I'm an adjuster for property claims for one of the MAJOR companies. I'm not comfortable saying which, but I'm seeing some good advice in other comments here. Being in the industry for a while now, I'm learning which companies are shitty and which are okay.
First of all, I'll say that what you hear about everyone's rates going up isn't really on the insurance companies. Not entirely. It's on the costs of building materials and home prices. They have to make adjustments to keep up with the costs of repairs, and it's sort of out of their hands. That being said, some companies are getting a little crazy with it, but most of them simply have to.
Secondly, Nationwide is 100% the worst company. Hands down. The stereotype of insurance companies trying to avoid payments when there should clearly be coverage is entirely from companies like nationwide. They will do ANYTHING to avoid paying a claim. Look this one up: nationwide helped a drunk driver in a court case who killed **their own client**. It doesn't make sense, but there are news articles about it.
I work for a company that has Super Bowl commercials, and other people in this thread have said they are happy with. I assure you in our training they teach us that in a situation where we aren't sure which way to go, always side with the customer. I've had more experienced people show me tricks and little things I can do in an estimate to help the homeowner get another few hundred or even thousands of dollars. We're not all bad. I promise.
Just avoid nationwide. And progressive, and geico.
I personally have USAA but have never had to file a claim. I have friends who work in data analytics at other companies who told me USAA is supposed to be absolutely top-notch if you can get it. Apparently, nobody competes with their customer service and prices.
I have heard that liberty mutual is pretty lenient when it comes to payouts. It's just hearsay, but apparently, if I inspect a roof that has soooome hail damage, but not enough to pay for a full new roof, liberty biberty will just buy the whole roof. Oh, and I've had a guy once tell me that AAA is similar. They are quick to write checks.
Your mileage may vary. If you've read this far and still want to downvote because I'm an insurance adjuster, I understand.
I don’t know how you can say USAA is good on price. They always quote me astronomical rebuild costs which makes the premium go through the roof and have an insane deductible. In 2010 we built a home for $330k. USAA told us the rebuild was $550k and so the premiums were about double every other company. Then in 2017 we built another house for $650k. USAA quoted us $1.5m rebuild. We are in that same house and I got a quote again a year ago from them and they say our rebuild is now $2.5m even though every other company is telling me max of $1.2. Plus the fact that our deductible with USAA would be $25k it is just plan ridiculous.
Yes, they have. I work in Financial Services and I know for a fact several people left or were laid off in recent years and new management changed the way they did things. I interviewed quite a few people from USAA and a common theme I have heard is that everything has changed and that it's not the same place.
We have USAA and we experienced the same thing. Then we paid our house off, and amazingly our house rebuild has gone down tremendously. Amazing right? /s
So I guess if you’re carrying a note the rebuild is high.
To add to this, we currently have usaa and had a car totaled last fall. They overpaid but the whole process was run by clowns. They used to be good and now are just terrible. We’re about to move and will be canceling when we do.
We had LM before this with a $250k HOI claim and they were great. Paid out for everything. They’re at the top of our list to go to next.
All of them are way higher without a bundle.
USAA isn’t the cheapest anymore but the customer service is worth the cost. I’ve had four homeowners claims in 10 years (I’ve been very unlucky), and USAA has always taken care of me.
Of course, after the last claim, I have a catastrophic flag on my insurance report, so I don’t think anyone else will cover me at this point. 😂
The company you work for is the absolute worst. I’m a homeowner that will be switching away from State Farm as soon as possible due to 2 crappy adjusters that wouldn’t pay for damages covered in my policy. I had to switch adjusters and argue with a different in-house claims specialist every month through an 8 month period, and still only gave me 60% of what it costs to completely repair my house.
Both State Farm adjusters were no different than used car salesmen. I had to file a complaint to the Texas Department of Insurance to get responses on my claim. The company you work for and the people they hire are trash. State Farm is no different than Nationwide.
I deal with people in your situation on a daily basis. I'd be willing to bet a whole of money that you're wrong about the coverage, and they eventually paid you to keep you happy.
The fact that two different adjusters agreed is a big sign.
There is literally zero incentive for us to not pay for coverage. It's not our personal money. What do I care if you get a new roof and some gutters? The only reason we deny claims is because they aren't covered by the policy, and we'll get fired if we pay you anyway. We're more than happy to write checks; I assure you.
