Combining my policies has never saved me money. I get those mailers also, but when it comes down to the actual price, it is always higher. I have my house insurance with Liberty Mutual, vehicles with Geico, and rental house with Safeco. I would love to have just one policy, but it's just not in the cards.

I changed to State Farm this year after always being a Geico customer (my DH has always had State Farm for his home, auto, business, etc). I finally switched b/c we wanted an umbrella liability policy for asset protection, so had to have all our policies w/ State Farm as the primary insurer. I think I saved a bit but don't actually know if I did or not.

At any rate, like a week after switching, my dad was driving my car and got into a car accident he was at-fault for. State Farm was wonderful, even though the accident happened so soon after I bought the policy that they couldn't even start the claim immediately because they didn't yet have all the documents back for the policy. My rates did not go up and they paid the claim for the lady whose car my dad damaged in a timely manner.

So, I would feel very comfortable switching to State Farm if I were you.

Your rates have not gone up yet. Just wait.

Have State Farm for homeowners and Allstate for auto. Every time we've checked on combining the cost is more.

I have all mine with State Farm and they state in my bills that I'm getting discounts because of that. Whether or not it's cheaper I don't know as I haven't shopped around. I've had SF for about 40 years and have been satisfied with how they've handled the few claims I've had over that time. A few storm damage claims and a few accidents that were not our fault. I think they've made a boatload of $ on us. They treat you well when that's the case.

You really do need to shop policies and see the best deal. We saved by not bundling. And by not using the same agent for our policies.

In the past we never saved money by combining so we didn't. This year our house insurance went up by a lot and we found we saved a lot of money by going with just one firm so we did.

We should look into this. We use an independent agent and bundle, and when we call him to ask about better house rates, he comes through. Of course, sometimes the response is that the recent disasters caused a rise in rates, but he does well for us.

Thanks everybody. I tend to resist change. And I also don't believe that the savings will last beyond the first year. State Farm did make it clear that the 17% reduction (for both home and auto) would be for the first year. Then all bets are off, right?

I've always had auto and homeowners with State Farm. I suppose I should look into whether I could get covered less expensively with another company. I recently had an accident that was my fault (backed into neighbors car), so if my payments go up, I will be shopping around.

This is a timely post. We have our house with Liberty Mutual and our cars with Mercury. I am planning on next week getting a quote to add our auto to Liberty Mutual and then add an umbrella policy. We have never had a claim with Liberty Mutual and never had an accident charged to our policy on Mercury, my daughter's car was hit by a hit and run driver and my car was hit on the side by another car, luckily the other driver took responsibility for my car as he was at fault. We have not been impressed with Mercury service but in the end they have paid as they should.

What's an umbrella policy?

It's basically supplemental liability insurance. It's supposed to cover you against major lawsuit settlements if something happens on your property,and someone decides to sue you and not settle for the maximum allowed under your regular policy. My agent explained it,but given where we live, and the total absence of all but one elderly and quiet neighbor, plus the fact that I don't host any sort of gatherings at my own home,he advised against it.

An umbrella covers you beyond the limits of your home or auto policy. It pays second. Usually people buy 1 or 2 million in coverage.

I always shop my insurance. I should do that soon since my homeowners went up 15%.

Insurance is highly regulated, so they don't treat you better if you've been with them 10 years versus 10 days. If the regs say pay they pay.

That said, service can be very different. I don't care for Liberty Mutual. I had a reckless driver plow into me at a stop light and they were pretty crappy to deal with. The other company, Auto Owners, was very pleasant.

We've always bundled and have seen signifcant savings. We used to be with American Family, but we switched to Ameriprise, got better coverage for less and have had 3 claims, no increases. I think we're saving at least 20% by bundling.

For 30 plus years we had everything with State Farm. They were good over all. I only had one issue with them about 12 years ago and was going to switch but got lazy.

I noticed the last few years that the car insurance kept going up and up even though we had no accidents and our cars were getting older. I started shopping around. We switched companies and are saving about $700 per year.

I also noticed my car insurance was going up every time it's gone up for renewal,on a 14 yo car with no claims. Agent gave me a condescending lecture on insurance pools and how they work before explaining to me that with all the new technology such as backup cameras and hands free stuff and all those alerts that cars were getting more and more expensive to fix. When I pointed out that I don't even have power locks or windows, he got a little huffy and repeated the lecture. I am currently shopping around for a new agent,even if not a new company. This one tried to tell me that my 350,000 dollar life insurance that is provided through my employer is not enough,even though I am 32,healthy,unmarried and,childless. SO is the beneficiary,and doesn't even want it. Didn't deter the agent though.

