples will contact their agents, and get price quotes for combining their auto insurance, and usually choose to insure all their cars with the insurance company offering the best price. Doing this is a very good idea, because the price savings should be worth it.

But if you really want to save A LOT of money, having a life change, like getting married & insuring all your cars together, is when you need to shop with ALL the leading insurance companies, to get the best price for your new situation. The insurance company having the best rate for you when you are single with one car, may have the highest rate for you and your spouse, once you are married, and insuring more than one car. Start shopping, research insurance companies, and get auto insurance price quotes at the link below.

If your spouse has a really bad driving record, it sometimes makes sense to insure with separate insurance companies. I will blog about this at a later date to show you how to get the best auto insurance rates, regardless of your driving record, when you get married.

For gay couples, in states not allowing gay marriage, civil unions are treated the same way as being married, so the strategy explained above will work for you, too.

What about committed couples who are not married? You can take advantage of a single insurance policy, insuring all your cars, and getting the lower rates with multi-car discounts, too.

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However, if you both have good driving habits, and you are a longtime couple owning other joint property, a single insurance policy insuring both you and your partner may be a very good idea to save money.

Sometimes, when people buy a car, they call around for auto insurance quotes, to see if they can find a better rate with another insurance company, rather than adding the car to the auto insurance policy they have now.

If you have more than one car, you are making a mistake, if you are not getting price quotes from other insurance companies, showing you the cost of insuring all your cars. You will not find a situation where you will save money by insuring the car you are buying with one insurance company, and your other cars with other insurance companies. You CAN save A LOT of money by shopping for a single auto insurance policy for all your cars, by checking the rates of all the leading insurance companies.

One exception to this is when you buy or own an antique or classic car, and insure it with a specialty insurance company. Insurance companies offering policies specializing in antique/classic/restored cars usually have better coverage with a very good price, so insuring your antique/classic cars with a different policy from your other cars, is often the best way to go.

The amount of the multi car discount can be more or less depending on the car insurance company. Some insurance companies increase the discount with the more cars you insure with them. Some insurance companies will give your child’s car a multi car discount, even if it is on a separate insurance policy (because your child is the owner of the car), as long as your child lives in your household.

These different auto insurance company rules & price savings for the multi car discount are part of the reason why it is so important to find the insurance company having the best rate for your situation.

When you buy another car, your situation changes, and insuring with another insurance company may save you $100s from what you pay by not shopping, and staying with the same insurance company.

Do you insure all the cars you own with the same insurance company? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Buying, borrowing, or lending a car & insurance: make sure you are covered

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It’s the weekend, your son is buying a car, but your agent’s office is closed. Do you let your son buy the car, and don’t let him drive it until you can call your auto insurance agent on Monday? Do you assume you have insurance coverage, and allow your son to buy & drive the car? Are you unsure if you or your son are covered to drive it, and take a chance, feeling confident nothing will happen until you contact your insurance company? Life happens outside of 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, so what is the best thing to do, when you need your agent, when your agent’s office is closed?

Making assumptions about your insurance coverage, or taking a chance nothing will happen requiring you to need the insurance, are common mistakes people make leading them to feel they have been ripped off by their insurance company.

Take the situation I described above, where the son purchased a car on the weekend. The father has a family auto insurance policy, and his son is rated as a driver. Why wouldn’t his son’s car be automatically covered? The Father replaced his old car with a new car last year, made the change to his auto insurance a week later, and his agent told him the new car was covered the same way as the old car, from the date it was purchased.

However, the father is the owner of the family auto insurance policy, and the son is covered as a driver for the cars the father owns. The son, purchasing his own car, needs his own car insurance policy. Neither the son, dad, or the son’s car would be covered by the father’s auto insurance.

What if the father bought the car? Would there be coverage? Most likely, yes. unless one of the cars owned by the father is insured with another insurance company. Also, if the father’s wife has her own car and insurance with another auto insurance company, there might be no automatic coverage for the newly purchased car.

How is anyone, who is not an auto insurance agent, expected to know this? In fact, your auto insurance agent might advise you incorrectly about automatic coverage for a newly purchased car, if the agent does not ask you enough questions about ownership of the car, or if the agent is unaware you have a car insured with another insurance company.

Here is one way to avoid feeling ripped off by your insurance, due to an uncovered claim, or higher than expected insurance rates:
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Always call your agent or insurance company, and change your coverage, or find out how you are covered, before you buy a car, borrow a car, use a car not on your insurance, or allow your car to be driven by anyone other than a rated driver on your insurance. Never assume how you will be covered, or take a chance you won’t have a reason to need it.