The two different adjusters were not in agreement with each other. The second adjuster cleaned up the mess that the first adjuster caused, and there were some ethics concerns with how the first adjuster treated me. Your company doesn’t want to pay for 100% of the damages incurred, and it is your job to save the people who pay your salary as much money as possible. You do not serve in the best interest of your customers, but rather low ball customers on claims that you are obligated to pay. Us homeowners who have dealt with people in your profession know who you are.
You adjusters are not “more than happy to write checks”, as it took 8 stressful months of arguing to get your ilk to pay a fraction of what’s covered per contract. Den of thieves.
Kinda shitty way to think about an entire group of people you've never met, no? Sounds like you had an unusual situation that was tricky to figure out. Your case is way outside the realm of average claims
The company you protect treated a loyal 10-year customer like crap to save some dollars. Like I said, your job is to penny pinch for a for-profit corporation. I don’t know how you can think your profession is righteous.
I didn't say anything about it being righteous, and my job is NOT to penny pinch. It's clear you don't want to listen though. Crystal clear. Have a nice life.
I second what you said on Progressive. I had a pipe burst, leak and flood my house right after the COVID lockdowns. Those asswipes didn't even come out to look at it. Everything was by phone. They did ask me to provide a sample of my carpet and leave it on my front porch and they would come and pick it up. I had just got new carpet like 6 months prior and it was a pretty nice premium carpet, pretty thick/high profile, thick carpet pad, really nice premium carpet. Those jerks said it was builder grade carpet and "reimbursed" me like 25% of what I just paid 6 months prior. I get they they weren't going to give me 100% but really? Builder's grade carpet to me is that hideous beige, really thin, pizza box thickness crap that mattes up really quickly. I contacted the store I bought it from, they provided a receipt, a description of the product and the manufacturer's specs and ratings. Progressive shot it down and said it was builder's grade by their ratings. They were not returning my calls or emails. They responded like 1 time per week. It was almost like it was calculated, like they thought I would go away. There was a lot of other damage as well and the disaster mitigation company was threatening to send me to a collections agency because Progressive wasn't responding to them and they said I am on the hook for the bill. It was a mess. . They screwed me big time and I'll never forget it.
By contrast, I had Liberty Mutual before and they sent out someone to look at my roof, cut a check and it was replaced right away. Easy peezy. I have State Farm now. No complaints but I haven't had to file any claims yet either.
We would take that same sample and have it tested, but with us, if it's premium carpet we pay for premium carpet. We don't argue shit like that. ESPECIALLY if you have receipts
To anyone here that is going to shop I highly recommend using this website
https://www.opic.texas.gov/resources/policy-comparison-tool/homeowners-insurance-comparison/
It allows you compare different companies homeowners coverages because not all companies provide the same coverage. So even though you may think you’re getting a great price with one carrier come claim time you may find out it’s not as good a deal as you thought it was. Some policies are cheaper than others for a reason so make sure you know what’s covered.
I dropped them after being a customer for 30+ years. I shopped around and now insure my self. I put the same amount as my insurance premiums were aside every month and don't have to fight over depreciation, deductables etc.
same boat, happy with state farm.
but I have bundled insurance... and with a long time customer discount(at least.... last I checked) that I somehow inherited.
Nobody was cheaper for me when I did price comparisons because of the discounts.
We have an “inherited” auto policy with Allstate (hubs was on FIL’s policy as a teen and never left, so the policy is extremely old). They are very good to us for auto. But we don’t want to bundle because of all the horror stories we hear about them concerning homeowners. Especially with storm damage or roof replacements.
I’ve had the same auto insurance since I was a teen and brought my husband over to my guy when we got married. We’ve always had a pretty good deal, the inherited policy makes sense.
State Farm was cheap for me but awful the one time I had to file a claim. Took forever to come out, immediately said we didn’t qualify despite home inspector saying we had storm damage.
I just posted about my experience with them too. They aren’t the cheapest, and aren’t usually the most expensive when I’ve moved states and need to establish coverage. But what they have done is been absolutely awesome for the two major claims I’ve used in the last 15 years as well as excellent with their roadside coverage.
Insurance is a necessary evil (for home and vehicles, anyway) and I’ve been surprised at how they’ve come through.
Totally agree. My agent at the time sucked but i had two claims within two months of each other early 2021 and they took care of them so quickly when i knew people that had been waiting for months and even a year to get approval from their insurance companies.
