SF2004 said:

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rlb28 said:

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Tons of reasons, including auto parts, supply chain, rental car costs, litigious society, severity of claims, etc…

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Just say it… we use every excuse in the book to f over our customers.

Insurance is the biggest racket followed closely by "wealth advisors" charging people to buy a S&P mutual fund.

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Then don't buy it

SF2004 said:

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rlb28 said:

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SF2004 said:

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rlb28 said:

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Tons of reasons, including auto parts, supply chain, rental car costs, litigious society, severity of claims, etc…

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Just say it… we use every excuse in the book to f over our customers.

Insurance is the biggest racket followed closely by "wealth advisors" charging people to buy a S&P mutual fund.

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Then don't buy it

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Kind of have too, I just know it is overpriced.

They make you feel good until you need them… then all of the sudden they start questioning you like you are a criminal.

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I know if you don't deal with insurance every day you don't understand the problems, but there are real issues. Claims and litigation are out of control, therefore, rates will have to be raised.

And if they didn't question people there would be insurance fraud everywhere.

Jan. 18
The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) today announced preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2022, with an estimated net loss between $285 million and $335 million and estimated adjusted net loss* between $335 million and $385 million.

Or they come up with every reason to write another exclusion. There's a reason every commercial on tv is insurance. Overcharge everyone, then fight the claim. I would be all for group private insurance with high deductibles for claims so I'm not paying for everyone's frivolous roof claim, catalytic converter, and fender benders.

Yes you can raise deductibles, but the this saves $50 on a $3000 premium. Immaterial impact.

SnowboardAg said:

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Or they come up with every reason to write another exclusion. There's a reason every commercial on tv is insurance. Overcharge everyone, then fight the claim. I would be all for group private insurance with high deductibles for claims so I'm not paying for everyone's frivolous roof claim, catalytic converter, and fender benders.

Yes you can raise deductibles, but the this saves $50 on a $3000 premium. Immaterial impact.

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You're talking out of both sides… overcharge, then fight the claim, then you talk about frivolous claims.

Actually it's one side - cheaper policy that's high deductible and avoids all the BS. I'm ok with exclusions unless I'm being charged higher rates (which they are higher), then there should be more benefits (not more exclusions).

What exclusions? On home or auto?

Insurance is a pooling mechanism. Companies take the premiums from all to pay the claims of the few.

This is specific to auto but the ratio you want to pay attention to is the combined ratio. The industry has historically collected enough money to keep 10-15 cents on the dollar after paying claims and overhead. However, the inflation, litigation, etc. trends already noted in the thread killed those margins over the last 2 years. The Q4 22 numbers will be released in a week or two but the combined ratios are expected to be north of 100%. Meaning every dollar collected was insufficient to pay everyone's claims.

Expect meaningful increases until that changes,

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/insurance/us-auto-insurer-underwriting-results-take-a-negative-turn-04-03-2022

Homeowners results are more varied by geography(hail, quake, flood, wind, etc) but aren't any better.

Every time you see one of those billboards you should see dollar signs out of your pocket. Premiums go up when the frequency of outlandish jury verdicts goes up.

Pepper Brooks said:

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Every time you see one of those billboards you should see dollar signs out of your pocket. Premiums go up when the frequency of outlandish jury verdicts goes up.

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I was driving thru Angleton (45 miles from Houston) on Highway 288B and the Texas Hammer had 3 billboards.

Just shopped my home/auto and renewed with Travelers. Holy Smokes how costs have gone up! Wow.

Spaceship said:

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Just shopped my home/auto and renewed with Travelers. Holy Smokes how costs have gone up! Wow.

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Are you in the Dallas area? Travelers does well there.

rlb28 said:

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Spaceship said:

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Just shopped my home/auto and renewed with Travelers. Holy Smokes how costs have gone up! Wow.

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Are you in the Dallas area? Travelers does well there.

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Yes, suburban Dallas.

