Who do y'all have for homeowners insurance?

Jessie.slimer

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I just finished a nearly year long fight with State Farm over a wind and hail claim that they wrongfully denied. They say the damage is older than the claim date, even though I provided photos AND VIDEO of the wind and hail right outside my doors.

Anyway, after giving them money for over a decade for my house, cars, motorcycles, trailers, and having my first and only claim denied, I have concluded that they are not like a good neighbor and have decided to move on.

Who do you guys and gals use, and have you been treated fairly when filing a claim?

It's hard to gauge a company based on online reviews. I can find good and bad for just about every company, but am sort of leaning toward American Family. Lots of level headed people here. Looking for good or bad experiences.
 

TVille

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We lived in Alabama and discovered a leak months after a storm. Called a roofer and he saw widespread hail damage. Called Nationwide, they replaced the roof. It may have been related to the roofers knowledge or our local agent, don't know. We still have Nationwide in VA.

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IAmATeaf

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Do you guys stay with the same each year? Here in the UK I change most if not every year, go onto the comparison sites to get quotes and if the current insurer can't match or lower their renewal quote I just switch.

Do the same for all my insurance policies except my travel insurance which is with AmEx as they have consistently been the cheapest for me and my wife.
 

pete_c

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Interesting issue with State Farm. I have had them since the 1970's in Illinois. Never any problems with them.

You could get a third party to review your claim and file an Illinois State's attorney complaint about your issue.
 

th182

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We’ve had AAA for several years now. Had a hailstorm come through in 2016 and they paid for a lot of stuff. Only thing they wouldn’t do is replace our roof, but neither their two adjusters (I requested a second opinion) nor our contractor could find any hail damage on it. Reroofed myself a couple years prior and like to think I did a damn good job!

We documented anything with hail dents it it and they replaced it, old metal shed, patio heater, siding, and even all of our gutters even though the damage was only on the top of the lip, not visible from below and barely noticeable above.

Have them for auto too and they were easy to deal with when the Mrs slid into a car on an icy parking lot.

Also have their roadside assistance and I think we’ve used it enough that it’s paid for itself. Doesn’t matter who’s car is being towed, policyholder just has to be their with the AAA card.


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biggen

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I stay with the same year after year. They bundle in discounts if you insure other items so we have our automobiles insured with them as well.

I did some shopping around a few years ago and they were about all the same. Living in Florida near the coast, our premiums are pretty high no matter who you choose. I pay $2500/yr for a single story 2000sqft home.
 

TonyR

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We’ve had AAA for several years now. .....

Have them for auto too and they were easy to deal with when the Mrs slid into a car on an icy parking lot......

Also have their roadside assistance and I think we’ve used it enough that it’s paid for itself. Doesn’t matter who’s car is being towed, policyholder just has to be their with the AAA card.
Ditto here, have AAA for home and auto, also am a AAA Plus road service member for over 35 years.

Had Allstate homeowners and auto from '75 to '05, one claim for wind damage to a fence ' 98, kept jacking my HO and auto rates up year after year with 1 house claim in over 25 years and NO auto claims so after calling them and complaining they basically blamed the increases on Hurricane Katrina in Aug. '05 in FL and other SE states so I told Allstate "adios".

No AAA home claims yet but they have been stellar on auto: in '07 wife hits deer and does $4.4K damage to 6 mo. old Kia, then she has another $1.7K damage claim in 2016 on her '12 Fusion, 2 weeks later she has a $3K collision claim on it again; then June '19 yours truly hits a H-U-G-E dog that tears up grille for $2K on '16 Escape then 6 months later Christmas Eve 2019 I hit my first buck (he also was H-U-G-E) and totalled that same 3 year old Escape (over $11K damage). The claims process was fast and easy, couldn't ask for better service IMO.....YMMV
 

Ssayer

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We've been really happy with State Farm here. A number of years back we had a garage fire that really smoked up the inside of our house as well. The agent went above and beyond to insure that the garage, all it's contents, and the smoke damage in the house was dealt with properly. Sounds like you've just got a crappy adjuster there. Obviously everybody's experiences are different, eh?
 

th182

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I stay with the same year after year. They bundle in discounts if you insure other items so we have our automobiles insured with them as well.

I did some shopping around a few years ago and they were about all the same. Living in Florida near the coast, our premiums are pretty high no matter who you choose. I pay $2500/yr for a single story 2000sqft home.
I technically go through a broker and he does price comparisons regularly. Haven’t been told there is a better deal since we switched.


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Jessie.slimer

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I always thought State Farm was really good. And they were. I switched to them after I saw how they handled my parents roof claim about 15 years ago. My in laws had a similar good experience with State Farm about 5 years ago. My contractor told me that they have gotten bad recently, though. Most claims are getting denied and SF is making them fight for them.

This is damage from last August's midwest derecho. Our first State Farm inspector came out and said there was no storm damage whatsoever.The contractor and I were standing there in amazement, but he said this is common and is how they are playing the game these days. The contractor had to send in pictures with a written estimate. State Farm agreed to a second inspection. The second inspector came out and agreed there is damage, but said it is older damage. He could not say why he thinks this, other than lack of hail spatter around the dents. I am having a public adjuster come out to see if they can do anything, but its doubtful State Farm will budge, seeing how it's past their 1 year statute of limitations to file suit against them. They have no fear of repercussions at this point.
 

tigerwillow1

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Besides the company it depends so much on the individual people you're dealing with. My parents used State Farm for as long as I could remember and I followed in their footsteps. Had all my insurance with them for about 25 years. Then I got into a flap where the agent demanded we pay car insurance for a teenager who we didn't allow to drive. I didn't bow to him and he cancelled the one car policy that didn't have guaranteed renewal. I've been through a few companies since then, switching only because of rate rises, plus one company considering backyard chickens to be exotic animals. My observation is that you get a big rate increase, switch to a new company with much better rates, then after a few years they give you a big rate increase.
 

looney2ns

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Liberty here, it was Prudential previously until they sold it off to Liberty.
I've checked around periodically, and the rates are within a few $$ over a yr.
The last storm damage I had, I didn't turn in, fixed it myself with the help of cousin who's a lifelong carpenter.
$600 to replace glass in a half moon window, that a tree limb came through.
$95 for 8 pieces of vinyl siding.
Previous to that it'd been 32 yrs since I had a claim on the roof for hail, no problems at the time.
 
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