If anyone is eligible for USAA, I suggest checking with them. They have always been cheapest for us.

Yes, have USAA, too, probably can't be beat. I think the idea behind umbrella policy is to protect your assets. If your house and savings are worth $2M, then you'd better have at least $2M of liability insurance. Lawyers/potential plaintiffs will determine how much a lawsuit against you is worth based on your assets/insurance levels. I don't believe it would matter if the underlying incident happened on your property, or anywhere, though incidents arising on your property might be a more common situation....

Horace Mann beat USAA for me when I first started teaching. We bundle. Truth is you don't know how good your policy/company is until you have a claim. My dad had a FIT back in the day when I left USAA--they are a great company and don't drop you when things go bad for you. So is Horrace Mann. I have not heard as good reviews for most of the companies mentioned above.

We had State Farm for years, out of habit. Our house insurance finally went through the roof, although we had no claims. We live in a hurricane state, so I suspect we've paid for repairs on a lot of beach houses.

I went to a broker and ended up with Erie Insurance. My house insurance dropped more than 50% for the same coverage. It's crept back up a bit, but when we did it, we bundled and it was STILL less than State Farm wanted for the house alone. I'd never heard of Erie, but my Dad said he had it when we lived in Ohio, and they were great.

An umbrella policy protects you if you're sued anywhere, not just for stuff at your house but if you are blamed for a car accident or whatever. Lawyers / plaintiffs do base their ask in a lawsuit on defendant's assets (they're less likely to settle for the insurance policy limits b/c they think they can come after your personally).

We have had Alfa, a company local to Alabama, for years and have our home and vehicles with them, including our lake condo & rental property. They give discounts for all the bundling, plus discounts for alarm systems (home and car) and a couple of other things iirc.

Linelle, it doesn't hurt to ask a lot of questions about just how much you could expect after than first year, any other discounts, etc. And even shop around and investigate consumer satisfaction with major insurers. We qualify with USAA but the quote from them was comparable to Alfa so we stuck with Alfa.

We've had State Farm for car insurance since 1969 and when we bought our first house in 1982 chose SF for home insurance. I could not be happier. Am I saving money, I don't know but their service is wonderful.

We have our car and home insurance with Amica. They do give us a multiple policy discount. We've had a couple of claims with them (one HO and a couple of small car claims) and they are WONDERFUL! They are extremely easy to deal with; they handle everything very quickly. If we need to make a policy change, we can call anytime with a phone call. I highly recommend checking them out.

We also have two life insurance policies with them, though I believe they are handled through a different division.

Donna

Do you guys recommend adding an umbrella policy? It's one thing to be able to replace (in theory) my own property. But it's not a stretch to imagine, say, an auto accident (my fault) that affects others. Would an umbrella policy basically mean that if they went for the total value of my assets it would be covered? I guess they can't go for more than I have. What about future earnings (e.g., monthly pension)?

I don't have separate earthquake insurance and I'm in earthquake country. No hurricanes, tornados or floods, short of the Apocalypse.

I am unfamiliar with all this and have had auto and home with Allstate for about 5 years. No car accidents but I did have my roof replaced because of hail damage and they were great to work with and seemed personal. I dunno, should I be shopping around?

It has always seemed to me that some things are up to the discretion of the local agent, and being with the same one for years can pay off. But I don't know that irl.

Bumblebeez, I've kinda felt the same about staying with my local guy for a long time. But maybe I'm being naive. My rates have not had any substantial increases.

Re umbrella policies, I found this online and it's not comforting:

Policyholder profile:

• Net worth of $2 million
• $500,000 home liability coverage
• $500,000 auto liability coverage
• 1 million umbrella insurance coverage with a $500,000 deductible

Claim scenario:

• The policyholder causes a car accident that results in a fatality
• The accident victim's family sues for $3 million
• The auto liability coverage pays $500,000 of the suit
• The umbrella policy kicks in and covers an additional $500,000 after the policyholder pays the deductible
• The policyholder is responsible for the remaining $2 million, which can result in loss of the family home, savings, investments and future income

Unfortunately, in our litigious society, liability claims can result in big lawsuits with very large settlements or judgments. Be sure to talk with a knowledgeable agent about real life scenarios and how to get the insurance in place to protect your assets.

