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Yes, you can switch anytime. Might be good to switch right away. Allstate, state Farm, Progressive, Erie, USAA all offer good rates depending on your category (need preferred)
Remember you don't HAVE to put in a claim you can pay out of pocket. They shouldn't raise your rates with no claims and you could still switch.
They put the claim in their system already based on my phone call to them. Are you saying that if we don't move forward with having them pay to fix the car, that they'd likely not raise our rate based on the deer?
We have Geico insurance. My 17 year old (who's on our insurance and has had his license for over 6 months) was driving and a deer ran into the door of his car (actually, a pick-up truck) and dented the door.
We called Geico to see how it worked. The one thing they could not tell me is if filing this claim and/or using our insurance to pay for the damage could increase our insurance rate. However, I learned that by us calling and asking, the claim is filed.
My son was not hurt and nothing else happened as a result of the deer (my son didn't swerve and hit something else, etc.). Also, the only reason he knows it was a deer is because one deer ran in front of his truck seconds before he heard the thump of the assumed second deer hitting the door of his truck.
Does anyone know if filing this claim and using our insurance to pay for the damage could actually increase our rate? They said it would be under comprehensive coverage.
I can't answer your questions. If it were me, I'd let insurance pay for the repair. That's why I have insurance/comprehensive. A deer got me a few months ago, and as I was traveling at 80 mph (speed limit), he got the whole right side of my car -- front bumper, front fender, front door, rear door, rear quarter panel and rear bumper! I felt bad for the deer as I saw him limp away in my rearview mirror. After I got the estimate ($4,000), I hoped he died!
If you have an agent, talk to him/her and have your questions answered. If not, perhaps the broker can shed some light.
I don't know much about Geigo, but I had State Farm when my son started driving. I had lots of insurance through SF at the time -- several new/newer cars, a boat, our house and several rental properties, so I knew the agent fairly well just from office time. He suggested that I consider switching insurance companies, at least for my son, and he also suggested that we get an old car for our son and put it in his name. He said if we did that, the insurance on the rest of our cars wouldn't go up, and our son could continue driving them.
I went to a friend of mine who was an independent insurance broker and explained the whole thing to him. He picked one company for my son's (new, old) beater and another company for our other vehicles. (We didn't change real estate insurance.) Since we only had liability on my son's car (which sat in the garage being restored for 2 years), it was easy to pay that one higher premium, especially considering that none of our other policies increased in cost. Depending on your situation, that might work well for you too. Or it might not, but it's worth checking out.
Wow. Has not been my experience with Farmers. Over the last 15 years I've hit four deer and it had no effect on my premium. Nor does your first at-fault accident with another vehicle. May not be the way the "discount" companies work. You often do get what you pay for. I don't work for Farmers FWI.
I have never hit a deer, but about a year ago I ran into a farm trailer that was stopped on a dark highway, in the rain. I filed a claim with Allstate. Allstate filed a claim with the other guy's insurance. That claim failed, so Allstate charged me with an at-fault accident. Then they doubled my rates. They removed my safe driver discount, increased the premiums, and put a large accident surcharge on it.
Fortunately I was able to switch to AAA with only a slight increase in premiums. But if I had stayed with Allstate for three years or whatever, they would have literally made a thousand dollar profit on my accident. Insurance companies don't like when you file claims.
That's why I consider auto-insurance to be an auto-club membership, not insurance. I never file a claim, if I can afford not to, and when I do I expect to pay it back with increased premiums.
From my experience, auto insurance is not really "insurance" in the classic sense of insurance. It's more like an auto club, where your insurance premiums are like a membership fee. The benefits of the membership is that if you are ever in an accident that is not someone else's fault, they will loan you the money to repair the damage, and you can pay them back over three to five years, with an increased membership fee.
Expect that your premiums could increase by as much as 100%. If I was you I would get some estimates from some discount auto body shops. Paying for it yourself, might be the most cost effective way.
That sounds about right. There is nothing "free" in the "land of the free". What a load that whole metaphor is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YourWakeUpCall
It was State Farm. I didn't have to prove anything - they sent me a letter flat out stating my rates were being raised due to hitting the deer. My agent told me that State Farm had quietly implemented a policy of raising rates for comprehensive claims about a year earlier and they had lost a lot of customers because of it. Prior to this, I have never heard of rate increase due to a single comprehensive claim.
I'm going to be finding out...because I switched to State Farm just a few months ago when I bought my house.
So if they don't see this as an "act of God" (the friggin' deer that decided to run out in front of my nice clean truck last night) I just might be kicking State Farm to the curb.
Funny story on insurance rate hikes. Some years back in MA I got an insurance rate hike which and I could go to the MA Insurance Commission and appeal. I was told there would be me, a rep from the insurance company and a Hearing Officer.
I showed up to the building early on a Monday morning and while getting a cup of coffee in the lobby, I noticed two good looking, young women getting coffee and all friendly chatter about their weekend. Like gal pals.
I get called into the hearing and low and behold it is the two gals. After the insurance rep and myself speak, the Hearing Officer says, my tendency is to uphold the rate increase.
I reply does this often happen with you two? Hearing Officer challenges me. I say I saw the two of you in the lobby. You are two gal pals. Chatting about your weekend, using first names of others, etc. I ask can you explain the appeals process to me and I will raise the issue of gal pals. Hearing Officer goes silent, then says I have decided to accept your appeal. There will be no rate increase.
Sometimes you got to challenge.
In the case of an insurance company, which I did one time, give a veiled threat like I think my back is hurting and I think it would stop hurting if you granted me so and so and I will sign a release.. Got what I wanted approved real quick.
It depends on the insurance company, but many insurance companies consider comprehensive claims < 1000 as non-chargable. So a $40 rock chip charge will not increase your rates.
From my experience, auto insurance is not really "insurance" in the classic sense of insurance. It's more like an auto club, where your insurance premiums are like a membership fee. The benefits of the membership is that if you are ever in an accident that is not someone else's fault, they will loan you the money to repair the damage, and you can pay them back over three to five years, with an increased membership fee.
Expect that your premiums could increase by as much as 100%. If I was you I would get some estimates from some discount auto body shops. Paying for it yourself, might be the most cost effective way.
I disagree. Insurance companies are simply bookies. They could care less if you had a ticket, an accident, or poor credit. What they do care about is the odds of you having a claim during the next 6-12 months.
If you have one claim, you are more likely to have another. Pure stats. If it wasn't so, one of the other companies would offer a lower rate and take the customers.
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