mainly because I absolutely despise my broker here in Athens. But also because I can save $2-3K per year.

My question is: Two best options seem to be Progressive and Farmers. Progressive is a little/fair amount cheaper...but, I haven't heard much good about them.

And good advice on which is better?

I'm about an inch away from believing none of them are very good...just go with whoever is halfway reputable and cheaper.

We sell Progressive but I don't really love them. They will pay what they have to pay and nothing more. They will also look for technicalities to get out of paying if they can. Sometimes, their premiums are much better than other companies and sometimes they are higher. That said, if I could save a substantial amount of money with them I would probably go with them. If you don't have any youthful operators in the house and you are confident you likely won't have a claim, they may be worth the savings I don't know much about Farmers, they are a direct writer so I have no experience with them. Farmers is huge in the Midwest and West. They came to this region probably 20 or so years ago.

Sadly, you are close to correct about none of them being very good. The MBA bean counters are running most insurance companies now and they don't see value in doing any more than the absolute minimum the policy requires. Insurance companies are highly regulated so none of them can simply deny a claim because they don't want to pay, they have to have a reason that will stand up in court or in a hearing with the insurance commissioner. The policy is a contract and the company has to do what the contract stipulates. The days of an insurance company readily paying "grey areas" in a claim are pretty well over. They pay what they have to pay and pretty much nothing more.

Georgia is a nightmare state for insurance companies now. It is the worst of all 50 states for litigation. A look at all the lawyer billboards along the roads will give you an idea why insurance premiums are going up like they are. Unless some serious tort reform gets passed I won't be surprised to see more insurance companies leaving the state (the public doesn't notice when an insurance company pulls out of a state but less competition means higher prices) I also won't be surprised to see businesses deciding to locate to other states due to the high cost of insurance.

(Yesterday, 09:54 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83 We sell Progressive but I don't really love them.  They will pay what they have to pay and nothing more.  They will also look for technicalities to get out of paying if they can.  Sometimes, their premiums are much better than other companies and sometimes they are higher.  That said, if I could save a substantial amount of money with them I would probably go with them.  If you don't have any youthful operators in the house and you are confident you likely won't have a claim, they may be worth the savings  I don't know much about Farmers, they are a direct writer so I have no experience with them.  Farmers is huge in the Midwest and West.  They came to this region probably 20 or so years ago.

Sadly, you are close to correct about none of them being very good.  The MBA bean counters are running most insurance companies now and they don't see value in doing any more than the absolute minimum the policy requires.  Insurance companies are highly regulated so none of them can simply deny a claim because they don't want to pay, they have to have a reason that will stand up in court or in a hearing with the insurance commissioner.  The policy is a contract and the company has to do what the contract stipulates.  The days of an insurance company readily paying "grey areas" in a claim are pretty well over.  They pay what they have to pay and pretty much nothing more.

Georgia is a nightmare state for insurance companies now.  It is the worst of all 50 states for litigation.  A look at all the lawyer billboards along the roads will give you an idea why insurance premiums are going up like they are.  Unless some serious tort reform gets passed I won't be surprised to see more insurance companies leaving the state (the public doesn't notice when an insurance company pulls out of a state but less competition means higher prices) and businesses deciding to locate to other states due to the high cost of insurance.

That is awesome info and much appreciated.  I misspoke a little...it's not Farmer's it's Foremost...which I understand is a Farmer's owned company.  Any info on them? 

We are getting one of the young folks off the tab and the other has a clean record...knock on wood.  We do pretty well overall with nothing stupid.  Seems like saving $3K a year is probably worth a little pain in the ass.   

I appreciate everything you're saying and I agree.  Every time I see those billboards I think my insurance is going up.  

Again, thanks!  I know this doesn't help you any and I appreciate it.

Are you talking home or auto insurance? Foremost is mostly home in our office, some RV and golf cart policies, and we use them for houses the standard (i.e. good) companies won't write due to condition or some other factor. I don't know anything about them as far as auto. Progressive home is not good. We heard many horror stories after Helene about Progressive insureds finding out their policy didn't cover damage from named storms or other exclusions standard policies don't usually have.

There really aren't any free lunches in insurance. If the premium is considerably lower, the reason is usually because there is less coverage or more restrictions on the policy.

(Yesterday, 10:12 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83 Are you talking home or auto insurance?  Foremost is mostly home in our office, some RV and golf cart policies, and we use them for houses the standard (i.e. good) companies won't write due to condition or some other factor.  I don't know anything about them as far as auto.  Progressive home is not good.  We heard many horror stories after Helene about Progressive insureds finding out their policy didn't cover damage from named storms or other exclusions standard policies don't usually have.

There really aren't any free lunches in insurance.  If the premium is considerably lower, the reason is usually because there is less coverage or more restrictions on the policy.

Home/Auto/umbrella

One of the big reasons we would be significantly lower is my daughters incidents of bumping into her friends are falling off after 5 years (or 3).   Oddly, the existing company didn't call to offer me a lower rate. 

