Does anyone use Main Street America Group for Auto Insurance? (Phoenix: car insurance, condo)

[teeej]

I got a pretty exhaustive number of quotes, and this company by far had the lowest rates. I've never heard of them though. They're owned by American Family.

I'm pretty shocked by how expensive Arizona insurance is...it's basically double Hawaii and California.

[wase4711]

horrible drivers, incredible speeding, never use a turn signal, left turns from the right lane, tailgating like its a hobby, these are all the reasons there are endless accidents here, and insurance costs are sky high..

[Ponderosa]

If they are licensed here buy it. It's a contract. It's not about hugs and good feelings like the ridiculous advertising they do (and you pay for) makes you think. But shop around. AZ is nowhere near the highest price for auto insurance and it is less on average than CA but not HI. But there can be a huge difference in costs depending on things like zip code, credit report etc, etc. Here's a map

https://www.insure.com/car-insurance...rates.html#map

FWIW. I pay half of what the average cost for AZ is on that map. Things like long time customer discounts, claim free history and bundling can cut down your rate quite a bit.

[wase4711]

yep, you have to shop around..when I moved here, I had Pekin; they raised my rates twice, almost doubling it, even though I haven't had a ticket/claim in 30 years..

believe it or not, State Farm was the cheapest quote for me, but I'm sure they won't stay that way...

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by wase4711

yep, you have to shop around..when I moved here, I had Pekin; they raised my rates twice, almost doubling it, even though I haven't had a ticket/claim in 30 years..

believe it or not, State Farm was the cheapest quote for me, but I'm sure they won't stay that way...

I'm not surprise ^^. At worst case, they are competitive. I've been with State Farm since I was 16 years old. Like Ponderosa said, a car insurance rate can include a lot of discounts like multicar discounts, having a accident free (them paying out) history, reduced mileage driving discounts, and home bundling discounts.

Major car insurance brands might target an area and buy their way in. Or they might hike the rates to put in place a poison pill because they don't like the risk of the area.

When it comes to insurance (home, health, car, life), I come from the school of thought that I want a large major brand. So while I might save money with a brand called "Flip Sh_it's Auto Insurance", I'm not going to sleep very well hoping they payout versus dragging their heels. The age old business law goes like this: price, quality, service; pick two of the three. In the long run, it's impossible to get all three. I like the fact that I've got my homes, cars, umbrella policy, jewelry overrides, business policy, etc with State Farm. Health and disability, life, and wheelers are with other companies because State Farm was 30% higher and not competitive (that's not their core competency).

So when something goes wrong (a $70K payout at our MN home last year), the full time adjuster is local, you can debate with him in person, etc. I can call and get an intelligent person on their 800 # on the line to help (normally in PHX by the way). And the company isn't going to drop me as easily when I have a claim.
They see that I'm more important to them and they profit on multiple policies. As Ponderosa pointed out, they do look at credit scores. In fact, every time they issued a large check, I could see they checked my credit report (because actuaries know that broke people are more likely to scam insurance companies). I digress...

IMO, I'm o.k. with paying more for better service. So as sure as I am standing here, I could find a lower car insurance rate somewhere. But State Farm is very competitive for our age group (I'm 54). I will say, State Farm's actuaries don't particularly like boys under 21; good student discounts or not. So when our son was younger and when he was on our policy, I overpaid $200 a year because I felt partnering with the same company for close to 40 years would be worth something to me in the event I had a larger claim. AAA and others were cheaper. But back then as a family of 4 and when combining it with the home, AAA, and others were about the same. Costco had a brand that was aggressive too (I forget the partner but they were name brand). So they were great for auto but my house climbed. So if you have multiple policies, it isn't as easy as choosing an a' la carte approach (cherry picking the cheapest among major players of each sub category).

While State Farm isn't perfect (they play some games when paying out; like picking auto repair centers that cut corners because they have more aggressive rates), all and all they are good to work with.

Back to the ops question. Because Main Street American group is a parent company of American Family, I assume they are stable. But if their rates are cheaper, I would wonder if their service level or payouts are cut to make room for the better premiums. So long as you don't get in an accident or your car isn't stolen, you will never know. I might care less if I drove a $5K car. But a $50K car, I'd be nervous they cut me a check $25K under. Like my customer in Houston who was flooded by the Hurricane. His budget insurance brand gave him $25K less (depreciation) for his 6 month old, $70K car.

[Hal Roach]

I had best luck with AAA, with a newish truck and perfect record. AFI was fine, though. Different agents give different deals, even with the same company. I don't believe in bundling, either.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

Different agents give different deals, even with the same company. I don't believe in bundling, either.

AAA is a good company to deal with. I bet it's as simple as some agents are smarter than others. Like a family of 4 who has 4 cars. Smart agents attach the highest risk driver (boys under 21) to the lowest cost car. Or making sure they combine the discounts best, etc. I got a new agent (my agent of 30 years retired). I'm constantly looking over her shoulder and is soon to be fired and bring the policy to another State Farm agent. She forgets to add the discounts for multi-year policies or doesn't attach the right more expensive car with the under 7500 low mileage discount. So depending on the brainpower of the person picking up the phone will dictate the rate and not that they have the flexibility of charging more. If I'm right, the real lesson is to make sure the quote is attaching all of the discounts correctly.

I'm not in the insurance industry. But I'd be shocked if the cost of say, AAA is different from one agent to another using the exact same policy. I suppose we are a phone call away from asking.

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

I don't believe in bundling, either.

I bet if you have 4 cars and two homes you would. It costs less, is easier, makes you less likely to get dropped, etc. I don't believe in the tooth fairy but I believe in saving $$'s and bundling! I haven't priced out AAA for car recently but I know they are competitive. I do know that State Farm for home owners is pretty aggressive. It's been 5 years since I've price shopped (when my son was under 21, the auto rates motivated me to check).

[Hal Roach]

I used State farm for my condo and Farmers for my house. My Farmers agent was in santa Clarita and gave me a better deal than my neighbor could, whose family owned a Phoenix Farmers agency. My agent on the house had a realistic attitude on the roof...which was old, but not terrible..just don't make a claim for water damage from the roof, fair enough, but the guy that bought the place insisted on using his best friend farmers agent of many years, and they wouldn't insure it. But he had been fully briefed on the situation, and just insisted on doing things the hard way, like a lot of people.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

I used State farm for my condo and Farmers for my house. My Farmers agent was in santa Clarita and gave me a better deal than my neighbor could, whose family owned a Phoenix Farmers agency. My agent on the house had a realistic attitude on the roof...which was old, but not terrible..just don't make a claim for water damage from the roof, fair enough, but the guy that bought the place insisted on using his best friend farmers agent of many years, and they wouldn't insure it. But he had been fully briefed on the situation, and just insisted on doing things the hard way, like a lot of people.

I'm not sure ^^what this has to do with bundling (I read it 3 times and was confused). I will say I have to use the State Farm AZ agent for our AZ home. And a State Farm MN agent for my MN home. I don't remember if my car/home bundling is exclusive to MN because they have the same state/address. I bet there is no special discount for (MN) cars with my AZ home so if I chose say, Farmers for home insurance, there wound not be a better 2 home bundle. But "like a good neighbor" (I hate that jingle), State Farm paid out when I had $15K worth of water damage from a leaky toilet while on vacation. Fast, local service. They check cut on the spot because I didn't have a mortgage. It cost me $8K to fix (I'm cheap) so Stater Farm (in this instance) didn't nickle and dime me to death.