DGS49
Diamond Member
Yesterday, I decided to comparison shop my insurance package (mainly car insurance) with Allstate, to make sure I'm getting a reasonable deal. I've been with them for 5 years, and when I first signed up with them, they saved me 50%(!) over my previous carrier, Liberty Mutual. To be indiscrete for a moment, I'm now paying about $3,800/year for two cars - a '23 Tesla M3-LR-AWD, and a '19 VW Golf All track wagon. Allstate will not let me pay for a year at a time (I pay for 6 months and my coverage expires every 6 months), and they cannot give me collision insurance on my VW because it has a rebuilt title(?).
To start the process, I just picked up an ad from Progressive from my FB feed, went through their process on line, and was quoted $176/month - $2,112/yr - which is more than 40% less than I'm paying Allstate. Interesting.
Then my wife weighs in and suggests I get a few more quotes to see if this is even feasible. We decide on AAA (I've been a member for more than 40 years), and State Farm.
I call AAA, speak with a human agent and after going over all my stuff, he comes back with $1,072 for six months, including full coverage for my VW. Again, a big discount from what I'm paying Allstate. And this time, we are sure that everything else is exactly the same.
So I try to get a quote on line from State Farm, and here's where it gets interesting. I go to the State Farm site, enter all my information, and end up with a page that says basically, "We conclude that Progressive is best for you!" What? I thought I was dealing with State Farm.
So my wife gets in the phone book (figuratively speaking) and gets the name of a State Farm agent near where we live, and we call the number. An agent comes on, we explain what we are doing, and she proceeds to take down our information. AGAIN she says State Farm is not the best for us. What? She is a State Farm agent! No, actually she is a broker and works with State Farm and other companies, and in fact she "highly recommends" that we go with SAFECO, which I've barely heard of. She says that not only does SAFECO offer the best rates (or comparable with the best), but their claims people are the best in the business, based on her many years of experience (including ten with Allstate). THEIR price is $1,787 for the year, including full coverage for the VW. So we pulled the trigger and bought it.
But here's where it gets weird. She asks me about three claims that were filed in connection with my VW (based on the VIN), one in 2023, and a massive one ($50,000) in 2024. I didn't buy the VW until June of 2025. So Safeco found those claims and presumably thought they were my claims(?), and still quoted me half as much as Allstate. Makes no sense.
When I offered to send her a copy of my Bill of Sale to prove that I didn't own the car when the claims were filed, she said not to bother. This makes no sense to me, but isn't it interesting?
Is my VW jinxed?
The lesson is this: Check your car insurance premiums every couple years. I was wasting money, big time.
To start the process, I just picked up an ad from Progressive from my FB feed, went through their process on line, and was quoted $176/month - $2,112/yr - which is more than 40% less than I'm paying Allstate. Interesting.
Then my wife weighs in and suggests I get a few more quotes to see if this is even feasible. We decide on AAA (I've been a member for more than 40 years), and State Farm.
I call AAA, speak with a human agent and after going over all my stuff, he comes back with $1,072 for six months, including full coverage for my VW. Again, a big discount from what I'm paying Allstate. And this time, we are sure that everything else is exactly the same.
So I try to get a quote on line from State Farm, and here's where it gets interesting. I go to the State Farm site, enter all my information, and end up with a page that says basically, "We conclude that Progressive is best for you!" What? I thought I was dealing with State Farm.
So my wife gets in the phone book (figuratively speaking) and gets the name of a State Farm agent near where we live, and we call the number. An agent comes on, we explain what we are doing, and she proceeds to take down our information. AGAIN she says State Farm is not the best for us. What? She is a State Farm agent! No, actually she is a broker and works with State Farm and other companies, and in fact she "highly recommends" that we go with SAFECO, which I've barely heard of. She says that not only does SAFECO offer the best rates (or comparable with the best), but their claims people are the best in the business, based on her many years of experience (including ten with Allstate). THEIR price is $1,787 for the year, including full coverage for the VW. So we pulled the trigger and bought it.
But here's where it gets weird. She asks me about three claims that were filed in connection with my VW (based on the VIN), one in 2023, and a massive one ($50,000) in 2024. I didn't buy the VW until June of 2025. So Safeco found those claims and presumably thought they were my claims(?), and still quoted me half as much as Allstate. Makes no sense.
When I offered to send her a copy of my Bill of Sale to prove that I didn't own the car when the claims were filed, she said not to bother. This makes no sense to me, but isn't it interesting?
Is my VW jinxed?
The lesson is this: Check your car insurance premiums every couple years. I was wasting money, big time.
