View Full Version : Shopping for homeowners insurance
I am shopping around for home owners insurance any one to avoid and on the same who is a good go to?
USAA was oddly cheaper than a lot of places. Have had no issues w/ them.
USAA was oddly cheaper than a lot of places. Have had no issues w/ them.
Most recent military member in my family is a great grandpa or great uncle does not appear I qualify
Talk to Dave on here from Allstate. I swapped a couple years ago and was very happy I did. Got better coverage on my auto and home and it cost less. $0 deductibles on vehicles.
Just finished building a new house and had a temporary "rentals policy" to stay current and keep discounts. They were thoroughly helpful in the whole process.
I haven't had a claim so I can't comment on that experience but overall I have been very happy with the service and my coverage.
ChadAmberg
10-19-2017, 13:38
USAA (if military) and Amica (if not) always end up as the top two insurance companies when it comes to consistently taking care of their customers. All the other companies rate far below.
Was getting reamed by Farmers after 15 years with them. Switched to Allstate, with better coverage including an umbrella policy, and our premiums went down by over half. Also switched my cars over from Progressive and saved money there as well.
Bailey Guns
10-19-2017, 17:24
Country Financial was the best we found in Colorado for homeowners.
State farm was most expensive for both auto and home by almost double
american family was decently competitive at a basic
Amica offered a good balance and offered good prices on stuff like rental and windshield coverage they have initially valued the total loss of the home less than everyone else by 20k they also asked the most questions about the home
I Have a couple places left to call and then will decide.
Talk to Dave on here from Allstate. I swapped a couple years ago and was very happy I did. Got better coverage on my auto and home and it cost less. $0 deductibles on vehicles.
Just finished building a new house and had a temporary "rentals policy" to stay current and keep discounts. They were thoroughly helpful in the whole process.
I haven't had a claim so I can't comment on that experience but overall I have been very happy with the service and my coverage.
Dave_L is my agent also, goes above and beyond to help me out. Looks for missed/gaps in my coverage and is not pushy. Plus i have his cell and can call and yell at him if i'm pissed. Great guy, known him for 15+ years now.
Madeinhb
10-19-2017, 21:47
Most recent military member in my family is a great grandpa or great uncle does not appear I qualify
The shitty thing is they have to be alive and a member. My dad was in military but died in 98. I can't sign up with USAA because he's not alive to sign up first.
Make sure you can get full replacement cost on your roof (Replacement Cost Value). You want to avoid Actual Cash Value (ACV) and any kind of roof payment schedule if you can. You may not be able to avoid a payment schedule with some companies, but you should be able to have RCV if the roof is new enough.
A 2% wind/hail deductible is effectively the same as having no coverage for your roof at all, in other words, be prepared to pay for an entire roof out of pocket. Similarly, with a 1% wind/hail deductible you can expect to shell out for half of your roof should you need to have it replaced for a covered loss.
Code Upgrade coverage is good to have, plus it's too cheap to not have on your policy. I liken it to having rental on your auto insurance. It's cheap, you don't ever think about it, but when you need, you really need it. It's also known as Law and Ordinance.
Good luck.
Thanks for the kind words, guys. Ive been with Allstate for 15+years and would love to run a quote for you. Ill send you a PM.
I had Safeco - horrible company! I now have Acruity for car and house because they were the least expensive I could find, about 2g for two vehicles full coverage and house per year.
There are rates, and then there is servicing.
Yeah, if you can get USAA and don't, bonehead move. They have great rates and their service on claims is excellent.
Also realize, what you insure, the value, your driving history, claims history, credit score, profession all affect rates. I have Farmers and have been with them for a long time, but the discounts I get for my degrees, Professional licences, credit score,several policies including umbrella etc. all give me discounts that are deep enough that Amica was not much of a discount and does not have as good servicing.
I have not been impressed with StateFarm nor Allstate from a claims perspective. I still think Chubb is the absolute best coverage and claims, but they are expensive and there are not many of us that have enough assets to even get a quote from them.
I keep hearing that Amica is at the top of the game but when I got a quote from them last year they acted like I should be kissing their ass for doing me the favor of generating a quote. If they're that big of aholes before they get my money I don't want to find out how they'll be once they do have my money.
I keep hearing that Amica is at the top of the game but when I got a quote from them last year they acted like I should be kissing their ass for doing me the favor of generating a quote. If they're that big of aholes before they get my money I don't want to find out how they'll be once they do have my money.
If price is your #1 issue, then yes Amica is generally pretty good. But there are other factors, service, claims, dropping you, etc.
I have not been impressed with StateFarm nor Allstate from a claims perspective.
I think this can be agent dependent. Our Allstate agent has been exemplary (Not Dave L. - sorry, I married into the agent relationship). Called about some water leaks from the roof which was put on by a 'preferred contractor' when we had Farmers (hail claim). Our agent sent someone out to inspect right away. The inspector found that the roofing contractor didn't caulk the gas fireplace vents and roof penetrations. Took care of it, no charge, and no more leaks.
Whatever you do don't buy Liberty Mutual!
Make sure you can get full replacement cost on your roof (Replacement Cost Value). You want to avoid Actual Cash Value (ACV) and any kind of roof payment schedule if you can. You may not be able to avoid a payment schedule with some companies, but you should be able to have RCV if the roof is new enough.
A 2% wind/hail deductible is effectively the same as having no coverage for your roof at all, in other words, be prepared to pay for an entire roof out of pocket. Similarly, with a 1% wind/hail deductible you can expect to shell out for half of your roof should you need to have it replaced for a covered loss.
Code Upgrade coverage is good to have, plus it's too cheap to not have on your policy. I liken it to having rental on your auto insurance. It's cheap, you don't ever think about it, but when you need, you really need it. It's also known as Law and Ordinance.