(Yesterday, 10:19 AM)Replying to DawgNatty

(Yesterday, 10:12 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83 Are you talking home or auto insurance?  Foremost is mostly home in our office, some RV and golf cart policies, and we use them for houses the standard (i.e. good) companies won't write due to condition or some other factor.  I don't know anything about them as far as auto.  Progressive home is not good.  We heard many horror stories after Helene about Progressive insureds finding out their policy didn't cover damage from named storms or other exclusions standard policies don't usually have.

There really aren't any free lunches in insurance.  If the premium is considerably lower, the reason is usually because there is less coverage or more restrictions on the policy.

Home/Auto/umbrella

One of the big reasons we would be significantly lower is my daughters incidents of bumping into her friends are falling off after 5 years (or 3).   Oddly, the existing company didn't call to offer me a lower rate. 

Get the current agent to requote the current policy.  You might not have to move.  Who are you with now?  I've been in insurance for 33 years and it has never been as bad as it is now as far as rate increases.  The insurance companies can't keep up with the increasing cost of repairing cars and houses.  We have a commercial customer that has a new pickup that needed a new tailgate because his employee backed into a pole with the tailgate down.  The final repair bill was within a hundred dollars of $8000, to replace and repaint a tailgate on a pickup truck.  Hitting a deer used to be a $2-3000 claim, now, they are all at least $10,000.  Roofers are going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.  20 years ago, a roof on a 2000 square foot house was around $2500-3000.  Today, that same roof is $10-12,000 and hail or wind claims usually mean hundreds of roofs replaced in a given area.   Even the most modest houses have replacement costs of $150 per square foot now so that 2000 square foot house that was insured for $200,000 15 years ago is now insured for at least $300,000.  

I don't know what is going to happen going forward.  I can see people not being able to afford to own and drive a car because of insurance costs.

Nah, that's the whole point...I literally hate the agency it's with. They're awful...

I don't want to post the name here....but, it starts with a "C" and they're downtown.

(Yesterday, 10:04 AM)Replying to DawgNatty

(Yesterday, 09:54 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83 We sell Progressive but I don't really love them.  They will pay what they have to pay and nothing more.  They will also look for technicalities to get out of paying if they can.  Sometimes, their premiums are much better than other companies and sometimes they are higher.  That said, if I could save a substantial amount of money with them I would probably go with them.  If you don't have any youthful operators in the house and you are confident you likely won't have a claim, they may be worth the savings  I don't know much about Farmers, they are a direct writer so I have no experience with them.  Farmers is huge in the Midwest and West.  They came to this region probably 20 or so years ago.

Sadly, you are close to correct about none of them being very good.  The MBA bean counters are running most insurance companies now and they don't see value in doing any more than the absolute minimum the policy requires.  Insurance companies are highly regulated so none of them can simply deny a claim because they don't want to pay, they have to have a reason that will stand up in court or in a hearing with the insurance commissioner.  The policy is a contract and the company has to do what the contract stipulates.  The days of an insurance company readily paying "grey areas" in a claim are pretty well over.  They pay what they have to pay and pretty much nothing more.

Georgia is a nightmare state for insurance companies now.  It is the worst of all 50 states for litigation.  A look at all the lawyer billboards along the roads will give you an idea why insurance premiums are going up like they are.  Unless some serious tort reform gets passed I won't be surprised to see more insurance companies leaving the state (the public doesn't notice when an insurance company pulls out of a state but less competition means higher prices) and businesses deciding to locate to other states due to the high cost of insurance.

That is awesome info and much appreciated.  I misspoke a little...it's not Farmer's it's Foremost...which I understand is a Farmer's owned company.  Any info on them? 

We are getting one of the young folks off the tab and the other has a clean record...knock on wood.  We do pretty well overall with nothing stupid.  Seems like saving $3K a year is probably worth a little pain in the ass.   

I appreciate everything you're saying and I agree.  Every time I see those billboards I think my insurance is going up.  

Again, thanks!  I know this doesn't help you any and I appreciate it.

We also have Foremost.  It was Met Life, then Farmer's acquired the auto and home wing of Met Life and now it's Foremost...Farmer's was easy to deal with on payments and when it changed over to Foremost (Farmer's bought them and seems like they handle the personal lines now) they sent instructions on how to sign up for automatic payments, so I signed up...then a few days after the next pmt. was due, got a pre-cancellation letter in the slo-mail for non-payment??? ...So called our agent and they called Foremost and were told to ignore the automatic payment thing...they haven't figured out how to make it work yet!!!  Agent said it's been chaos trying to deal with them since Farmer's bought them...18 months later and the automatic payment option is still on the back of the monthly invoice but agent sez still no worke...our lady also said USAA still has the best auto rates... I switched to them a few years ago and it's still cheaper to have the cars on USAA and home on Foremost vs a bundle with either one...

