Review of Progressive Insurance:

Like most car and home owners, I too just stayed with the same insurance company for years thinking all the others would have similar rates so why bother to change. I had been using Allstate for years and when we submitted a claim for some water damage to our house it seemed fine and the rates held steady for a while. Then, all of a sudden their rates jumped up dramatically year over year and I decided to look elsewhere. I had seen the commercials for Progressive and Geico insurance companies but never felt inclined to check out their rates. With the Internet, I went straight to Progressive.com and instantly had a quote for my car and home insurance from Progressive. Much to my surprise, the quoted rates for auto insurance were like 25% less than what I was paying with Allstate (for the exact same coverage).

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What I like about Progressive is that they will give you the rates that their competitors charge and not ask a bunch of questions. When I told Allstate that I wanted to cancel my insurance through them all they wanted to know was "who are you switching too". I finally told them who gave me dramatically lower rates and all they could say was how bad Progressive was and that they don't offer the same service that Allstate does. Instead of saying they could be competitive or looking into a better rate, they just went off on their competitor which tells me they have zero confidence in retaining customers if they want to switch to a provider of insurance that offers lower rates. Essentially, big insurance companies will gladly take your money every month (or year) and only deal with you every once in a while and claim their "service" is superior. I checked with State Farm before commiting to Progressive and even they were 30% above on almost all rates. How insurance companies, for the exact same coverage on autos and houses, can be so far off on rates is beyond me. It makes me think that for years Allstate took my money and was ripping me off in terms of what my rates should have been. When I went to the Progressive website I was given multiple auto insurance quotes from different insurance companies and in my case Progressive was the lowest available. Progressive insures more than 10 million people and their cars so it's not like no one is using them for insurance purposes. After switching over to Progressive for my car insurance I then looked into house insurance when my policy came due with Allstate. Again, I was able to save about 20% on the rate and get the same coverage. I know I may be giving up having a contact down the street like I did with Allstate, but in 6 years that I was with Allstate I never talked with anyone except when I needed their help, in which case they kindly raised my rates.

Progressive vs Allstate:

When health insurance is skyrocketing it's nice to know that some kinds of insurance are still competitive and reasonable if you shop around. I think that the big name insurers like State Farm, Allstate, and Farmers all have excellent service and customer satisfaction records that are great, but their insurance rates aren't worth all that. Why pay 30% or 40% more on your auto and home insurance so you can talk with a representative that's in your same town. It doesn't make sense. You can get the exact same coverage with deductibles, liability levels, etc. and go with a company like Progressive that will actually save you $$$. Perhaps it's all the marketing that the larger companies do to retain and attract customers that makes their rates so high, but I personally can't support that kind of business. When I was told that my car insurance was rising 25% one year with Allstate I asked "Why?". My representative told me that in Oregon last year they had a lot of claims and everyones rates were going up. She explicitly said that all auto insurance was going up. I decided to look for myself and soon realized that she wasn't telling the complete truth. Progressive was almost $600/year cheaper with the same coverage. I hadn't had an accident or ticket and neither had my wife so getting the news from Allstate that our rates "had" to increase sounded ridiculous. I'm glad I looked into an alternative auto insurance company and can save $$ to spend on other things. As I mentioned above, I also got rate quotes from Farmers and State Farm and they all were crazy high in terms of what they wanted to charge me. I live in a low crime city and work from home, so I feel like my rates should be as low as they can go. If you are paying too much for car insurance or home insurance, seriously shop around and see what others are offering. I found that the insurnace industry is like all others in that they want your business and many can save you money.

Car Insurance Rates:

To give you some examples on what I was paying versus what I am currently paying for car insurance see the rates below:

• 1993 Saturn SL2 - I was paying almost $550/year with Allstate to insure it and now I pay roughly $350/year
• 1997 Mercedes E420 - With Allstate the rates were close to $950/year and now we pay $675/year
• 2002 Chevy Tahoe LT - Old rates were $825/year and now it's only $700/year

Home Coverage:

Home ownership can really sap you of money each year with property taxes, maintenance and repairs and house insurance. The insurance should be the most basic with coverage for the normal stuff. I was paying close to $1200/year with Allstate (after they raised my rates up from $950/year). We had 6 years of good standing with them and filed 1 claim for $1850 (we paid the first $500 from the deductible). If you do the math at $950/year X's 6 years you get $5700. So we paid close to $6000 and never bothered them at all, the second we ask for $1350 to fix some water damage our rates are raised. I know they need to make a profit, but they made over $4000 on us for practically doing nothing and then tell us to pay more money every year because we are a riskier customer all of a sudden. My switch to Progressive for our home insurance has our rates back down to $920/year which seems very reasonable to me. Again, when I told Allstate that I was leaving for another company all they could do was say "good luck with an inferior coverage". I would most likely stay away from Allstate myself in the future since they have no etiquette when it comes to dealing with clients that are not happy with their rates. They just complain that the other companies that offer better rates are "inferior" which seems childish to me.

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