Homeowner's Insurance - How to decide? (sales, car insurance, home)

[shoboo75]

Hi,

We are nearing the closing date of our first home and are in the process of shopping for a Homeowner's Policy. Given that we are what HGTV calls "Property Virgins" I am looking for some guidance on how to pick an Insurance company.

Pretty much all of the quotes we have received so far are within $50- $100 of each other so not much differentiation there.

I have so far called All State, State Farm, Ameriprise and Liberty Mutual. Are they all pretty much the same or is there anything that differentiates these companies?

Who would you recommend we go with if there is not much difference in the quote.

Thanks!

PS - Ours is a brand new town home with a full security package including monitoring by an external agency.

[VEIK]

if you are getting the exact same coverage, deciding point would be the premium, to me atleast.

I would go with a major, well known company tho...

[Margery]

Try the company you have your car insurance with, often you can get a better rate that way.

[Erma]

Yes, go with one insurance company for your house, vehicles, rv's etc. We make out great with ours.

[shoboo75]

Originally Posted by Erma

Yes, go with one insurance company for your house, vehicles, rv's etc. We make out great with ours.

Our Auto insurance is with Geico and they don't directly offer Homeowner's insurance. Geico's homeowner's policy is through Travelers or Liberty Mutual. Also, my husband was recently in an accident (he hit a deer on a highway) so it would be best not to switch our auto policy at the moment though it is something we will do later in the year.

[tamitrail]

Travelers is great for homeowner policies. Will Geico give you a discount if you use Travlers or Liberty or vice versa?

Don't underestimate the cost just because of the accident. If you are going to get a homeowners policy, they may give you a better deal if you switch the auto policy to the same company, accident or not.

[ShannonMilligan]

We have Ameriprise and are happy with it. (Must say, my husband is an employee, so of course we like that company)

[onevthoki]

If you are dealing with a local office, "interview" the sales rep. I have my insurance (both car, home and even life) with an agent from my hometown that I used to babysit for. I might pay a bit more, but my logic was that if my home burned down, I knew she would physically be beside me the next morning to help me pick up the pieces.

[shoboo75]

I got a Geico quote as well since we have Auto insurance with them. Their rate came out similar to State Farm. So far I am leaning towards State Farm or All State.

[arabellava]

we used some of the forbes.com best auto insurance quote websites and got a really great deal- all done by email then on the phone.. we saved $2000+ from where we were.. it happened to be allstate- we moved from state farm.. it depends on how eager the agent is since other allstate agents quoted much higher..