If you know your son is looking at buying a car, call your agent ahead of time and find out about coverage and pricing. Otherwise, you or your son could be in an uninsured accident, or your son may find out he can’t afford the insurance for the car after he purchased it.

It is always best to have your agent service your policy and answer your questions. But if you can’t help making an impulse buy of another car on the weekend, which you had not planned, most insurance companies have 24/7 customer service. So if you are the father in the above situation, you can call the insurance company at 8 pm on a Saturday, before your son buys the car, and find out you need to own the car to insure it on your policy, or the insurance company might be able to sell your son an auto insurance policy in his name.

Another situation is when customers suspend coverage on one of their vehicles they are not driving. I remember a customer had to drive an uninsured car briefly in the middle of the night and told me about it later. The customer assumed because it was late at night, there was no way to contact the insurance company. Fortunately, nothing happened. Having an accident may be unlikely, but getting a ticket by the police for driving without insurance is more likely to occur. I told the customer, no matter what the time, if you have to drive an uninsured car, call 24/7 customer service to insure it, even if you only have to drive it for a few hours.

You pay enough for your insurance, take advantage of the service your agent or insurance company provides you, at no additional cost, to make sure you are properly covered.

What do you do about insurance when you buy a car? Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Arizona’s Best & Worst Auto Insurance & Home Insurance Companies

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Does your auto insurance company have a lot of complaints? Will you have difficulty placing a claim, or have a valid claim delayed or denied? Is your company is good or bad? Most consumers fail to check the complaint records of their insurance companies. Here are a list of 20 auto insurance companies, and a list of 12 homes insurance companies, ranked from best to worst, by the number of complaints filed against them in Arizona.

I used the Arizona Department of Insurance Web site to find this data.

Here are three things to know before you consider my lists:

1. The complaint ratio used by Arizona is determined by the number of written complaints submitted against the home or auto insurance company per 1,000 exposures. An exposure is one vehicle or home. The complaints consist of all written complaints about the company, and may not be a valid complaint.

For example, people sometimes write to complain about high insurance rates or a rate increase. Although a high insurance rate, or a rate increase when you have had no claims, upsets customers, it is not a valid reason to file a complaint against an insurance company with the department of insurance.

As long as the insurance company is charging you the proper rate the insurance company filed with the state, the company did not do anything improper. If you don’t like the rates your insurance company charges you, the best use of your time is to shop for lower auto insurance rates rather than write a complaint.

A valid complaint is when an insurance company breaks the law, or does not follow regulations. For example, when an insurance declines a valid claim.

Despite not all of these written complaints are actionable by the department of insurance, the fact people are taking the time to write letters, complaining about their insurance company, should tell you something.

2. Complaint ratios are not available for all insurance companies offering home & auto insurance in Arizona, and not all the important insurance subsidiaries have complaint ratios provided by the Arizona Department of Insurance.

For example, Farmers Insurance Company of Arizona is the second largest insurer of homes in Arizona for 2010. The only homeowners insurance complaint ratio for Farmers is for Farmers Insurance Exchange, which is the 5th largest home insurer in Arizona for 2010.

I noticed Farmers Insurance Company of Arizona has been losing market share over the last 3 years, so it may be when you contact a Farmers agent, they no longer offer homeowners insurance through Farmers Insurance Company of Arizona, and quote you home insurance through Farmers Insurance Exchange instead.

Also, I suspect the Arizona Department of Insurance may be listing the complaint ratio for all the insurance group’s subsidiaries under the one subsidiary name.

3. I list & rank only the insurance companies which I consider to have a large enough market share to be worth noting. However, there are many insurance companies, some of them with name recognition, like Nationwide Insurance, with a very small share of the Arizona home & auto insurance market.

Use my lists here as a starting point for finding the best insurance company for you, but don’t rely on this information alone.

Please click the link below for national complaint information, JD Power & AM Best ratings for all the leading insurance companies. If you really want to save $100s on your insurance, you have to shop with ALL the leading insurance companies to find the best price & coverage for you.

