[urq] RE: Multiple Vehicle Insurance

[Mark L. Chang]

:Here is a LONG message with LOTS of disclaimers:

Firt, Brandon is a brave person. I didn't even see a *knock on wood* at
the end of his post :). All kidding aside, the logic seems flawed to me
(not Brandon's, the Insurance Company's).

Going with one insurance company for everything might make them more
amenable to giving you discounts. I am doing this currently with Safeco.

To give some of the information I have collected in my short stint
insuring vehicles. My wife worked for an autobody shop (high-end) in
Highland Park, IL. She worked with and saw people dealing with their
insurance companies day in and day out, so she has a vague idea of the
performance of nearly every company under the sun when it comes claim
time. Of course, YMMV, and this was in IL, and may not apply to you.
This was three years ago, too. YMMV, YMMV, YMMV. Please understand that
:).

She says that a good insurance company doesn't fight the body shop over
how to fix the car. They either don't bother sending out an adjuster (if
they trust the shop), or they send one out and they don't fight over OEM
vs. aftermarket, what to replace and what to just repair, etc. That
makes for (hopefully) better repair for you, and less headaches for the
body shop.

A bad insurance company will either be sloooow sending out an adjuster
(making the body shop just hold on to the customer's car and wait,
everyone gets mad), or fight over using aftermarket or even used parts
on repairs. All in all, just being a pain in the proverbial behind.

So, if you want to stop reading here, it might be worth your while to
check with your favorite body shop and see who they recommend.

Let's start with Safeco, because I'm with them. Safeco seems reasonable
for the two states I've had insurance with them through - IL and WA.
The rates were less than any other place I contacted, and they are
prompt and fair on their claims (with me). Wife is happy with them from
her former job standpoint because they were always pretty fair in the
body shop, making sure new OEM parts were used and getting the payments
in to them on time. I've had two claims with Safeco, and I've been very
pleased with their performance. I like them because they are good with
drivers that have had claims. They don't seem to mind the occasional
ticket or accident. My agent told me this explicitly.

State Farm: got sued for $1.3B over OEM vs. aftermarket parts
replacements. Wife had to deal with this directly at her job, and notes
that all State Farm stuff was going OEM very explicitly when she was
there. The lawsuit hadn't settled yet, but it was going in favor of the
plaintiffs, so I think State Farm saw it coming. The one thing cool
about State Farm is that since in IL, a LOT of people are State Farm
insured, you have a pretty good chance of hitting another State Farm
insuree. Their policy at the time (we didn't have them), was that if the
accident involves two State Farm folks, the deductibles are waived. She
saw this alot. Interesting. The only problem with State Farm is that
they only like good drivers. I tried to get a policy with them after
moving to Seattle (about a year after an accident involving our Neon, a
deer, and a guard rail). The State Farm rep I talked to flat out told me
that she wasn't going to give me a quote because I'd beat it anywhere
else, since they penalize so heavily people with claims.

Geico: they hated you at the body shop if you had geico. At the time
(again, things may have changed), Geico was not a real insurance
company. They are a front for a bazillion insurance companies. They
didn't like this at the shop because you never knew who was going to pay
for the work, who or when an adjuster was coming out, or what policies
they had. A big fat thumbs down here. One reason is that they send out
their own adjusters. They look at the car, write the list of stuff to
fix, and go away. Of course, nothing has been removed from the car, so
it's almost impossible to tell how deep the impact went, and if anything
under the skin needs repair. In her experience, the adjusters were often
times wrong. The body shop estimators/repair techs KNEW that with this
large of an impact, something underneath would need replacing and the
Geico person wouldn't put that on the list. When they do take off, say,
the fender, and see that stuff is busted, they have to get that adjuster
*back* over, redo the estimate, and *then* continue. This really impacts
the amount of time your car spends in the shop.

Chubb: I'll end with these guys. There are a ton more insurance
companies, but hey, this message is already too long. She always praised
Chubb. No hassle, no haggle, just fix it, and make sure to use OEM
parts. Plus, the checks come in quick. They never had a problem. The
only downside to them is that Chubb (last time I checked) was $$$$.

There, that's our $0.07.

Mark

On Thu, Mar 27, 2003 at 12:54:14PM -0700 or thereabouts, Brandon Rogers wrote:
>
> wait a minute here.  I'm not as good at stats as I used to be back when I
> was younger (haha), but this seems like flawed logic.  If a person has 365
> cars, and wrecks once per year, and let's assume each car is driven one day,
> then i would think that on average each car statistically will get in a
> wreck every 365 years.  Ergo, own one car, drive every day, you get in a
> wreck with that car every year.  Own two cars, likely to wreck each one
> every other year.  Somebody feel free to correct me.  Personally I find it
> all very frustrating.  I've been driving for almost 15 years now and _never_
> had a claim.  I feel like I'm just getting fiscally raped every month.
>
> Brandon
> '84 ur   -  no wrecks ever
> '98 A4   -  no wrecks ever

--
Don't run, you'll only die tired. ARMY Snipers