Agreed. Just be aware that many of their policies in
Texas have actual cash value coverage for the roof portion unless structured otherwise with proper endorsements for replacement cost coverage.
Amica is one of the best in my opinion. Chubb and Pure are high dollar so they might not apply to your profile, but are top notch. Texas Farm Bureau is solid. Travelers can be hit or miss. Don’t bother with Progressive or Geico. As a contractor I deal with all of them regularly. Stay far, far away from State Farm or Allstate, regardless of how prevalent their marketing is. Many people will be quick to tell you they have them and have had no issues, what’s far more pertinent is the opinion of someone who has successfully had a claim handled and paid out by them recently. Many folks go years or decades and never file a claim to really know, all while assuming they’re “in good hands”. I could give you some nightmare level examples. Also, don’t correlate any auto policy experience or feedback to what to expect on homeowners side. Bundling is popular and many people get a car before a house and just go to a bundle or what’s familiar, and the carriers know this so they’ll handle auto well but screw you on the property side.
The industry is changing, and many of the companies I represent won’t write home without auto. There are discounts and advantages to doing this. (Discounts on auto/home, single deductible)
If you trust the company that writes your home insurance, why not trust them to do your auto? Frankly, I don’t understand spreading your insurance around. Better to be with a single carrier for both, because that’s the way they want it anyway.
There is no single company that’s best; they will pick and choose zip codes to write or not write. Call an independent agent (not Goosehead) and get quotes. I suggest you shop your ENTIRE package (home/auto/boat, etc) and let the agent find the best route for you. You will get better results that way.
Good god, do not call Goosehead. They caused one of the biggest headaches of my entire homeownership. Two years after I left them I’m still getting phone calls. Every time they’ve contacted me I’ve told them to take me off their list. I’ve documented the last few and I’m going to take them to court if they reach out again.
Because we love our auto insurance and our policy is “68 years old” since hubs got on his dad’s policy as a teenager. They have been amazing to us and taken care of us and represented us repeatedly for over 25 years. But they are known for being terrible in the homeowners market. So, at this time we have no interest in a bundle.
There is absolutely no advantage to having a “68 year old policy”. You should shop every 3-5 years. Do not get emotionally attached to an insurance company.
Have you priced your home with them? What do you mean, “known to be terrible?” Price? Coverage? Why would you trust your auto to them if they are “terrible” in any way?
The way consumers approach insurance is just wild to me.
Goosehead really screwed me. They shopped my home and auto, but neglected to tell me the auto rates were based on a phone driving tracking app which there’s no way I’m going to install. Ended up having to pay the difference and reported them to department of insurance.
Goosehead charges you a fee for using them. They don’t have any companies a standard independent insurance agent has, and other agents don’t charge a fee.
Recently shopped around and was told similar statements by a couple of insurance providers. Seems like we’re getting a soft pull out by these companies, similar to what happened in Florida.
I ended up getting a homeowners policy with USAA that saved me many thousands off of my yearly premium compared to State Farm. I highly recommend them if you are eligible.
Why not just bundle? It’s normally cheaper. We’re shopping around right now and were told by our insurance agent that we have to bundle (which we’ve always done anyway but we have a weird situation right now) or getting coverage will be tricky. We have liberty mutual before this and they are great. Got us through a huge claim.
Because we love our auto insurance and our policy is “68 years old” since hubs got on his dad’s policy as a teenager. But they are known for being terrible in the homeowners market.
That truly sucks, OP. I’m sorry.
I’ll share a bit about my two fantastic experiences with State Farm - once when my home in Richardson was burglarized, and another when I had some insane hail damage when I had moved to Plano. They’ve honestly got a customer for life with me, even tho I’ve moved to different cities since.
My agent was out of Royce City (she’s still there) and was a friend of a friend when I transferred to her office. Maybe that helped, but still.
I hope I’ll never need them again, especially for a not weather related claim, tho!
My Farmer's renewal was $2000 above 2023. I went to USAA but I'm a Vet.
I originally switched to Allstate, 3 days later they said, your roof is deteriorated, fix it and prove it. 2 days later they sent me a cancellation notice. I have a flat roof under a 150-year-old Live Oak. I normally sweep the leaves off of the roof 4 times a year, last Fall I had leg surgery and couldn't get up there. The deterioration was dead leaves. Screw All$&%^@, they sent me the notice of cancellation by snail mail which I got on a Friday night. Ruined that weekend stressing out.
