insurance switch and save--real?

I've tried changing insurance companies a couple of times in the past. Each time, I saved on the first year policy but the rates in the second and third year were higher than what they would have been with the previous company. Yes, it's a game.

My neighbor tried this with his homeowners insurance a couple of years ago when the company jacked up his premium by 25%. The new company he went with insisted on doing an inspection and required around $2000 worth of work to be done before they would write a policy. The work included tree removal, gutter & downspout replacement and even exterior painting!

He about broke even with the lower premium the first year but lost money by year three for the same reason I mentioned above.

Now, instead of switching, every couple of years, I call my insurance company and tell them about the deal company X is offering. So far, in every case, they lowered the premium increase.

May not work forever or in every market, but so far, it has for me anyway.

Switched to ERIE insurance last fall for both house and call. Was with geico for the car for a number of years and lib mutual on the house.

Overall switching saved some (don't recall how much, old age, memory issues) and locked in the premium at least for a year (they write annual policies). Supposedly vehicle rate is locked for 3 years assuming no at fault calims. We'll see. I have no loyalty and will drop 'em in a heartbeat if need be.

@OP what crawled out of the woodwork on a single vehicle accident?

We had a comprehensive claim in which the vehicle was a total loss. I will admit it was handled fine. I told my wife insurance is not your friend, answer as much as you can, yes, tell the truth, no, without interjecting any emotion or subjectiveness.

For example, they said stuff like, "Was the vehicle recently serviced, could that service have caused this?" Anything to get out of paying. That's insurance. And as mentioned, MA Auto is giving 5 billion dollars back to policy holders because they made so much money last year. It's robbery if you ask me.

I learned this at age 19 when I got into a fight on the job (someone tried to rob me). My employer's insurance carrier did a deposition on a recorded line (no video back then). I got good advice--that carrier is trying to find you did something willful, in which case, the employer is off the hook. No different than today, that assailant got lots of money. But I didn't have to pay personally.

At any rate, because 2 entities filed claims against us, my wife was charged with an accident, even though, she was all by herself hahahahahahahahaha

Was it the end of the world that the rate went up $52/6 mos? No. But just the idea made me switch. And with this factored in at the new place (Mayhem), it's $364/yr less. A dollar a day, yes I care. Because I strive to get a $18/mo discount using the bridge to work, that's $1/day.

I remember a time my wife ran into the back of someone in her jeep Gran Cherokee. I was at work, 50 miles away from the accident. The insurance company asked if we had any other insurance, we did, for our motorcycles with another company. They wanted to know what that policy was, she asked me about it first, I told her do not give them any info on any policy that had nothing to do with her car. She didn't. Why in the he|| would they try to involve insurance from something that had zero to do with the accident, they were parked in a garage 20 miles away from the accident.

Insurance is the only product I can think of where you can buy it, but if you have to use it, you're penalized. It's like buying a cheeseburger, but if you want to eat said cheeseburger you have to pay even more.

And, I can’t say enough good about them. I had insurance with a company out of Illinois for about the same amount of time and one day my insurance agent called and said that he was not representing them anymore because they had started refusing paying certain claims. He said that he was going to put me with Erie. I didn’t know much about them at the time so I asked a guy that I worked with about them. I thought he would know since his wife was an insurance broker. Surprisingly he said that AAA was the best but they were pricey. I don’t remember what #2 was, but Erie was number 3. I just read an article (I believe it was in Consumer Reports) where Erie is #1, followed by Amica, USAA, NJM, NYCM, and Cincinnati Insurance in that order. I was at my agent’s office a few months back and I asked them about a new line item regarding the last time I had my roof replaced. It had 1992 on there and I asked them about it. She stated that it was something new that they were putting on their policy. I told her that I had replaced the roof in 2018 and she said, “well, that’s going to make a difference.” She got on the computer and within 20 seconds or so, she said, “your price just dropped by $72.00.” Another time I had a truck throw a rock and broke my windshield. I called my agent and told them what happened expecting to pay a $200.00 deductible which my policy called for. She said no cost since this is your first claim. I was blown away since I had never had that happen before. Erie. Great company.

Them before...between 1999-2010, I've always done the internet thing and imho paid through the nose. Since 2010 I've had 2 agents. Have to admit this also--the claims process at the time through the lizard co. without an agent was like pulling teeth. With MA Auto effortless. The only disadvantage with an agent is much of the online stuff says to go through the agent (maybe sometimes you don't feel like talking to them, or, you want to keep them honest and call the mother ship--doesn't work you are referred to them). It would seem to be unnecessary in 2026 and with AI etc. blah blah blah, but, the agent really does want our repeated residuals and acts to a great extent on our behalf. I'm sticking with agents, when I had Erie it was online....

We don't want to test any of these, so in my lifetime I've only had claims with the lizard and MA Auto...