Shopping For Insurance

The only thing worse than shopping for insurance is an appointment with the gastroenterologist and talking about an endoscopy and colonoscopy. Yeah, it's that bad.

I had been with State Farm for almost two years, and when I started with them, they were less expensive than any other company, including the current one at the time, USAA. Keep in mind that to have insurance with USAA, you had to be a service member, or be in the family of one. I became one because my late mother married one, so my sister and I became automatic members.

USAA touts there service and prices, and at the time they were the best prices. However, their prices kept going up, and I shopped around, and State Farm beat them by a country mile. At the first renewal in 2023, their prices went up, but were still lower than anyone else. In 2024, there was yet another price increase, and I called my local office, and all they said was it's because New York allowed a price increase to go through. 

So when I got my 2026 documents a couple of weeks ago, there was yet another price increase! Enough was enough, and I started to shop around. Those comparison websites like Insurify, Jerry, etc are a total waste of time. They are limited to show prices only in your geographic area, so the same companies started showing up, and the prices were different. 

I called USAA, Amica and The Hartford by AARP for auto and home prices. All of them were higher than what I would be paying State Farm even with new increase. Boy, was I disappointed.

I tried to get a quote from Allstate, who dropped me about 10 years ago, but couldn't do it online for some reason, and an agency in Valley Stream tried called me numerous times, but since they are nowhere near me, I didn't answer and blocked them.

Then I called Progressive, and even though Flo wasn't available to talk (just kidding) I did speak to a couple of very nice customer service reps who gave me quotes. Home insurance would be $100 a year less than the new State Farm rate, and about $1200 a year less on the cars. So yes, I went with them.

Then the fun starts with cancelling my policies with State Farm. All I was told I needed was proof of insurance, so emailed them the ID cards. I got a reply back saying I needed the Declarations page, so I called and emailed the girl I spoke to on Friday asking for it. Hopefully it will show up sometime today.

So my advice when shopping for insurance; don't bother with any of those comparison sites, they are a waste of time. Wouldn't you rather save money by making some phone calls than sitting on your computer and getting eye strain?