Arizona Auto Insurance Companies Ranked from Best to Worst by their Arizona 2010 Complaint Ratios

1. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company (.042)

2. Safeway Insurance Company (.044)

3. United Services Automobile Association (USAA) (.044)

4. Allstate Fire & Casualty Insurance Company (.048)

5. Country Preferred Insurance Company (.049)

6. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (.063)

7. Peak Property & Casualty Insurance Corp. (Sentry Insurance Group) (.065)

8. Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Company (.067)

9. Farmers Insurance Company of Arizona (.083)

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10. Government Employees Insurance Company (Geico) (.091)

11. Progressive Preferred Insurance Company (.093)

12. Hallmark Insurance Company (.107)

13. United Automobile Insurance Company (.112)

14. AAA Members Insurance Company (.113)

15. American Family Mutual Insurance Company (.128)

16. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance Company (.163)

17. Safeco Insurance Company of America (.180)

18. Infinity Insurance Company (.204)

19. Permanent General Assurance Group (The General) (.211)

20. Coast National Insurance Company (Farmers Insurance Group) (.314)

Arizona Homeowners Insurance Companies Ranked from Best to Worst by their Arizona 2010 complaint ratios

1. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company (.000 — No Complaints)

2. United Services Automobile Association (USAA) (.032)

3. Travelers Home & Marine Insurance Company (.048)

4. Country Mutual Insurance Company (.072)

5. State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance Company (.090)

6. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company (.120)

7. American Family Mutual Insurance Company (.130)

8. Farmers Insurance Exchange (.165)

9. Safeco Insurance Company of America (.189)

10. Sentinel Insurance Company LTD (Hartford Insurance Group) (.197)

11. IDS Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Ameriprise) (.235)

12. Homesite Insurance Company (.669)

Many people pay too much for their insurance because they never shop for better rates, or if they do shop, they don’t check the rates of enough companies. For a lot of people, the best auto & home insurance companies are the ones with the coverage they need at a lower price. With auto & home insurance, you don’t get better service or coverage because you pay more. Some of the best companies have competitive rates. Some companies charge twice as much as others for the same coverage. But no single company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Do you have questions about these Arizona auto or home insurance company complaint ratings? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Auto Liability Insurance Coverage

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This blog entry will tell you what you need to know about auto liability insurance coverage, how to avoid mistakes, and how to use it to get a lower price on your car insurance.

Your auto liability insurance coverage is what protects you from having to pay out of your own pocket when you are legally responsible for damage to other people’s property, or injury to other people, from the use of your car.

Auto liability is usually divided into 2 parts: Bodily Injury Liability, if you injure a person(s), and Property Damage Liability, if you damage someone’s property, such as another car, fence, house, telephone pole, street sign, etc.

Bodily Injury Liability usually has a per person dollar limit, and a per accident dollar limit. The insurance does not pay above the limits, and you are responsible for any additional amount owed the injured party beyond the policy limit.

For example, you may have Bodily Injury Liability at $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident. If a car stops suddenly in front of you, you brake, but rear end the car anyway. You will be legally responsible for the injuries to the people in the other car. If the driver has an injury, you will be responsible for the driver’s medical costs, lost wages, physical therapy, compensation for pain & suffering, etc.

Say the other driver is a middle-aged electrician. His back injury from the car accident will not allow him to work for months. The driver has medical bills & physical therapy to treat & rehabilitate his injury. The driver may have back pain for the rest of the driver’s life, for which the driver will be due compensation. Even the driver’s health insurance company can hold you responsible for their cost of the benefits they provide the driver under his health insurance for the injury.

The total amount owed because of the injured driver might be $40,000. If you have a per person limit of $25,000, YOU will be responsible for the $15,000 not covered by your car insurance. Even if you have no assets, you may have your wages garnished to pay what is not covered by your auto insurance.

Now, imagine the same accident, but this time your brakes fail, and you hit the rear of the other car at 30 miles an hour. The injuries to the driver are more severe. Imagine the driver is a highly-paid surgeon, who will never be able to perform surgery again. You could be looking at a million dollar lawsuit, just for injury to one person in a car accident.

What if the driver’s entire family was in the car? What if more than one person was injured? Your Bodily Injury Liability pays no more than $50,000 per accident. When you try to get by with the state minimum coverage, even a minor accident can leave you on the hook for owing a lot of money, and a severe accident can bankrupt you.

The second part of auto insurance liability coverage is Property Damage Liability. This coverage has a per accident dollar limit.

Say your Property Damage Liability has a $15,000 limit. What if you hit another car, which is a newer model car worth $20,000, and total it? What if you are responsible for damaging more than one car?

As with Bodily Injury Liability, it is not hard to imagine a situation where you do not have enough coverage, if you try to save a few dollars by choosing a low dollar limit. I don’t need to imagine it, because I’ve seen it happen, and the financial burden it creates on people without enough liability coverage.

Some insurance companies offer auto insurance having a Combined Single Limit(CSL), including both bodily injury & property damage liability. You would have one dollar limit, say $100,000 per accident, which would include all injury & property damage you are legally responsible for from the use of your vehicle. Once the single dollar limit is reached, you are responsible for any amount owed beyond the  limit. So again, going with the minimum amount, or low amount of coverage, can ruin you financially if you are in an accident.