Good luck.
I was curious about the accuracy of my seat of the pants conjecture about deductibles, so I ran some numbers. This is a very simplified example as I simply copied the main policy limit into the spread sheet and applied a 2% and 5% deductible. Some of these estimate amounts include an additional structure, or more. So keep in mind that a 2% deductible of the dwelling value, will be less painful if you have another structure (i.e. detached garage) that is also a total loss from a catastrophic hail storm. Every estimate amount shown is a complete roof replacement; there are no partial repairs represented. All of these happen to be hail claims, and most of these are the entire roof system (shingles, drip edge, accessories) in addition to elevation damage (gutters, downspouts, windows, paint, siding, etc). Just thought I'd post some actual data to give you an idea of real life numbers, from a recent catastrophe event, in the local market.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rvqjHc2_WW_R1DJR8k_W0QOID3XTJ9iDBLaUgULg7OsmhWHagH WAflW4LX0T_ld0cH42fr5x8mOYA5hBYW1rqeXITVcbsLnZj5P-RYrUSF2FWtKTCLhAUzEjLgHueZupaWXZxNLS1sgJIri1JFNPjP vHxisaVi-sPuPc84QapcFxfSG2PNiFAc1qVOlXb-obpra-W4YA9s1D0cLJ7NluOoLUEuUV941f6w8NzDhNyfq2M054gZ1Hn6 Em9ZCt7V-_wFYdVJKJTcRRFiU-oD_wI9c41hMORJtbSqZTKR5WZFe9X2LCuCoziwuFKBpYzLh7CH FCruczJvmbDT7wsA9ontwefvLpHKP8o8NloShY7E_6GHL2boXo wfprbeW5IO_T44T7Ad6sXFrlPsat2pJ6L9h3nWF3J8RXESt5kV KUqwr3jGFmcYwyKpjmD35_oBUW5C5mV5K_b67zzQMr3T8FFlEk fOHU1Mc4xRfL3svTpBK9COXSd_5D6QtOMtlaacFCIZmlYQcxfL XH5m0sBZZs7j-Uqii-lA-zhzPehDWYxrQ41zVjplwUjR9dv1vt2hHaNvyqlmHhxeqDZPMK-1H1fO9JOVXJGM3PZNLLDyEi-RJd_7wN9J4Rc1xvlihAcCuoPpDA-h7zj0jkEgdKtzJno_IaOP0dFXaY__jQ=w542-h678-no
Bailey Guns
10-20-2017, 20:32
Yeah, if you can get USAA and don't, bonehead move.
That hasn't been our experience at all and we're pretty much an insurer's dream in terms of claims history, risk, education, credit, etc. We used them for homeowner's when we bought this house. Avg rate for the area. Not great but they were convenient. Couldn't wait to get rid of them after first year. Horrible customer service. And even with a multi-policy discount their auto rates were more than double GEICOs without a multi-policy discount. And that's with lower deductibles with GEICO.
Had them for an RV loan, same thing. Well, wasn't so much bad service as it was just terribly incompetent. They pretty much fucked up every thing they did with that loan...lost paperwork, lost extra principal payments...that sort of thing. I took the money out of savings and paid it off just to be rid of them. I did have a good experience with an auto loan thru them. I doubt I'll ever look to USAA again for anything.
If they work for you, that's great. But one size doesn't fit all.
Have 5 quotes now. going to make a decision on Monday It is almost to much to handle reading reviews.
No one writes a happy review when they are dealing with loss of property issues. I personally am not happy at all with Esurance's handling of my claim when my car was stolen and totaled last year, was super pissed and going to switch read reviews and everyone was pissed off at every other company too.
Happy customers usually just go about their lives. Pissed off customers want to share their experience with everyone. I'm guilty.
Happy customers usually just go about their lives. Pissed off customers want to share their experience with everyone. I'm guilty.
Exactly. Fuck Brighton Ford!
OtterbatHellcat
10-20-2017, 23:21
Exactly. Fuck Brighton Ford!
I'm sorry you had a bad experience there. A buddy at work just bought a used F 150 from them a few weeks ago and all was well.
Exactly. Fuck Brighton Ford!
I LOL'ed on that one...
I'm sorry you had a bad experience there. A buddy at work just bought a used F 150 from them a few weeks ago and all was well.
From what I understand, the sales people are OK, but everything else went downhill when the owner passed responsibility to his kids.
They suck.
My next go-to is going to be the one you referred me to on that short block.
If they work for you, that's great. But one size doesn't fit all.
I don't have USAA, wish I could. I actually have 3 different insurers, one for personal and two different ones for my businesses. While it is true, one size does not fit all, my experience comes from working over 20,000 insurance claims, from about $10K up to the tens of Millions for every insurance carrier listed herein (and many others) many times over the course of 25 years. I see how the adjusters and the attorneys they hire treat their customers on a daily basis. Yes, if you have a really good agent, they can skew the results, but for the most part, the culture of each carrier is set at the top.
Anything thing to consider is using an independent broker. That’s what I do and have access to over 25 different companies and do all of the shopping for you. Insurance is like your shoe size...one size doesn’t fit all.
Have 5 quotes now. going to make a decision on Monday It is almost to much to handle reading reviews.
No one writes a happy review when they are dealing with loss of property issues. I personally am not happy at all with Esurance's handling of my claim when my car was stolen and totaled last year, was super pissed and going to switch read reviews and everyone was pissed off at every other company too.
I always recommend people check DORA for unbiased, founded complaints that are investigated by the insurance commissioner. For every insurance carrier with business in the state of Colorado, they are assigned a normalized “complaint ratio” with 1 being the “standard”. If they are less than 1, they are better than average...if they are greater than one, they have more founded complaints than the average.
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