Progressive is half the price of my State Farm insurance—should I switch?

[Anonymous]

I’ve been with State Farm for over 8 years, and the price has been creeping up. I just got a quote from Progressive, and it’s literally half of what I’m paying with State Farm—$1500 for 6 months vs. $700 for the exact same coverage on two cars (a smaller 2020 Volvo SUV and a 2020 Tesla Model 3).

The difference is huge, and I’m really tempted to switch, but I’m wondering if there’s a catch. Has anyone switched between these companies, especially with similar cars? Any issues with claims or customer service that I should consider?

[Anonymous]

No catch. I switched to Progressive several years ago, so far so good.

[Anonymous]

Just make certain the coverage is exactly the same. And then switch if you want.

[Anonymous]

Sure, switch to Progressive…and then be prepared to switch away from them in two years. The business model of all property and casualty insurance companies is to punish the loyalty of existing customers by increasing their rates annually as much as they think they can get away with without inducing the customer to leave.

Last year, after 20 years with Progressive, my parents finally switched to Amica, only because I personally shopped it for them and showed them how much less they could be paying for the same coverage. It’s not that Progressive is good or bad—they’re all pieces of shit.

[Anonymous]

Switch.

[Anonymous]

There is no catch. As someone else said, make sure all of your coverage is the same so that you are comparing accurately. I switched from Geico to progressive last year. I shopped around because we were adding our teenager to our policy. Progressive was the cheapest so we made the switch. Shockingly, I got into an accident and progressive did a great job handling everything. Furthermore, this year my monthly bill with them is also cheaper. I do shop every around every couple of years to see who is cheapest. There is no need to remain loyal with car insurance.

[Anonymous]

There's no catch. We had progressive for years before switching to Erie. Their customer service was excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, switch to Progressive…and then be prepared to switch away from them in two years. The business model of all property and casualty insurance companies is to punish the loyalty of existing customers by increasing their rates annually as much as they think they can get away with without inducing the customer to leave.

Last year, after 20 years with Progressive, my parents finally switched to Amica, only because I personally shopped it for them and showed them how much less they could be paying for the same coverage. It’s not that Progressive is good or bad—they’re all pieces of shit.

I agree most do that. Erie does not seem to have done that to us. Our 12 month premium on our two cars is $750 (each valued around $10K). Our home owners insurance is creeping up but I think that's an issue with all providers, hard to tell if it's just Erie screwing us.

[Anonymous]

State Farm is the worst once you have a claim and need coverage. Switch!

[Anonymous]

Don't worry OP, after you switch, you can switch again when Progressive increase their rates. When it comes to money, rates don't really go down, they just increase. Quality of services go down. Anyways, you can always find someone better if you are not satisfied with Progressive.

[Anonymous]

Are you not bundled with homeowners insurance? If not, why not?

[Anonymous]

This is no brainer, OP. I shop around all the time and even switch for $100. This is too much money to be leaving on the table.

[Anonymous]

I have very high State Farm auto premiums and looked around and found much better rates elsewhere. But the catch for me was that I have homeowners insurance and an umbrella policy with State Farm also and pulling out the auto policies would have increased the other policy’s enough to wipe out any savings from moving the auto policies to a different insurer. When I have more time I plan on pricing out the whole bundle with other insurers.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I am about to leave State Farm. They have continually jacked up my rates for home and auto. I’m at my breaking point. My auto has gone up by almost 100% in 4 years. It now costs almost $2000 per year to insure a 2008 Honda with 135k miles that cost $22k. It’s insane I’m paying 10% of the car per year in insurance and it keeps going up as the car becomes less valuable. I’m so pissed off. It’s a shame too because my family has been a State Farm customer for like 70+ years. They don’t care anymore about their customers and only view them as cash cows to bleed dry. I was shocked to learn my coworker is paying only about $1000 per year for two vehicles that are similar to mine! State Farm is massively ripping me off.