BritishGuy36

Ok. So when I landed 6 months ago, the most reasonable insurance I could find was with Progressive, $440 for 6 months, coverage was basically everything except collision.

I was under the impression that after 6 crash-free months of US driving experience that my premium might have gone down. Now it's time to renew and they are quoting me the same $440 for renewal. Strangely, they have already sent me my ID cards for June to December even though I haven't renewed yet (is this normal?). They had better not have charged my credit card without my consent!

Anyway I got some more quotes from insurance.com and there are some much cheaper options now, I wondered whether anyone had used or claimed from these other companies. As close as I can get to like for like quotes are as follows:

Esurance - $294.00
Safeco - $294.20

Esurance also offer me coverage including collision for less than the $440 I am paying Progressive for coverage without it.

I know state farm are popular here but the cheapest I could get out of them was over $650.

Any comments/recommendations?

Manc

this is right, you're getting a rate based on no accidents or tickets.
it goes up if you have accidents or tickets. but cannot really come down from the base rate. you may be entitled to certain discounts for other lines of insurance....... but still, the base rate is the base rate without the discounts.


yes they do that..... basically to make sure you get them in plenty of time.
If you switch to another company, or don't pay the bill, then they're obviously invalid.

fatbrit

Just shop it around every 6 months when you're fresh off the boat, every year or so when you're more established and have a credit history. It's a pain, but as a couple of hours on the phone/web can save you $$$, it's probably a worthwhile exercise. Avoid Geico at all costs.

caleyjag

Geico should be avoided on the basis of those horrific Cockney geeza adverts alone!

BritishGuy36

Hmmm well the folks quoting me cheaper rates now weren't cheaper than Progressive 6 months ago.....which is what made me wonder.

Maybe some companies charge a premium for brand new drivers and some don't.

As has been said I can see that it's clearly worth shopping around every time renewal is due.

I'm still interested in whether anyone has had any experience with the two alternatives I mentioned in the OP.

neil

It's worth calling Progressive and telling them you have cheaper quotes - it's amazing what these companies can suddenly do sometimes when you're thinking of leaving.

I'd heard bad things about Esurance but have no personal experience or anything much to back it up.

chartreuse

State Farm came out cheaper for us, but that was because we have our home owner's insurance with them. AS FB says, we'll still be shopping around twice a year, though.

Poppy girl

Progressive used to do the same for me and jump the gun.

I always got the cheapest quotes from them until I bought a brand new car and then AAA came it with the cheapest, when I just sold the car and shopped around AAA came in $50 cheaper then anyone else, I thing AAA do indeed lower the rate after 12 months.

lansbury

Another thing to think about.

Once we had been with Farmers for 18 months we were offered insurance 12 months at a time and not 6. Effectively removes one price hike a year.

Not sure who else does it but worth considering in the equation.

celticgrid

Soon after I arrived here last summer a colleague mentioned something about the Geico lizard accent, assuming I would fill in the gaps. Was stumped. I was told the lizard speaks with a British accent. Quite simply, although I had seen the ads I hadn't noticed the "accent".

To be honest, this was my first experience of talking lizards so I naively assumed that I was hearing the natural lizard accent....

Rete

But of course they have British accents. We import all our lizards. They are here on agricultural visas since we discovered they will work for gnats and not flys like the US lizards.

Bob

I think that might be a state thing? We can get insurance for 12 month runs here in Mass where you either pay whole, quarterly or monthly.

6 Months ain't to bad though because you can shop around for a reduction rather than it going up...we can't do that as there's usually as termination fee of a few hundred unless your moving out of state.

tigerbaywarrior

We went with AAA.

Tip: you can get discounts for pretty much anything. Car garaged overnight, alarm fitted, age. They won't ask you and you don't know....

lansbury

Interesting yet another of those things which differ by State. Even after 2½ years here I still have trouble not taking for granted everything is the same all over the country.

BritishGuy36

So to discontinue the Progressive policy I just don't pay them for renewal, correct?