So my policy increases are finally high enough to motivate me to try to do something about it.

Anyone out there want to quote me for auto and homeowners and an umbrella?

Been with Safeco for probably 8 years now and after just adding a new car we bought this week, the auto policy is $8,200 a year for four cars (two of which almost never get driven) and two drivers. Think we've had two claims in 8 years for scraping a garage pole and being swiped by a hit and run. Total claims payout was maybe $6k.

We also have a home owners policy on our ranch and I still need some equipment insurance on my skid steer and tractor. Don't remember what that costs, it's thru some other company as Safeco doesn't offer ranch insurance.

Our main Home policy with Safeco is like $3k, zero claims.

Does $8200 for just the cars sound extremely high to anyone else??

Anyone have a solid recommendation? I believe I did shop it all last year and everyone else was super high as well. So maybe it's what it is these days… but thought I should at least find out.

Thanks for any recommendations.

That does sound high. I'm at $6,300/year with Progressive with 5 vehicles and 500/300/100 limits. I switched from Farmers in February with no claims in 15+ years. I can't remember what my premium was going to be with Farmers, but Progressive was significantly lower. I have heard that Progressive is known to push out a large increase in year 2 of a policy, so I may be shopping again in February.

The value of your vehicles makes a big difference on your policy premium. I have a mid-90s Land Cruiser that I think the annual premium is ~$500 and our most expensive vehicle has an annual premium of ~$2,900 on the Progressive policy.

I'm not an insurance expert, but I've shopped several "independent" agents. One of those agents shopped SafeCo and a couple of others and SafeCo was by far the cheapest, but still higher than Farmers which I was looking to leave. The independent agent I ended up going with shopped quite a few companies and ended up finding me a better deal by splitting out my home and umbrella with one company, auto policy with another company, and RV policy with a 3rd company.

i had progressive and it went up pretty high so I shopped mine. A lot of people on this board have pointed me toward Liere. If interested, I'd be happy to submit your info as a referral (I do get a referral credit for transparency), but they were able to save me some money from what Progressive was quoting me for my renewal.

www.bestinsurancetx.com

rb@best-ins.com

We've been doing it for 44 years. Hope we can help.

rlb28 said:

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www.bestinsurancetx.com

rb@best-ins.com

We've been doing it for 44 years. Hope we can help.

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thanks, sent you an email.

sirhc said:

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i had progressive and it went up pretty high so I shopped mine. A lot of people on this board have pointed me toward Liere. If interested, I'd be happy to submit your info as a referral (I do get a referral credit for transparency), but they were able to save me some money from what Progressive was quoting me for my renewal.

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I had Liere do a full quote for me a couple years back and it ended up being more expensive than my coverage at the time unfortunately...

I'm with Texas Farm Bureau and would be happy to look over everything and get you a quote. We have a lot of options when it comes to Farm and Ranch policies as well as auto and umbrella.

email me at bjones3@txfb-ins.com or call me at 979-820-2271

Hanrahan

You indicated two auto claims in the last 8 years. If both were in the last 3 years, it explains the higher than expected premiums. (Claims and traffic citations stay on your insurance history for 3 years in Texas.)

Other factors to consider:

Garaging location- Dense population=higher rate
High crime rate=higher rate

Vehicle replacement value- Higher value=higher rate

Vehicle clarification- Fast car=higher rate

Age of driver- Youthful drivers (under 25)=higher rate

Credit Worthiness- bad credit=higher rate

Yearly mileage- more miles=higher rate

Something else to consider is the deductible. Moving from a $500 deductible to $1000 will generally result in premium reductions in the 10%-15% range.

Note, paying out of pocket for repair less than $1000 will cost you less (in the long run) vs filing a claim with a $500 deductible.

One last piece of info- Windshield repairs count as a claim. DO NOT SUBMIT a claim for windshield repairs. You can buy a repair kit at Walmart on the cheap.

Hope this helps.

well, the first person quoted us and wasn't able to save us anything... I guess it just is what it is, and what it is, is expensive.

as for marooned, thanks for the info, but we are on the "good" side of every factor you mentioned (except vehicle cost as the two news ones were rather pricey) and the fact we live in bee cave, I guess counts against us vs middle of nowhere.

Appears the ins. cost of the newest and most expensive vehicle is the same as the other three combined.... which is nuts. And the fact this is apparently a "good deal" is really not cool at all. Oh well...

oh and the statement that glass claims count the same as any other claim is just absolutely ridiculous, if true. For years insurance agents have assured me glass claims do not count against you in any manner whatsoever.... the whole industry is so frustrating.

Give AAA a call. Been with them 3 or 4 years after Liberty Bibbity's rates went through the roof. Our renewal rates have been very low. You can send Daniel an email at:

zdeb.daniel@aaa-texas.com

frankm01 said:

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Give AAA a call. Been with them 3 or 4 years after Liberty Bibbity's rates went through the roof. Our renewal rates have been very low. You can send Daniel an email at:

zdeb.daniel@aaa-texas.com

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I will reach out and give 'em a shot. Thank you.

sjones said:

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I'm with Texas Farm Bureau and would be happy to look over everything and get you a quote. We have a lot of options when it comes to Farm and Ranch policies as well as auto and umbrella.

email me at bjones3@txfb-ins.com or call me at 979-820-2271

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I'll reach out next week. Thanks so much.