College son on my Geico policy "tapped" a Kia Sportage back in Feb. He said he hit the SUV squarely from behind going about 10-15mph.. He said it was a dad driving, wife in front, son and daughter in back on way home from baseball practice. My son chatted with the dad and dad was laughing about it saying "no worries, no need to call police".

My son took a video and pics of their rear-end and sent it to me. I could not even see a scratch, no dents, etc, and my son had just a minor scrape on his front-end and he did not file a claim.

About a month later I get a call from a Geico rep and she said they were suing!!!! WTF!

Another month passes, still working on it.

Another month passes and Geico forwards me the "threatening" letter from their lawyers, basically advising Geico "you better accept our conditions or your client (me) could face potentially ruinous judgement blah blah blah."
Three of them suffered significant injuries, dad couldn't work, etc.

I only had just above the minimum coverage limit at the time.. They were wanting $28k medical for the husband, $23K for the wife and $20k for the daughter and something like $6000 in damage to the car.

I showed my extremely laid back/chill son the letter and blew up and wanted to immediately call the dad.
No, I don't think so son!

Total BS fraud!

It's more prevalent each day. You should be sitting in my chair all day listening to customers just like yourself with a person trying to sue them.

Pain management clinics, attorneys, chiropractors and the like are all getting in on the act.

i would self-insure in a heartbeat if i didn't have to worry about a one time big loss or a lawsuit (umbrella)...

jtraggie99 said:

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I've seen a lot of gripes about USAA in recent years, both in their service and rates. I've never used anyone else, and I've never had an issue when filing a claim, be it auto or home.

My auto policy just renewed in December for myself and my 21 year old daughter. I think it went up about $50 for the 6 month policy, so not much. I just got my HO renewal as well and it only went up about $100 total for the year. Given all the huge increases I've been hearing about from other carriers, I'd say that's pretty good…

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I've been a USAA auto policy holder for 20+ years. I decided to shop my policy recently and was shocked by how much less Progressive was than USAA. The 6-month policy premium on 3 vehicles was about $1,000.00 less with Progressive.

carl spacklers hat said:

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jtraggie99 said:

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I've seen a lot of gripes about USAA in recent years, both in their service and rates. I've never used anyone else, and I've never had an issue when filing a claim, be it auto or home.

My auto policy just renewed in December for myself and my 21 year old daughter. I think it went up about $50 for the 6 month policy, so not much. I just got my HO renewal as well and it only went up about $100 total for the year. Given all the huge increases I've been hearing about from other carriers, I'd say that's pretty good…

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I've been a USAA auto policy holder for 20+ years. I decided to shop my policy recently and was shocked by how much less Progressive was than USAA. The 6-month policy premium on 3 vehicles was about $1,000.00 less with Progressive.

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As I posted in the OP, I'm an independent agent. We quote and write a ton of auto insurance. Here's my rundown from what I've seen rate-wise over the last 7-8 years in the Greater Houston area.

8 years ago... Allstate, Farmers, USAA, Safeco and Travelers had good rates, but they were typically beaten by Progressive and Geico. We would win some and lose some quoting Progressive against Geico and they were a nuisance, but we persevered because customers didn't necessarily like calling Geico's 1-800 number. State Farm raised rates tremendously and took themselves out of the market.

5 years ago... Safeco, Progressive and Geico kept rates low and Farmers began to make a move with lower rates. We wrote a ton of Safeco and Progressive, but Geico was still really good. State Farm was still high.

2-3 years ago... Progressive had several rate increases (really for the first time in more than 10 years) and priced itself out of the market. Safeco did the same, but Travelers, Allstate, USAA, Farmers and Geico stayed steady. State Farm was back in the game a little bit.