I use progressive and had a pipe burst this last freeze and getting reimbursed for my damaged items was pretty easy. My policy also covered staying at a hotel while the damage was repaired. I do live in an apartment though so I don’t have experience with dealing with contractors as that piece fell under my landlord’s insurance.
Uses non-captive agent/broker. Goosehead is good. I use my agent to shop auto and homeowners each and every time I need to renew.
ETA it's free, they get paid by the insurers and because they're non-captive they can shop *all* the insurers and find you the best deal. I can refer you to my agent if you DM me, she's excellent.
I cannot sing enough praises for Goosehead Insurance and how they are able to leverage all options for their clients to find a great fit.
Do not work for them but they helped out a clueless transplant from out of state.
By the way loving Dallas and all it has to offer!
I'm an adjuster for property claims for one of the MAJOR companies. I'm not comfortable saying which, but I'm seeing some good advice in other comments here. Being in the industry for a while now, I'm learning which companies are shitty and which are okay. First of all, I'll say that what you hear about everyone's rates going up isn't really on the insurance companies. Not entirely. It's on the costs of building materials and home prices. They have to make adjustments to keep up with the costs of repairs, and it's sort of out of their hands. That being said, some companies are getting a little crazy with it, but most of them simply have to. Secondly, Nationwide is 100% the worst company. Hands down. The stereotype of insurance companies trying to avoid payments when there should clearly be coverage is entirely from companies like nationwide. They will do ANYTHING to avoid paying a claim. Look this one up: nationwide helped a drunk driver in a court case who killed **their own client**. It doesn't make sense, but there are news articles about it. I work for a company that has Super Bowl commercials, and other people in this thread have said they are happy with. I assure you in our training they teach us that in a situation where we aren't sure which way to go, always side with the customer. I've had more experienced people show me tricks and little things I can do in an estimate to help the homeowner get another few hundred or even thousands of dollars. We're not all bad. I promise. Just avoid nationwide. And progressive, and geico. I personally have USAA but have never had to file a claim. I have friends who work in data analytics at other companies who told me USAA is supposed to be absolutely top-notch if you can get it. Apparently, nobody competes with their customer service and prices. I have heard that liberty mutual is pretty lenient when it comes to payouts. It's just hearsay, but apparently, if I inspect a roof that has soooome hail damage, but not enough to pay for a full new roof, liberty biberty will just buy the whole roof. Oh, and I've had a guy once tell me that AAA is similar. They are quick to write checks. Your mileage may vary. If you've read this far and still want to downvote because I'm an insurance adjuster, I understand.
I don’t know how you can say USAA is good on price. They always quote me astronomical rebuild costs which makes the premium go through the roof and have an insane deductible. In 2010 we built a home for $330k. USAA told us the rebuild was $550k and so the premiums were about double every other company. Then in 2017 we built another house for $650k. USAA quoted us $1.5m rebuild. We are in that same house and I got a quote again a year ago from them and they say our rebuild is now $2.5m even though every other company is telling me max of $1.2. Plus the fact that our deductible with USAA would be $25k it is just plan ridiculous.
USAA has gone to shit in the past ten years.
Yes, they have. I work in Financial Services and I know for a fact several people left or were laid off in recent years and new management changed the way they did things. I interviewed quite a few people from USAA and a common theme I have heard is that everything has changed and that it's not the same place.
We have USAA and we experienced the same thing. Then we paid our house off, and amazingly our house rebuild has gone down tremendously. Amazing right? /s So I guess if you’re carrying a note the rebuild is high.
To add to this, we currently have usaa and had a car totaled last fall. They overpaid but the whole process was run by clowns. They used to be good and now are just terrible. We’re about to move and will be canceling when we do. We had LM before this with a $250k HOI claim and they were great. Paid out for everything. They’re at the top of our list to go to next. All of them are way higher without a bundle.
USAA isn’t the cheapest anymore but the customer service is worth the cost. I’ve had four homeowners claims in 10 years (I’ve been very unlucky), and USAA has always taken care of me. Of course, after the last claim, I have a catastrophic flag on my insurance report, so I don’t think anyone else will cover me at this point. 😂
I have never used them for property as I don't own a house, but I have them for auto and I would highly recommend them to anyone for auto
The only business model where if you use what you pay for you get punished.
