best insurance company for the area (Austin, Spring: home owners insurance, credit, house)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Do you have a favorite? I'm lost when it comes to deciding on an insurance company. I realize it's important to have but not sure if our rates are as sky high as they seem as I don't have anything to compare them to.

Is there a favorite for Texas, Central Texas, suburbia?

[10scoachrick]

I always have Watkins Insurance run the numbers every couple of years to find us the best combo of coverage and premiums. Been covered by three different carriers in the seven years we've been here. Had one auto claim and one fairly large hail-related homeowner's claim and had no trouble at all with the service. For some, they believe staying with one company is a benefit...I've not found any negative to shopping around every two years. Seems the companies often will have lower rates for the first two years, then premiums can go up quite a bit, even without a claim.

Doesn't cost anything to have Watkins check with myriad companies to find you the best coverage...
Watkins Insurance Group
3834 Spicewood Springs #100
Austin, Texas 78759
direct 512-637-4185; fax 512-452-0999
512-452-8877 / 800-460-5932
mwilkie@watkinsinsurancegroup.com

[Trainwreck20]

Auto, home? Both?

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Thanks Coach.

Trainwreck: Both

[Trainwreck20]

I can't say that we have changed very often. I always hear good things about USAA, but do not have them. We have had State Farm for many years, and every time we shop around we can't beat them by enough to change. Part of the reason is that they gradually reduce the rates over time if you don't have any claims, so we are paying about 1/2 of the 'new' policy rate on the cars (which makes it as cheap as even the cheapest cut-rate auto insurance out there). Home owners insurance seems to be about typical for the major carriers and a bit more than the 'local' carriers; however, none of the major or local carriers can match the combined rate we are currently paying for car/house.

Of course, other carriers have 'no claim' discounts that might eventually lead to lower rates than what we have now, but it would take years to get there after changing companies....

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

We have Farmers and it seems the rates are too high. Plus, a call into them two days ago is still not returned. That kinda makes me mad. We've been with them for about six years now since moving here. Another facet of moving...changing everything. Moving means trusting all over again...blindly.

On the recent renewal offer they say we have "incident forgiveness and guaranteed renewal at no additional cost" then say "you will earn the accident forgiveness benefit on your Oct. 2017 renewal if you remain accident free." What is that? They won't charge us to renew??? lol


I really don't like insurance but love it when when we need it.

I'm gonna call again today and see if I can reach someone.

[Trainwreck20]

I will say my worst experiences over the years were with Farmers (and Allstate a close second), but it really comes down to your agent on how responsive and 'insurance smart' they really are. If our State Farm agent suddenly became a rep for a different company, I would seriously consider following.....

[ATX Wahine]

We've had great luck with Liberty Mutual (so far). My husband was hit in his brand-new hot rod by an impaired driver but rather than file a claim with Lib Mut we opted to file directly through the responsible party's insurer so we could sue for diminished value (can't sue your own insurer for that). Liberty Mutual was very helpful though it took considerably longer to wrap things up. They also paid out our homeowner's claim for storm damage last June very quickly, as well.

[TexasHorseLady]

Germania. We use them, have for 20 years, and I love them. They're a membership arrangement, much like credit unions (and they even have a credit union you can join if you wish). They're Texas only. When we bought our place and all the phone calls started coming in from insurance agents saying they knew they could beat whatever rates we had, I said "Germania," there would be a silence, and then "Never mind," and they'd go away. Except for the one who said, "Well, Germania's a different breed of cat," before acknowledging he couldn't beat their rates and went away. We weren't surprised because moving to Germania had already cut our rates for our house in Austin and our automobile rates (with a teenaged son on them) by two-thirds.

But what about claims? We've had one, on the house in town, when a big wind lifted a giant tree and laid it down on our roof height deck and part of the roof. We had a check for the full amount of the repairs within two days, and our rates didn't go up.

When the F5 came through town (not on our side of town) and all the insurance companies were VERY busy, our agent called out of the blue saying he knew we'd had hail (we had, ping pong ball size) and would we mind if he brought an adjuster out to look at our new roof to make sure it was okay. It was, but our agent got up there on the roof WITH the adjuster to check things out. When he came by and did the five year check to make sure our insurance was still what we needed, he noticed that we didn't use the giant satellite dish that was on the property when we moved here but that we had added a windmill, and suggested we drop the satellite dish and add the windmill for the same premium, something we hadn't even thought of.

Incredibly easy to deal with. As you can tell, I love them, and that's not usually what someone says about their insurance company!

[LookingatFL]

This is interesting. We use Farmers. I spoke to Watkins Insurance Group last year and they were unable to beat my rates. I spoke with another independent agent this year and also had no luck finding a cheaper insurance. I spoke with a Liberty Mutual agent this year but there wasn't enough of a savings to switch. I spoke with USAA and they are always more expensive. I've tried Progressive, but they are more expensive too.

My husband rear ended a car a few years ago. Farmers was really great. They acted very fast to take care of the people whose car he hit. The people actually called us up to thank us for being so responsive! We had nothing to do with it. They were also great with us. My car was totaled. Farmers gave us more than I expected and my rates haven't gone up more than usual.

I always feel like I am overpaying for insurance too, but I haven't been able to find a better price.