My Recommendation: Buy as much auto insurance liability coverage you can afford. If you are 25 years old or older, and have a clean driving record, it usually costs a few dollars more a month to have more liability coverage.

I don’t think ANYONE should be on the road in 2011, with less than $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident, for Bodily Injury Liability, and $100,000 per accident for Property Damage Liability.

However, when you are young, or have only a few years driving experience, or have a bad driving record, it is harder to afford high auto insurance liability limits. This is unfortunate, because statistically, these are the people most likely to need it — which is why it costs more.

Even if you struggle to afford your auto insurance, have your agent show you the cost of the next higher liability limits. Try to make room in your budget to afford it. If you wisely decide to pay a little more for the next higher level of limits, have your agent quote you higher liability limits until you reach a level you can’t afford.

For example, if you have $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident Bodily Injury, & $15,000 Property Damage liability(25/50/15). Get price quotes for 50/100/50, 100/300/100. & even 250/500/100. It never hurts to know the price, and buy what you can afford.

Auto insurance is expensive, but it is worth it to pay a little more to have more liability coverage, than to pay a lot for auto insurance which will not adequately protect you when you have an accident.

Get this auto insurance discount: Having higher liability limits puts you in a group of drivers less likely to have claims. When you shop your auto insurance, insurance companies ask you what your Bodily Injury Liability limits are. The higher your limits, the lower your price quote for auto insurance! When you change your insurance coverage, you change your risk profile, and this is an excellent time to shop your auto insurance to save lots of money.

If you can afford the 250/500/100 limit, or a $500,000 combined single limit, you may want to look at an additional Personal Liability Umbrella policy, which will pay 1 million dollars or more, above your auto insurance coverage. If you have a good-paying job, and you have, or are building financial assets, you need to at least consider an umbrella liability policy.

I will blog about Umbrella Liability policies in the future. In the mean time, ask your agent or insurance company about it, and shop with other insurance companies to find the best one meeting your needs, if you wish to buy an Umbrella Liability policy.

Here are two additional things to know about auto insurance liability coverage:

1. Auto insurance liability coverage does not cover you for you or your resident family member’s injuries in a car accident. It also does not cover damage to property owned by you and your resident family members. So, if you hit your wife’s car with your car, there is no coverage for the damage to you or your wife’s car, under your liability coverage.

2. Auto insurance liability does not cover you unless you are Legally liable for the injury or property damage.

For example, a deer may jump in front of your car while you are driving, and injuries to your friend, riding as a passenger in the car, will not be covered by your liability coverage, unless you as the driver or owner of the car, are somehow negligent.

There are other types of auto insurance coverage which can protect you in these situations. I will blog about these coverage options, and all other home insurance coverage & auto insurance coverage in the future.

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Insurance Check Up Step 5

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You’ve learned how to choose & save money on home & auto insurance coverage by reading my Web site. You’ve learned the importance of an annual insurance policy review with your agent or insurance company — what to expect from the review, what to do to make sure you have the right coverage for you, and how to make sure your agent or insurance company are working for you, to get you the best rate they can offer.

You’ve learned the importance of telling your agent or insurance company you are checking with other insurance companies, to see if you can find a better price, so your agent or insurance company do not take having you as a customer for granted.

You’ve used my list of leading home & auto insurance company reviews to get comparison price quotes for the same coverage as you have now. You have requested & received quotes in writing for the lower-priced insurance quotes you received, so you can double-check the price quoted, and the coverage quoted is comparable to the coverage you have now.

Now, you are ready for the final step of your annual insurance check up.

Step Five: Decide to stay with the insurance company you have now, or switch to a better insurance company, or the insurance company with the best price.

If you shopped with all the leading insurance companies, and determined the insurance company you are insured with now has the best price, acceptable customer service, a good complaint record, and the right insurance coverage for you, all you need to do is contact your agent, ask if they were able to discover any other ways for you to get a better price, thank your agent for their help, and tell your agent you are happy to continue to insure with them for another year.

However, unless you have made it a habit of checking the rates of all the leading insurance companies each year, it is very likely you will find another insurance company (maybe more than one) saving you a TON of money.

Before you switch to the insurance company with the lowest price for you, you want to consider a few things.

First, some people may think (and your agent or insurance company insuring you now may tell you this, in hopes to keep your business) you get what you pay for. With auto & home insurance, this is NOT true. When I last shopped my insurance, some of the best prices I received were from insurance companies with very low complaint ratios & high rankings by JD Power. Some of the highest prices I received were from well-known insurance companies with mediocre customer satisfaction ratings, and higher than average complaint ratios.