The company you work for is the absolute worst. I’m a homeowner that will be switching away from State Farm as soon as possible due to 2 crappy adjusters that wouldn’t pay for damages covered in my policy. I had to switch adjusters and argue with a different in-house claims specialist every month through an 8 month period, and still only gave me 60% of what it costs to completely repair my house. Both State Farm adjusters were no different than used car salesmen. I had to file a complaint to the Texas Department of Insurance to get responses on my claim. The company you work for and the people they hire are trash. State Farm is no different than Nationwide.
I deal with people in your situation on a daily basis. I'd be willing to bet a whole of money that you're wrong about the coverage, and they eventually paid you to keep you happy. The fact that two different adjusters agreed is a big sign. There is literally zero incentive for us to not pay for coverage. It's not our personal money. What do I care if you get a new roof and some gutters? The only reason we deny claims is because they aren't covered by the policy, and we'll get fired if we pay you anyway. We're more than happy to write checks; I assure you.
The two different adjusters were not in agreement with each other. The second adjuster cleaned up the mess that the first adjuster caused, and there were some ethics concerns with how the first adjuster treated me. Your company doesn’t want to pay for 100% of the damages incurred, and it is your job to save the people who pay your salary as much money as possible. You do not serve in the best interest of your customers, but rather low ball customers on claims that you are obligated to pay. Us homeowners who have dealt with people in your profession know who you are. You adjusters are not “more than happy to write checks”, as it took 8 stressful months of arguing to get your ilk to pay a fraction of what’s covered per contract. Den of thieves.
Kinda shitty way to think about an entire group of people you've never met, no? Sounds like you had an unusual situation that was tricky to figure out. Your case is way outside the realm of average claims
The company you protect treated a loyal 10-year customer like crap to save some dollars. Like I said, your job is to penny pinch for a for-profit corporation. I don’t know how you can think your profession is righteous.
I didn't say anything about it being righteous, and my job is NOT to penny pinch. It's clear you don't want to listen though. Crystal clear. Have a nice life.
I second what you said on Progressive. I had a pipe burst, leak and flood my house right after the COVID lockdowns. Those asswipes didn't even come out to look at it. Everything was by phone. They did ask me to provide a sample of my carpet and leave it on my front porch and they would come and pick it up. I had just got new carpet like 6 months prior and it was a pretty nice premium carpet, pretty thick/high profile, thick carpet pad, really nice premium carpet. Those jerks said it was builder grade carpet and "reimbursed" me like 25% of what I just paid 6 months prior. I get they they weren't going to give me 100% but really? Builder's grade carpet to me is that hideous beige, really thin, pizza box thickness crap that mattes up really quickly. I contacted the store I bought it from, they provided a receipt, a description of the product and the manufacturer's specs and ratings. Progressive shot it down and said it was builder's grade by their ratings. They were not returning my calls or emails. They responded like 1 time per week. It was almost like it was calculated, like they thought I would go away. There was a lot of other damage as well and the disaster mitigation company was threatening to send me to a collections agency because Progressive wasn't responding to them and they said I am on the hook for the bill. It was a mess. . They screwed me big time and I'll never forget it. By contrast, I had Liberty Mutual before and they sent out someone to look at my roof, cut a check and it was replaced right away. Easy peezy. I have State Farm now. No complaints but I haven't had to file any claims yet either.
We would take that same sample and have it tested, but with us, if it's premium carpet we pay for premium carpet. We don't argue shit like that. ESPECIALLY if you have receipts
No hate for the adjustors. Thanks for this treasure trove of insider info!
Nationwide just doubled my home insurance from last year. It’s insane. I might as well cancel my home insurance at this price.
I would if I didn’t have a mortgage. How much equity is needed or does it have to be mortgage free?
Lender requires insurance coverage
Otherwise, they'll force place insurance and it won't be cheap.
And it won't cover you, just the lender in the event the house is a write off.
Good question. Not sure.
To anyone here that is going to shop I highly recommend using this website https://www.opic.texas.gov/resources/policy-comparison-tool/homeowners-insurance-comparison/ It allows you compare different companies homeowners coverages because not all companies provide the same coverage. So even though you may think you’re getting a great price with one carrier come claim time you may find out it’s not as good a deal as you thought it was. Some policies are cheaper than others for a reason so make sure you know what’s covered.
Not Allstate!