(11 hours ago)Replying to E.CobbDawg

(Yesterday, 10:04 AM)Replying to DawgNatty

(Yesterday, 09:54 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83 We sell Progressive but I don't really love them.  They will pay what they have to pay and nothing more.  They will also look for technicalities to get out of paying if they can.  Sometimes, their premiums are much better than other companies and sometimes they are higher.  That said, if I could save a substantial amount of money with them I would probably go with them.  If you don't have any youthful operators in the house and you are confident you likely won't have a claim, they may be worth the savings  I don't know much about Farmers, they are a direct writer so I have no experience with them.  Farmers is huge in the Midwest and West.  They came to this region probably 20 or so years ago.

Sadly, you are close to correct about none of them being very good.  The MBA bean counters are running most insurance companies now and they don't see value in doing any more than the absolute minimum the policy requires.  Insurance companies are highly regulated so none of them can simply deny a claim because they don't want to pay, they have to have a reason that will stand up in court or in a hearing with the insurance commissioner.  The policy is a contract and the company has to do what the contract stipulates.  The days of an insurance company readily paying "grey areas" in a claim are pretty well over.  They pay what they have to pay and pretty much nothing more.

Georgia is a nightmare state for insurance companies now.  It is the worst of all 50 states for litigation.  A look at all the lawyer billboards along the roads will give you an idea why insurance premiums are going up like they are.  Unless some serious tort reform gets passed I won't be surprised to see more insurance companies leaving the state (the public doesn't notice when an insurance company pulls out of a state but less competition means higher prices) and businesses deciding to locate to other states due to the high cost of insurance.

That is awesome info and much appreciated.  I misspoke a little...it's not Farmer's it's Foremost...which I understand is a Farmer's owned company.  Any info on them? 

We are getting one of the young folks off the tab and the other has a clean record...knock on wood.  We do pretty well overall with nothing stupid.  Seems like saving $3K a year is probably worth a little pain in the ass.   

I appreciate everything you're saying and I agree.  Every time I see those billboards I think my insurance is going up.  

Again, thanks!  I know this doesn't help you any and I appreciate it.

We also have Foremost.  It was Met Life, then Farmer's acquired the auto and home wing of Met Life and now it's Foremost...Farmer's was easy to deal with on payments and when it changed over to Foremost (Farmer's bought them and seems like they handle the personal lines now) they sent instructions on how to sign up for automatic payments, so I signed up...then a few days after the next pmt. was due, got a pre-cancellation letter in the slo-mail for non-payment??? ...So called our agent and they called Foremost and were told to ignore the automatic payment thing...they haven't figured out how to make it work yet!!!  Agent said it's been chaos trying to deal with them since Farmer's bought them...18 months later and the automatic payment option is still on the back of the monthly invoice but agent sez still no worke...our lady also said USAA still has the best auto rates... I switched to them a few years ago and it's still cheaper to have the cars on USAA and home on Foremost vs a bundle with either one...

USAA is pretty big around here due to so many active and retired military affiliated with Ft. Gordon.  Their auto premiums seem to be good but their claims handling if their driver is at fault is terrible.  We have had several of our customers have to actually hire an attorney to get USAA to pay when the USAA driver was at fault.  They always want the damaged party to file the claim on their own insurance and then let their company subrogate against USAA.  That allows USAA to hold on to their money longer but it then creates a claim on the other person's insurance policy and their premium goes up.  They are also very sneaky about tricking people into saying they could have possibly avoided the accident therefore allowing USAA to claim the other driver was partially at fault and reduce what they pay.

I hear good things about how they treat their own customers.

I have Progressive with a high deductible on four vehicles, two of which my 19-23 year olds drive. When shopping they were the lowest I could find, but they will creep up your yearly renewals with no claims. I’m back to shopping them again.

(Yesterday, 09:54 AM)Replying to JC-DAWG83 We sell Progressive but I don't really love them.  They will pay what they have to pay and nothing more.  They will also look for technicalities to get out of paying if they can.  Sometimes, their premiums are much better than other companies and sometimes they are higher.  That said, if I could save a substantial amount of money with them I would probably go with them.  If you don't have any youthful operators in the house and you are confident you likely won't have a claim, they may be worth the savings  I don't know much about Farmers, they are a direct writer so I have no experience with them.  Farmers is huge in the Midwest and West.  They came to this region probably 20 or so years ago.

Sadly, you are close to correct about none of them being very good.  The MBA bean counters are running most insurance companies now and they don't see value in doing any more than the absolute minimum the policy requires.  Insurance companies are highly regulated so none of them can simply deny a claim because they don't want to pay, they have to have a reason that will stand up in court or in a hearing with the insurance commissioner.  The policy is a contract and the company has to do what the contract stipulates.  The days of an insurance company readily paying "grey areas" in a claim are pretty well over.  They pay what they have to pay and pretty much nothing more.

Georgia is a nightmare state for insurance companies now.  It is the worst of all 50 states for litigation.  A look at all the lawyer billboards along the roads will give you an idea why insurance premiums are going up like they are.  Unless some serious tort reform gets passed I won't be surprised to see more insurance companies leaving the state (the public doesn't notice when an insurance company pulls out of a state but less competition means higher prices) I also won't be surprised to see businesses deciding to locate to other states due to the high cost of insurance.

any dealings with Farm Buerau?