Like title says, currently have auto, home and Umbrella through Progressive, live in Utah. Gotten quotes through all the usual carriers and were higher, mainly on Auto due to a teen driver. Went to a local Insurance broker and they gave me a quote that was $2,000 cheaper for a whole year for auto/home/umbrella through a company called
"Farmers Union Insurance".

Did a little research and found they write in only 9 states, was recently acquired by National General Insurance who is owned by Allstate. So a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Allstate. I am leary of switching since I never heard of them and the smaller size should I have a claim, would $2k savings though make you switch or stay with a bigger brand?

My husband is a roofing contractor. I suggest you reach out to an auto shop and a roofer and ask them about their experiences working with that company. They can likely tell you if they are a PITA who fights every claim, or if they do right by their customers. May seem like an odd way to go about it, but my husband sees people screwed over daily by their insurance companies and because they didnt read the fine print in the declarations and exclusions pages of their policy.

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

I think it was a Reddit poster (I know) who "revealed a dark secret" of the insurance industry now that they were no longer in it. The reveal was that longtime customers get screwed over on pricing. Supposedly they could tell which customers shopped their coverage around and which didn't. Not sure their method of knowing. Maybe it was just a matter of "who takes price increases without complaining?"

But the ones who shopped their coverage got cheaper rates, while the ones who didn't shop saw their prices rise constantly over time.

Do your due diligence as recommended above, but don't hesitate to change companies, as a routine. It's sometimes the only way to reset the price off of the up escalator.

If you like/trust your current provider and are leery of the new one, maybe call your agent at the former and tell them what the competing offer is. Maybe they'll match it, or at least come close enough to keep your business?

Some history and general time line that I know.....My parents had Health & Medical through Farmers Union for decades and it was Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Their premiums were extremely low at that time(80's, 90's, 00's 10's) and paid medical bills without fail. They both passed away. A few years later came ACA and messed up a lot of things. I retired early in 2017 and carried my company plan with me. My company plan is expensive, but it's great. I thought I better get a Plan B going for Medical & Health in case I would no longer be in position to afford my company plan. I called Farmers Union to see if they still offered Medical & Health. They did and it is Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but you had to own a farm or ranch in TX (I live in SD but still meet their requirement) and must pay a Texas Farmers Union annual membership fee. I joined TX Farmers Union so I could have access to that Health & Medical plan in case I needed the option to use it. I had the membership fee set up with ACH to my bank. First 2 years, ACH membership fees were billed/taken from my bank account. Next 2 years, no ACH's and I called & emailed Farmers Union about every 3 months to inquire about the no-billing. No return calls or emails. Then the next year my bank gets tapped for a membership fee. The last 3 years, no membership fees billed. I'm not afraid of Farmers Union and the Health & Medical plan they represent. I figure my case is a membership billing issue and if I was in a bind, I could get that straightened out promptly, but it's low priority since I don't need a Medical & Health plan at the moment. As for the rest of their insurance offerings, auto, home, umbrella, I have no information. We have Farmers Union in South Dakota, but due to insurance laws in this state, Farmers Union cannot sell insurance here. Hope this helps in some way.

TX AG 88 said:

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I think it was a Reddit poster (I know) who "revealed a dark secret" of the insurance industry now that they were no longer in it. The reveal was that longtime customers get screwed over on pricing. Supposedly they could tell which customers shopped their coverage around and which didn't. Not sure their method of knowing. Maybe it was just a matter of "who takes price increases without complaining?"

But the ones who shopped their coverage got cheaper rates, while the ones who didn't shop saw their prices rise constantly over time.

Do your due diligence as recommended above, but don't hesitate to change companies, as a routine. It's sometimes the only way to reset the price off of the up escalator.

If you like/trust your current provider and are leery of the new one, maybe call your agent at the former and tell them what the competing offer is. Maybe they'll match it, or at least come close enough to keep your business?

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This is frankly no different than almost any other industry though. I did pricing for a living for a long time. We didn't give you a discount unless you were a good spender and your discount was correlated with how much you spent. Tenure is irrelevant. It's more about Willingness to Pay. If you are willing to pay a higher price, I'm going to take it.

When we first started using an insurance broker, we saved a few thousand the first year simply by switching. Our annual decreases have steadily tailed off and within the last couple of years we've stayed put because insurance pricing has skyrocketed pretty much across the board with most providers. Harder to find deals these days and some actually have increased their prices 4-5x simply because they are trying to get out of the market and are going to gouge you on the way out. Our previous auto insurance carrier did this to us 2 years ago. Obviously switched and didn't pay that.

My car insurance has down down the last 2 years in a row. Less illegals on the road.

Does it hurt you in any way to switch constantly or every couple of years?