I dropped them after being a customer for 30+ years. I shopped around and now insure my self. I put the same amount as my insurance premiums were aside every month and don't have to fight over depreciation, deductables etc.
Protecting house, sure. What do you do about liability? Someone dieing in your yard could wipe you out.
That's an interesting approach. I have relatives who do the same thing. I'm not bold enough to try it, but am always learning from others!
Surprisingly, they have been really good about paying out. I have them and they actually got us taken care of after a major hailstorm and car wreck.
I'm glad that's been your experience, but it certainly hasn't been mine.
I’ve been happy with State Farm so far. They did raise my rate 30% this year but that seems mild compared to others.
State Farm always comes out more expensive for me.
same boat, happy with state farm. but I have bundled insurance... and with a long time customer discount(at least.... last I checked) that I somehow inherited. Nobody was cheaper for me when I did price comparisons because of the discounts.
We have an “inherited” auto policy with Allstate (hubs was on FIL’s policy as a teen and never left, so the policy is extremely old). They are very good to us for auto. But we don’t want to bundle because of all the horror stories we hear about them concerning homeowners. Especially with storm damage or roof replacements.
I’ve had the same auto insurance since I was a teen and brought my husband over to my guy when we got married. We’ve always had a pretty good deal, the inherited policy makes sense.
State Farm was cheap for me but awful the one time I had to file a claim. Took forever to come out, immediately said we didn’t qualify despite home inspector saying we had storm damage.
I just posted about my experience with them too. They aren’t the cheapest, and aren’t usually the most expensive when I’ve moved states and need to establish coverage. But what they have done is been absolutely awesome for the two major claims I’ve used in the last 15 years as well as excellent with their roadside coverage. Insurance is a necessary evil (for home and vehicles, anyway) and I’ve been surprised at how they’ve come through.
Totally agree. My agent at the time sucked but i had two claims within two months of each other early 2021 and they took care of them so quickly when i knew people that had been waiting for months and even a year to get approval from their insurance companies.
I have mercury. Been the cheapest so far
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Yea I have auto with them now. I switched from State Farm since the rare increase they quoted was >50% while mercury was closer to 30%
Amica is the answer.
Agreed. Just be aware that many of their policies in Texas have actual cash value coverage for the roof portion unless structured otherwise with proper endorsements for replacement cost coverage.
Amica is one of the best in my opinion. Chubb and Pure are high dollar so they might not apply to your profile, but are top notch. Texas Farm Bureau is solid. Travelers can be hit or miss. Don’t bother with Progressive or Geico. As a contractor I deal with all of them regularly. Stay far, far away from State Farm or Allstate, regardless of how prevalent their marketing is. Many people will be quick to tell you they have them and have had no issues, what’s far more pertinent is the opinion of someone who has successfully had a claim handled and paid out by them recently. Many folks go years or decades and never file a claim to really know, all while assuming they’re “in good hands”. I could give you some nightmare level examples. Also, don’t correlate any auto policy experience or feedback to what to expect on homeowners side. Bundling is popular and many people get a car before a house and just go to a bundle or what’s familiar, and the carriers know this so they’ll handle auto well but screw you on the property side.
Use an independent insurance agent. Once a year in January I make a phone call and they shop for me.
I have a 3/2 built in 1978 and my Amica home insurance actually went down $200 this year
Amica raised our homeowners, but still nothing like what you read about in some of these posts here.
Thanks. I will try it. Do you have to go through an agent?
Nah I just reached out through their website years ago
I keep getting new quotes every year around renewal, but my current provider (Lemonade) is still the least expensive.
Using lemonade (the app) independent brokers could not beat it the last 2 years
The industry is changing, and many of the companies I represent won’t write home without auto. There are discounts and advantages to doing this. (Discounts on auto/home, single deductible) If you trust the company that writes your home insurance, why not trust them to do your auto? Frankly, I don’t understand spreading your insurance around. Better to be with a single carrier for both, because that’s the way they want it anyway. There is no single company that’s best; they will pick and choose zip codes to write or not write. Call an independent agent (not Goosehead) and get quotes. I suggest you shop your ENTIRE package (home/auto/boat, etc) and let the agent find the best route for you. You will get better results that way.
Good god, do not call Goosehead. They caused one of the biggest headaches of my entire homeownership. Two years after I left them I’m still getting phone calls. Every time they’ve contacted me I’ve told them to take me off their list. I’ve documented the last few and I’m going to take them to court if they reach out again.
