Car Insurance Comparisons

[Andrew Duane USG]

Hairy green toads from Mars made Fay     ^. .^  ~ say:

> Includes Audis        :-)
>
> http://www.esurance.com/
>
> Doesn't cover all states in US, as I live in CT & it does not cover CT, but
> it does cover AZ where we plan to move.
> I got hugely improved rates.
> Found this site on Consumer Reports and wanted to share it for anyone else
> who might want to use it to find auto insurance comparisons.

The problem with static comparisons is that they miss entire dimensions
of insurance pricing. My case in point:

I've been with Allstate for many many years (very happily I might add).
At work, they offer "MetPay", a deal with Metropolitan. So I got the
rate comparison.  MetPay looked about 20% cheaper than Allstate so I
signed up. Well, a few weeks later, I got a call "I see you had a ticket
6 years ago. That's a 30% increase".... then another call "that $300
comprehensive claim your wife made in 1996 is another 30% increase."
Suddenly, cheap was *not* cheap.

Some insurance companies offer great rates for perfect records, but if
you have a claim or a ticket, kiss them goodbye. State Farm is the worst
for this (although Geico is bad too I think). And, many companies offer
multi-policy discounts, and long-term customer discounts.

This doesn't even cover things like customer service and claims handling.
With Allstate, if I want to ask a question, I call my agent Ken and he
gives me the answer. With MetPay it was leave a message, they call the
home office, they farm it out to an adjuster or handler, who calls the
office back who eventually (a week later or so) returns my call.

Who needs that?

BTW, when I quit MetPay 4 months later and called Allstate back, Ken
told me he knew I'd be back so he only put my policy on "hold" rather
than cancelling it so I wouldn't lose my long-term discount.

--

Andrew L. Duane (JOT-7)			duane at zk3.dec.com
HP/Compaq Corporation			Andrew.Duane at compaq.com
110 Spit Brook Road			Andrew.Duane at hp.com
M/S ZKO3-3/U14
Nashua, NH    03062-2698		(603)-884-1294