Insurance is this playing chess. You have to move your piece to win. Lol. I get an auto insurance company and they sneak up the rates on you all the time. I had travelers for the last two years and I’ve got a niece that went to work for a big insurance company in Dallas and she got me in with progressive. The rate on five cars dropped down about $60 a month. She could not touch my homeowners. I’ve had it with a guy for years at about $1500. She said they had big increases this year and the best she could do was $2500. Last year that rate would have been $1800. She said my insurance was a different tier level that she could not write.

USAA is killing me year after year.

Got this in a email for the first time....Natural Disaster Coverage ????

Hail season is here - are you and your family prepared? Because you live in an area where hail can occur, we want to help protect your loved ones, your home and your finances!
It's important to know that even with adequate coverage, most members would pay at least $1,500 in total deductibles after a natural disaster.
Find out if your property could be vulnerable to natural disasters and what coverage you might need by completing a Property Risk Assessment and Natural Disaster Coverage Review.
We have tools that help you prepare financially for a natural disaster!
Looking for more ways to get ready for the upcoming season?
Visit the Natural Disaster Preparation Site to learn more about our tools, checklists and advice to stay safe during a hailstorm.
We hope that hail never strikes your home or auto, but we always stand ready to serve you.
Thank you,
United Services Automobile Association


Living in a state that ranks 1 or 2 in auto theft im told im paying for that even though im 200 miles from the big city in a very rural area and my cars are lightly driven and never sit outside.

So are you saying the above companies are the best rate wise?
I was with American family for 28 years up to 6 or 7 policies at one point. last year we had 1 claim on the house, the only claim on ALL policies in 11 years and the premium jumped 35%
So I'm currently with Nationwide. the agent's a bit flakey so we'll be talking a bit more come June or so

my experiences with staet farm claim wise are not good

Auto Owners here with Auto, Home, and Camp.

No, I said 9 out of the top 10 carriers (I should've specified auto carriers) lost money last year. Some lost money the year before too. All 9 of them lost a lot of money overall. All of them are raising rates. The company that made money is not raising rates, and is actually reducing rates for some.

By "top 10," I'm referring to market share.

We have Nationwide for the house and cars. I should check into our rates.

That was why I was asking who the largest 10 were. I can see my coverage is also with one of the big 10, so now I also know who not to check rates with until all other options have been eliminated. Don't want to jump from the kettle into the frying pan if I can help it.

Try homeowners insurance in Florida right now. Its unaffordable.

Yep. I have USAA for homeowner's, and it's as if they're trying to run me off.

Homeowners is a disaster (no pun intended) in Florida. Combination of catastrophe losses, bad underwriting, and bad insurance laws that were intended to help consumers but backfired. The root cause was bad underwriting. The 2004 hurricanes are what exposed the bad underwriting.

The auto market in FL is huge. Homeowners is a loss leader, designed to get customers to buy other products like auto, life, etc. from the same carrier as their homeowners. Insurers were greedy for a long time by undercharging for homeowners in the hopes of more than making it up on other products. It finally bit them in the a$$, and now many of them actively want out of FL. FL law prevents them from doing so unless they give up all of their business in FL, not just home. Carriers are responding with rates that are beyond sky high because they are trying to cover/recoup their losses on home, and at least some of them are throwing in the towel and hoping their rates are high enough that people will cancel and give the carrier a path to exit FL.

I think part of the problem in Florida is the homes are crap.

When I lived in Okinawa Japan the houses were reinforced concrete block with concrete slab roofs and shutters made with 2x4's fastened edge to edge.

When a typhoon (hurricane for us Americans) came a calling we just bought food, closed our shutters and rode it out. Those houses were built to survive Earthquakes, Typhoons, and tsunami's. I do not think you could burn them down either because many of the interior walls were block also.

In Florida, and the rest of our Gulf/Atlantic coast, they build matchsticks made to blow away. When the insurance company has to replace a house every 10 years or so there is no way to make insurance cost effective. Florida being the worst because the whole state is in a hazardous position for hurricane damage. At least the other coastal states have inland homes that won't be damaged by hurricanes and can make up the difference in losses.

At least that is my take.

If I move to Florida I would like to build a house like I had in Japan and insure the contents not the building if that was possible.

I have Metlife , now Farmers , my auto didn't go up much but my homeowners pretty much doubled ... thanks for the heads up .... I did file a claim in 2021 , first time in 16 years ... time to change my homeowners ...

You're not wrong. The older cinder block homes routinely get mowed down to be replaced with fancy (looking) frame houses with brick facing.

I've had MetLife for years on the Drivers - they were easy to deal with on claims when I ran collision shops, and had inexpensive rates - and wasn't happy that Farmers bought them.
(Farmers was horrible on auto claims in Spokane, Nationwide almost as bad, Safeco depended on who I dealt with but mostly bad.)
Hasn't been a problem yet, but will shop around when my Independent Agent gets free of the non-compete clause Farmers made her sign.
Home policy is American Modern.
Around here, Farm Bureau has a good rep and I never had problems with them.

Does progressive do collector car agreed coverage?

They will broker/bundle it through Hagerty, I believe.

what is your opinion about Erie insurance ?
i have used them since around 1974 or so, and have both of our cars insured, plus our house.
sometimes the rates are higher, sometimes lower, than other companies.
with that said, i received a letter from them some time ago, stating since i have been with them so long and i no longer drive to work, the vehicle rate will stay the same until i move or change vehicles.
any thoughts on that ?

Erie is a solid company. As far as no longer changing your rate, that depends upon what other companies would charge you. In the current climate, it's probably a good thing.

Just had a friend tell me yesterday that he switched his home/auto (5 cars, I think?) from Allstate, saving $3,600/year by going with another company.

Shop around folks. A few minutes of your time could really pay off.

Not surprising.


Having been a former Allstate agency owner, that company is horribly mismanaged!