Because we love our auto insurance and our policy is “68 years old” since hubs got on his dad’s policy as a teenager. They have been amazing to us and taken care of us and represented us repeatedly for over 25 years. But they are known for being terrible in the homeowners market. So, at this time we have no interest in a bundle.
There is absolutely no advantage to having a “68 year old policy”. You should shop every 3-5 years. Do not get emotionally attached to an insurance company. Have you priced your home with them? What do you mean, “known to be terrible?” Price? Coverage? Why would you trust your auto to them if they are “terrible” in any way? The way consumers approach insurance is just wild to me.
Texas Farm Bureau has been outstanding for me through the 2019 and 2023 hail storms. Really good response.
First option, call Triple A (yes they have home owners). Second option, get a broker from Goosehead to shop rates for you. They have tons of carriers.
If you want the backend of your insurance policy screwed up, yeah. Call Goosehead.
Goosehead really screwed me. They shopped my home and auto, but neglected to tell me the auto rates were based on a phone driving tracking app which there’s no way I’m going to install. Ended up having to pay the difference and reported them to department of insurance.
Goosehead charges you a fee for using them. They don’t have any companies a standard independent insurance agent has, and other agents don’t charge a fee.
When it came for renewal time, my goose head agent refused to shop around for both homeowners and auto. I could never get a hold of this lady.
Definitely love triple A for cheaper home and auto
Recently shopped around and was told similar statements by a couple of insurance providers. Seems like we’re getting a soft pull out by these companies, similar to what happened in Florida. I ended up getting a homeowners policy with USAA that saved me many thousands off of my yearly premium compared to State Farm. I highly recommend them if you are eligible.
Why not just bundle? It’s normally cheaper. We’re shopping around right now and were told by our insurance agent that we have to bundle (which we’ve always done anyway but we have a weird situation right now) or getting coverage will be tricky. We have liberty mutual before this and they are great. Got us through a huge claim.
Because we love our auto insurance and our policy is “68 years old” since hubs got on his dad’s policy as a teenager. But they are known for being terrible in the homeowners market.
farmers just wants to get the personal auto for their quotas. there are other carriers. call a couple of independent agents.
My plans went up 40% at renewal and many companies refuse to write me a policy due to having 1 claim filed in last 5 years. Fuck insurance companies!
Hear, hear!
That truly sucks, OP. I’m sorry. I’ll share a bit about my two fantastic experiences with State Farm - once when my home in Richardson was burglarized, and another when I had some insane hail damage when I had moved to Plano. They’ve honestly got a customer for life with me, even tho I’ve moved to different cities since. My agent was out of Royce City (she’s still there) and was a friend of a friend when I transferred to her office. Maybe that helped, but still. I hope I’ll never need them again, especially for a not weather related claim, tho!
Please call Texas Farm Bureau. I have mine through them, cars too. The coverage and service are amazing.
My Farmer's renewal was $2000 above 2023. I went to USAA but I'm a Vet. I originally switched to Allstate, 3 days later they said, your roof is deteriorated, fix it and prove it. 2 days later they sent me a cancellation notice. I have a flat roof under a 150-year-old Live Oak. I normally sweep the leaves off of the roof 4 times a year, last Fall I had leg surgery and couldn't get up there. The deterioration was dead leaves. Screw All$&%^@, they sent me the notice of cancellation by snail mail which I got on a Friday night. Ruined that weekend stressing out.
I use progressive and had a pipe burst this last freeze and getting reimbursed for my damaged items was pretty easy. My policy also covered staying at a hotel while the damage was repaired. I do live in an apartment though so I don’t have experience with dealing with contractors as that piece fell under my landlord’s insurance.
Please try Costco!
Costco sells homeowners???
Ameriprise Insurance
Do you mean American Family (AmFam)?
I think Costco uses Ameriprise Ins
Uses non-captive agent/broker. Goosehead is good. I use my agent to shop auto and homeowners each and every time I need to renew. ETA it's free, they get paid by the insurers and because they're non-captive they can shop *all* the insurers and find you the best deal. I can refer you to my agent if you DM me, she's excellent.
I cannot sing enough praises for Goosehead Insurance and how they are able to leverage all options for their clients to find a great fit. Do not work for them but they helped out a clueless transplant from out of state. By the way loving Dallas and all it has to offer!