Today... I'm seeing quotes with current Geico customers' renewals doubling or even more. Allstate has lost money the third and fourth quarter of last year on its auto product as has State Farm, so their rates are sky high. Travelers has gone up some as has USAA, but not terribly. Farmers is Ok, but Safeco evidently doesn't want any business in the Houston area. With all that being said, we typically quote Progressive auto 95% of the time right now and in terms of rates, I don't think we've been beaten but a handful of times.

On another note, what's up with this!?!

My son (mentioned in my post above) graduated and got his own place (and insurance) and so I removed him and his car from my Geico policy.
That lowered my Geico by $150/mo.

My son got a policy with Progressive.

OK great... but let's see what other companies can do so I shopped around. Allstate/State Farm way way higher.

I then did an online quote with Progressive (with higher limits than my Geico) and the quote was about $115/mo cheaper than Geico!!! Whooohooo.

So I click on "Continue" and it asks me if I want to pay monthly or one-time pmt. So I selected one-time pmt, and click on "Continue"... them BAAMMMM!!! DECLINED!!! "We're sorry, but Progressive declined your application because your MVR and/or Claims Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report show an excessive number of insurance claims for individuals associated with your prior insurance policies who are not listed on your application, therefore you are not eligible for coverage with the Progressive Group."

WTF!!! I took my son off my Geico policy, he got his own policy Progressive.
But Progressive declines me???!!!

I can get it done with Progressive.
rb@best-ins.com
www.bestinsurancetx.com

Pepper Brooks said:

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Insurance is a pooling mechanism. Companies take the premiums from all to pay the claims of the few.

This is specific to auto but the ratio you want to pay attention to is the combined ratio. The industry has historically collected enough money to keep 10-15 cents on the dollar after paying claims and overhead. However, the inflation, litigation, etc. trends already noted in the thread killed those margins over the last 2 years. The Q4 22 numbers will be released in a week or two but the combined ratios are expected to be north of 100%. Meaning every dollar collected was insufficient to pay everyone's claims.

Expect meaningful increases until that changes,

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/insurance/us-auto-insurer-underwriting-results-take-a-negative-turn-04-03-2022

Homeowners results are more varied by geography(hail, quake, flood, wind, etc) but aren't any better.

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Spot on. Commercial insurance is seeing the same pressures.

Gonna need some kind of liability reform to reign these injury guys in. They becoming a real problem and one fraudulent claim not handled properly can ruin someone who has worked hard their whole lives.

My auto insurance with Farmers went up to $242/mo from $196 back in January. About a 23% increase

Yep. Commercial property is going to be a real issue this year. Many carriers still haven't renewed their 1/1 treaties.

My Nationwide did the same thing. Something about too many claims and not enough premium dollars in the market, so we all get to pay for it. I hate insurance.

Anyhow, my broker just quoted me SafeCo for auto and it's about $50/mos cheaper. Anybody use them? Are they ok or too cheapo of an outfit? Last thing I want to do is save a few bucks and then be out later if they suck.

Safeco is Liberty Mutual.

dreyOO said:

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My Nationwide did the same thing. Something about too many claims and not enough premium dollars in the market, so we all get to pay for it. I hate insurance.

Anyhow, my broker just quoted me SafeCo for auto and it's about $50/mos cheaper. Anybody use them? Are they ok or too cheapo of an outfit? Last thing I want to do is save a few bucks and then be out later if they suck.

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Safeco is fine. They've got different packages. Depending on what type of car you have you may want to go up to the package that will use OEM parts on repair

Yep my geico went up 30% after 3 years of staying the same more or less. I didnt pay attention until it was due, so forked it over this time out of convenience, but will shop around now. My vehicle is 12 years old, so really dont want to be paying ridiculous premiums but live in Houston so still carry good coverage

We switched to Acuity last year on home & auto.

edit: From Travelers.

Geico auto went up over 50%. I called and let them know they were no longer needed and switched to progressive for a lower rate than I was previously paying with geico. The cheapest option for me was to keep my umbrella and HOI with Geico and move auto to progressive, even factoring in multi policy it was >1k / yr savings.