_______

If you're sued for more than your umbrella policy, you're still screwed. And a $1 million policy where you still have to pay $500K sounds awful. In the above scenario, which isn't really out of the realm of possibility, it would be horrible, beyond being responsible for a fatality.

Linelle check your state laws. In Florida (Homestead Law) your home would be protected in case of judgement against you.

We had Allstate for over 25 years. I was very disappointed in their handling of my claim when I was hit and injured by another driver 7 years ago. I vowed to change after that and got lazy. I finally shopped around this year, and we went with The Hartford through AARP. We got much better coverage for less money.

Linelle, I have Liberty Mutual and am not a fan but nevertheless the way their company works is you have to insure to the max under a standard policy before you can purchase an umbrella. An as Amylou said, this is additional liability insurance. So I have to bring my auto and home liability to $1Million before I purchase the umbrella for an additional $1Million or more. I think the idea is you exhaust your standard policy limits before the umbrella kicks in. But for LM you have to bundle everything under their company. Which makes sense - why would they cover you on an umbrella for a policy they don't control. My friends in the industry strongly recommend insuring to the minimum of $1M. Things that put you at higher risk are teenage drivers, rental properties and a higher net worth. Also, as you age, you begin to lose your peripheral vision which is something I just learned recently so older drivers are another high risk.

And I'm not sure about that internet example. I don't think a $500K deductible is so
much of an IRL example. I've been told my deductible ($1K) is high.
IDK maybe I am missing something.

As to the cost, an umbrella policy is relatively inexpensive for the amount of excess (liability) ins. and piece of mind you receive.

Having an umbrella policy is definitely important. Of course, it's very hard to completely protect your assets unless you start getting into transferring all your money and property into asset protection trusts, etc. But, the chances of a $3 million+ claim are much less than the chances of a $1 million+ claim against you.

My father was an attorney and always wanted me to have a one million dollar umbrella policy and that was 20 years ago. He said that if someone fell and hurt themselves on my property or I had a car accident they could take everything I had, even if it wasn't my fault. It is up to a jury.

Like msmeow, I have had only great experience with Amica, whom I've had car insurance with since 1979 and HO since 1984. During that time I've had 3 auto claims and 1 HO claim. Their customer service is wonderful. Check them out!

We bundled our auto and homeowners insurance and saved. We just moved from Safeco to Citizens and saved even more. I check it every year, a month or so before renewal time. Sometimes we bundle, sometimes we don't. The calling around is time consuming but has saved us money.

We had State Farm for everything forever. We got complacent and just kept them. After Sandy they made some changes that I didn't like and I went to shop around. Found we could save a huge amount by going with Erie. The moral of the story for us was don't get complacent with one company and shop your coverage every once in a while.

A few thoughts on topics.

If you have been with a company, there may be other benefits to not changing Our company lowers your deductible after so any years of no claims (but we aren't paying for the lower amount) It's like a credit we would receive if used.

State Farm agents each set their own prices. We found that out this past year when we had kids move to new areas and call agents to get prices. I never knew that and found it interesting. For car and renters insurance it was a substantial amount different between agents, not just a 10 bucks a month.

An umbrella policy would also cover you if you injured someone off of your property. You hit someone skiing, with a golf ball, heck with a grocery cart even. So it's just not on your property.

Speaking only from my own, limited experience with an automobile claim and liability limits...

I was involved in a bad accident, the other driver at fault. My liability limits were much higher than hers and instead of trying to get blood out of stone, we put in a claim against my insurance company (which subrogated back to her company). My insurance co did not cancel nor raise my rates, but it did make me think about always carrying a much higher liability coverage than is typical. Particularly when you think of how expensive vehicles are today, and the cost of medical treatment. At the time of the accident, over 10 years ago, my medical bills alone exceeded 50K, and my attorney was able to get many of the hospital and surgeons bills reduced so the insurance would cover it all.

So having an umbrella policy with at least 1 million is helpful. I think in most cases, unless you were willfully at fault-you were drunk driving or knowingly didn't fix the rotten stairs at your home, most settlements will go just for the limit of the policy. I don't know how many cases actually make it to a trial, and even then, there are appeals. What would be the incentive to try to settle for greater than the million dollar limit, if the persons assets were only 1.5 million?

So I was a licensed CA agent many years ago. I didn't sell, just serviced. I'm still familiar with the auto industry.

