Assuming the same level of coverage, are all car insurance companies going to be equally willing to pay out?
In other words if you go with a "cheaper" car insurance, will you be sorry if you have an accident?
In this competitive insurance market, you typically get what you pay for. Claims handling will be quicker and easier for you if you have a well established company. Most companies will pay what the policy owes. The difference lies in the amount of time your claim takes, the extent of your involvement (work you have to do), the efficiency of the company handling the claim and the staffing that the company has in place for accidents, storms, etc. Some companies will pay claims that they legally don’t owe in order to win over more business. State Farm and Allstate paid claims which they did not legally owe (off premise power outage, prevention of using home by a civil authority DUE to damage in the area) to insureds during last years hurricanes. When a catastrophic event occurs, these companies use these quick claim payments outside the policy, as a marketing tool for more business.
Also, if you have cut rate insurance, there is a reason. The service adjuster will typically have less education, lower salary’s, less innovative technology, and more claims to adjuster ratio then others. They are typically overworked and you should not expect a call back the same day you leave the adjuster a message. They have to make the cost of somewhere. Adjuster’s will have a caseload of 100 to 600 claims. Anything over 200 is more than one adjuster can handle. I am an adjuster that works on contract basis, so I have worked at many insurance companies over my career and have seen these trends.
July 17th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Not at all.
through Safe Auto Insurance Company we were paying over 300 a month for full coverage on a vehicle we financed last year. That’s a lot of money to pay considering I’m 25 and my husband is 34. They were never any help and it took months for claims to go through if they were "very serious"
After we got the car I shopped around and got a quote from Geico, they only wanted $135 dollars for full coverage on my husband and I, plus only 50 extra dollars for another car on liability.
I had an accident around March, it was my fault but Geico actually helped me very quickly. My deductible was $500 and I filed through Geico because the other guys insurance company wanted to "investigate" before paying out. Geico, fought with them and they actually sent me my $500 deductible before I ever got the chance to pay it. Plus they covered my rental for over 60 days. Which I didn’t even have the much rental coverage.
Your asking if your sacrificing quality service, but I think depending on the insurance company your not. I would recommend shopping around a bit, and checking out blogs and articles on customer service for these companies.
References :
July 17th, 2010 at 1:02 am
I had a very wise customer approach shopping for insurance several years ago in the following manner:
He shopped around, and developed a list of the 4 or 5 most affordable companies. Then he called around to local body shops and asked them, Who has the smoothest claims handling, and who gives you the hardest time over every little penny? He went with an affordable company that the body shops gave a thumbs-up to.
A lot of factors can affect claims service. Some companies overwork their adjusters, giving them such a huge pile of claims that you feel like you’ve hit the jackpot if you’re even able to get them on the phone.
A lot of the handling depends on each company’s culture. Some companies feel that if they pay fairly on the claim, keeping themselves out of court in the first place, this saves them money in the long run. Others play the gambling game of forcing people to sue before they pay anything, hoping that the percentage of people who take it that far is small enough that their gamble pays off. A good source for this kind of info is the Dept of Insurance in your state. See who has the most complaints and avoid them.
References :
Claims adjuster
July 17th, 2010 at 1:47 am
In this competitive insurance market, you typically get what you pay for. Claims handling will be quicker and easier for you if you have a well established company. Most companies will pay what the policy owes. The difference lies in the amount of time your claim takes, the extent of your involvement (work you have to do), the efficiency of the company handling the claim and the staffing that the company has in place for accidents, storms, etc. Some companies will pay claims that they legally don’t owe in order to win over more business. State Farm and Allstate paid claims which they did not legally owe (off premise power outage, prevention of using home by a civil authority DUE to damage in the area) to insureds during last years hurricanes. When a catastrophic event occurs, these companies use these quick claim payments outside the policy, as a marketing tool for more business.
Also, if you have cut rate insurance, there is a reason. The service adjuster will typically have less education, lower salary’s, less innovative technology, and more claims to adjuster ratio then others. They are typically overworked and you should not expect a call back the same day you leave the adjuster a message. They have to make the cost of somewhere. Adjuster’s will have a caseload of 100 to 600 claims. Anything over 200 is more than one adjuster can handle. I am an adjuster that works on contract basis, so I have worked at many insurance companies over my career and have seen these trends.
References :
Insurance Adjuster 12 years