Changes

[nomowork]

I've been with my current car insurance company for longer than I can remember. They were a local company here on the west coast and were very reasonable and the online service was great. I had several claims over the years and it was always no hassle, just take the car to a body shop and they took care of the rest. Well, another "big national company" bought them a couple of years ago but they kept their same local name. Word is that this "national company" wanted an online presence so the easiest way was to buy one already running and with good service.

I was rear ended last year so I called my insurance company and they basically told me I needed to do all the leg work and call the other driver's insurance company. So........I did and the other driver's insurance company gave me the best service and no hassle! Guess whose losing a customer and guess who's gaining a new customer? And.....to top that off, my NEW insurance company just quoted me the same coverage at $200 LESS per year!

 

[nomowork]

Oh, and BTW, my son still has car insurance through my PREVIOUS insurance company. Last year, he was T-boned by another car which sent his car into the oncoming lanes and rolled his car in the process. Luckily he only had a small bruise in the palm of his right hand, but the car was a total loss. The other driver was a young teenager (17 years old) whose parents had coverage by the same insurance company as my son! You'd think it would be a slam dunk...........wrong. The "local" company initially handled the claims and sort of bickered about the claim even though the highway patrol wrote up the case as unsafe merging into traffic by the other driver. The "national company" stepped in and delayed much of the processing of payments to my son.

Insurance companies are like a legal protection racket, IMO.

 

[Andrew04]

Why not provide names of old and new companies? You provided a fair honest and truthful (I assume) testimony of two seperate claims, why not allow us to learn from your experience?

 

[nomowork]

Why not provide names of old and new companies? You provided a fair honest and truthful (I assume) testimony of two seperate claims, why not allow us to learn from your experience?

Like many large companies, the employees who interface with the public leave lasting impressions so I'm sure that was the case here. When the supervisor told me the same story, that was the last straw for me. In all fairness, I did contact the old insurance company on the day the payment was due to let them know I wasn't renewing my policy. That person said that their people I talked to were wrong and that was not their usual practice but thanked me anyway for being a customer for many years.

My new insurance company has a local agent in my home town and I appreciate the human contact feature where I can talk to someone face to face.