my thoughts on Allstate insurance

[CrazyModGSR]

This is what I think of Allstate insurance (my current insurance company, called for a quote on for that Z). Pissed off. That quote is even under parent's policy. BS.PS - Read fine print under Allstate logo.

[574-240sx]

I have alstate insurance. they are almost the worst insurance company out there. Nick

[SmithSR]

574-240, about allstate: I thought that too, then I remembered my days with State Farm. I'm finding out (the hard way) that most all insurance companies are somewhat similar in pricing and policy. The trick is that jerk who calls himself your "agent". OR it's that geek working the phones in another city, that's interviewing you via phone, after a crash or during a claims process. I've decided that my feelings about an entire insurance company revolve around the smug, used-car-salesman-like insurance agent sitting on the other end of the phone line.

I have a feeling I'm not alone on this one, so this makes sense why so many people are pissed about insurance rates.

USAA is worth checking in on. You or your parents need to have served in the military to be offered USAA(iirc), but they've been great for a friend of mine who's used them for 10yrs now.

[Cold_Zero]

SmithSR-My family has USAA. They are very happy with the service that they get and they even get a dividend check at the end of the year for good driving. You made a good suggestion. They are more like the Credit Union of insurance companies rather than the used car sales-men model.

[SmithSR]

Zero, I wish I could have had USAA. I remember the day when my pal calls up USAA and says, "find me a truck, here's what I want, and I want to pick it up locally" (me having no idea that an insurance company can do this kinda thing)

The next day he was driving his new truck. They've been very easy to work with on the handful of claims which I've seen them handle for him. Bah, I wish I could be so lucky.

[C-Kwik]

I work in the insurance industry and believe me, the complaints you have are about the same complaints most other people have about just about every insurance company out there. Since many companies want to write a certain percentage of each level of risk, their rates will reflact that. If they want to write younger drivers, they will lower their rates for younger drivers relative to other companies. No reason to get pissed off. I'm assuming that's what you are acomplaining about. Just go somewhere else. The highest number of complaints tend to come from claims. But it happens to all insurance companies. If something is not covered, or a person disagrees with the value of a claim, of course they will not like what they hear.

In any case, in doing some research on a claim I was handling a while back I ran across this site: http://www.allstateinsurancesucks.com

Take it with a grain of salt though. I've read a lot of the complaints and they are the same types of complaints all other insurance companies will hear. But it was funny to me to actually find a site dedicated to this. I wanted to find one for the company I work for to see, but I could not. I'm not sure if sites for other companies exist.

[fiznat]

another thumbs up for USAA. my father was an officer in the navy so I am allowed to use USAA also. the customer service is unbeatable and the prices are even better. sometimes other insurance companies call the house asking if we wanna switch to their company-- we tell them we have USAA and they apologize, saying they cant help us.

[C-Kwik]

wow...never heard of insurance tele-marketing.

[574-240sx]

Well also my view on insurance companies if you don't use it you should get a certain percentage back. Nick

[DAEDALUS]

In a way you do with good driver discounts.

[CrazyModGSR]

Allstate (my insurance company) wouldn't even honor the driving school discount that I took when I was 16. Most companies will give 15% off or something for driving school. BS

[C-Kwik]

Well also my view on insurance companies if you don't use it you should get a certain percentage back. Nick

As much as that almost makes sense, it's impossible. At least if we want insurance companies to stay around, which you will.

What you pay for is not necessarily YOUR future claims, but you basically pool money along with other insureds who pay a premium to an insurance company to collectively pay all the claims that the insureds with that company have. The premiums are calculated based on the contribution of risk each policyholder brings to the company. In order for what you are asking for to be feasible, your premium would have to be quite high and then if you had no claims, you would have to be refunded some part of it. That kind of defeats the whole purpose of insurance anyways. Think of it this way. We are all paying for each other's claims.

Those who do not have many claims or for the very few who have no claims probably have some animosity towards paying a premium. But if for some reason, that person ever has a claim they will be thankful they paid for insurance. If you have collision or Comprehensive coverage then you get paid for your damages. Or if you are at fault, or even not at fault, your insurance company settles a claim or defends you up to your liability limits. Consider that defense costs are expensive as they are itemized unlike plaintiff attorneys who are paid as a percentage of a settlement. And this defense cost is incurred by your insurance company until either the claim is settled or your limits have been exceeded. Also, if you have COMP and Collision and someone else is at fault for an accident, the insurance company will take on the role of pursuing the responsible party. Trust me, this is not an easy task. I had to help a friend through this since he got into a wreck and he had no insurance and neither did the responsible party. I do this for a living and it was still a pain. Insurance companies have a lot more tools at their disposal. We only had small claims court.

Lastly, what most people probably don't think of is how insurance helps society. If medical researchers and doctors could not get insurance, they would be less likely to want to treat you or come up with new technology or medication for fear of being sued and having to pay the claims out of their own pockets. Contractors, homebuilders, plumbers, etc, would not want to do any work for fear that they would be sued should the unthinkable happen. What you do not pay in premiums would have to be paid in taxes to some extent to cover the cost of all the civil lawsuits that would arise as insurance companies would no longer be settling losses out of court. Only a very small percentage of claims actually ever see a courtroom.

When you look at the big picture you can see how important insurance really is and how integrated it is with the daily functions of today's society. And as a brief history on insurance, the first forms of insurance were actually bets on whether or not a boat would make it from England to North America. In a way, insurance is like gamb|ing. Without it, you are betting all your chips every hand as the ante. I prefer to bet smaller amounts over longer period of time.