When you "combine" you still have individual policies with credits extended across your relationship.

Insurance regulations are established at the state level and vary significantly. One example is no-fault auto insurance vs traditional coverage.

Not all policies are alike. It's quite possible that the coverage details in your less expensive policy are not the same. That being said, this is not always the case. The devil is in the details.

Auto claims expenses are going up for many reasons I won't bore you with, but more miles driven, distracted driving and cost of repairs all play a part.

As for homeowners, make sure you have enough coverage to rebuild. These costs have gone way up and you may not have enough coverage if you haven't reviewed your policy in a while.

Finally, when you make improvements to your house, be sure to call your agent to see if you need to increase coverage to cover the updated rebuilding expense.

We've had the same company for home, auto and one life insurance policy for years. (We do have some other policies elsewhere.) Our rates, even after TWO roofs (hail) did not greatly increase. As someone else mentioned, we do get certain benefits by having multiple policies with the same company such as lower deductibles, etc. We also get a credit for having the multiple policies. Because our rates do not often increase and because we have had excellent service from our company, we do not shop around.

We had Progressive for Auto & Phenix Mutual for home owners (very hard to find ins comany to cover a log home) and we switched to Liberty Mutual at a savings of $100 per month! I has been just over a year & it did go up $4 per month but still....

I'm going to call my State Farm guy today and ask for real numbers if I combine home and auto. I'm pretty sure I haven't discussed with him improvements to my house made over the past 5 years.

I really appreciate everyone's input, as it covers a broad range of experiences. I tend to be a stay put kind of person. My first inclination with insurance is to give the company I've been with a long time a chance to give me a better deal, rather than shopping around. If that doesn't work to my satisfaction, then I can always look beyond.

We've been with State Farm for home and auto insurance since 1984. I've had agents pitch their companies to me over the years but they never could beat the SF premiums. SF has actually made suggestions that reduced my premiums such as increasing my homeowners deductible and reducing the annual miles driven upon retirement that reduced each auto policy by $100 per year.

I just got off the phone with my State Farm rep, who was super nice BTW.

We went through my current auto coverage with AAA and State Farm's premium would actually be higher. My homeowner's would go down slightly. My annual savings would be $50. If I got a $1M umbrella policy with SF (assuming I bundled everything), it would increase my annual premium by $200, or $150 overall.

Oh, there would be a rental car line that I don't currently have (and have never needed).

My current homeowner's policy seems to be adequate to rebuild my home and replace the contents.

I'm glad I went through this exercise. Something to think about. I was struck by how well informed and nice (not pushy at all) the rep was.

We use American National for everything - home, auto and umbrella. (Our umbrella policy is under $300/year, iirc -- and there's no $500K deductible, though we do have to keep the limits on our auto and home higher than the minimum since those pay first-- I suspect that is what the scenario above is saying -- the $500K "deductible" on the umbrella is actually the $500K that the auto policy pays, then the umbrella kicks in for anything over that. So the mimimum auto liability has to be $500K even though the state only requires $100K)

At any rate, I've not had to file a claim but when I was rear-ended, they were helpful in dealing with the other guy's insurance. However, like someone above said, I really do think you need to switch often to get the best rates -- they have steadily jacked my rates every year in spite of not having any claims. I shop once in a while but they make it hard to compare because they give you a cash-back rebate of 20% of your premium every year after you've been claim-free for 3 years. After the cash back is taken into account, they are always the cheapest....but if we ever file a claim, we lose the cash back for 3 years. It's actually genius on their part because it discourages us from filing little claims -- we get anywhere from $700-800 back every year so losing 3 years of that would cost us around $2400 in lost cash back -- ergo we wouldn't file a claim for anything under that.

That said, we are going to be adding a new teen driver to our policy soon so I fear our claim-free streak may come to an end. Anyone have any good experiences with insurance companies that don't eat you alive when you add a teenage driver????

Go USAA if you can. Adding our first teen driver recently added $900/year, but we live in one of the insurance-costliest areas in the U.S. I'll be interested to hear what others pay.

Yes, USAA now for over 40 years. And yes, all my policies are with them. At the end of the year, I usually get a "bonus" - probably won't this year due to two hurricanes and enormous insurance claims. It's never been less than $200 and has sometimes been as high as $400 - it is based on cost of all the policies and years as a member. I also get a "senior bonus" each year - it's several hundred dollars.