A recent TV ad for an auto insurance company warns the consumer to beware “cut-rate” insurance, which may not cover certain claims. This is only a danger when choosing your level of insurance coverage, not by choosing the insurance company with the best price for the coverage you need.

This is why, when you shop for auto insurance & homeowners insurance, you want all the insurance companies quoting you the same coverage, often referred to by the slang term of an “apples to apples” comparison.

As long as you have adequate coverage, depending on your needs, paying a lower price does not mean you will “get what you pay for.” Also, paying a lot more for your insurance, does not mean “you get what you pay for.” Insuring with the most expensive auto insurance company is not the same as owning an insurance policy the equivalent of a Mercedes. It is more often like having an auto insurance policy the same as an extremely over-priced Ford Focus. The price you pay for insurance has no connection to the level of customer service, or how happy you will be with how your claim is processed.

Although the price you pay has nothing to do with it, there are a few better-than-average insurance companies, some worse-than average insurance companies, and the majority, in my opinion, being mediocre insurance companies.

Use the link above to my Web site, to evaluate the insurance companies providing you with the best-priced quotes, and to check their customer service rating & complaint record, so you can choose an insurance company with a good price & good customer service.

Also consider coverage. If you owe more on your car loan than the value of your car, you may want to choose an auto insurance company offering gap coverage, to pay off the difference between the loan or lease, and the market value of your car, if it is a total loss due to a covered claim.

Particularly with homeowners insurance, coverage offered by insurance companies will vary.

Lastly, consider how important having a local agent is to you. It is a myth buying auto & home insurance without an agent costs less because there are no commissions paid by the insurance companies. Companies selling directly to the public have other expenses, which insurance companies using agents may not have to pay.

However, insurance companies selling direct to the public cannot use the benefit of having local agents as a selling point, so they often try to compete by having the best price.

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Having a good local agent can turn a mediocre insurance company into a great customer experience. Unfortunately, most agents are mediocre, too. But having someone to fix the problems which sometimes arise, or help you if you have a problem or delay with a claim, is better for most people than trying to work directly with the insurance company.

Before you switch to another insurance company, contact your agent or insurance company, and tell them you have found a lower rate.

Allow your agent to explain any reasons why you should keep your insurance with them. Consider the reasons, to see if they have merit.

If your agent explains a benefit of your insurance policy not offered by the new company, or if your agent explains a time the agent was able to help a customer with a problem, think about the quality of service and features of your current policy, before you change insurance companies.

In my experience, most agents are not providing a level of service beyond other agents, making it worthwhile to pay much more for insurance. Sometimes, policy features, like a guarantee renewal for claims, or accident forgiveness on auto insurance, should be considered.

If your agent makes unsupported claims of personal service, or tries to manipulate you out of friendship or loyalty, this should have little value to you.

Insuring with the same insurance for many years needs to translate into tangible benefits to you, as the customer, otherwise the only thing you lose by switching insurance companies is a Christmas or birthday card from your agent.

Do NOT cancel your old insurance until your new insurance policy is effective.  

Once you have chosen your new insurance company, call them to verify the insurance company or agent has everything they need to confirm the rate they quoted you.

Tell your new insurance company or agent the effective date you wish to start coverage, and have them confirm the price. Ask if you need to provide any documents to get the rate, and if there are any reasons why the rate might go up.

These days, most insurance companies will check your driving record, claims history, credit history, and insurance history, without you having to provide any documentation, and the price can be confirmed before you pay for it.

However, some insurance companies may quote you based on what you tell them about yourself, and then ask you to provide proof of continuous insurance, and check your motor vehicle report & claims history after you have paid for and started your insurance. If you forgot a ticket on your driving record, or the former owner of your home filed a claim, or if you had a claim inquiry which was not paid or covered, this could increase your rate, or cause your insurance application to be rejected. You may run into this situation with some of the smaller insurance companies, but most companies check everything now before you pay, making changing insurance companies easier than ever.

Congratulations! You have learned everything you need to know to have a successful insurance check up, to make sure you have the proper coverage, and save $100s on insurance. What’s stopping you from saving money now?

The Other Steps:

Insurance Check Up Step 1

Insurance Check Up Step 2

Insurance Check Up Step 3

Insurance Check Up Step 4

Many car & home insurance companies charge a lot more than other companies for the same coverage, but no company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Do you have any questions about my 5 steps for your yearly insurance check up? What do you think about the importance of an insurance check up each year? Tell me about your opinions. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.