Allstate... good hands?... not so much...

[TheAmericanDream]

Discount double check.

State Farm here and love it

[mush]

yeah me too State Farm can't go wrong. I use Michael Pritchard in Charlotte 704-535-2292. Love how their is always a live person answer the phone in their office to handle whatever you need. They have your acct. pulled up in seconds, you don't have to wait for a live person, and they know you. No having to leave messages and crap. And they saved me hundreds on my car insurance when I got homeowners through them too over Nationwide.

[Jackofalltrades]

Go to an indepedant agent....they represent tons of insurance carriers and can place you with the company that fits you best. They aren't forced just to push one product like when you walk in All State......

In theory anyway.

[car5nc]

Go to an indepedant agent....they represent tons of insurance carriers and can place you with the company that fits you best. They aren't forced just to push one product like when you walk in All State......

They will likely choose the company that makes them the most commission...

[Jackofalltrades]

Yep.

State Farm is very reputable, they're ranked #1 for a reason.

If you need motorcycle insurance Progressive is nearly impossible to beat. I laugh every time I see that Allstate commercial that says all motorcycle insurance costs "about the same" any where you go,.

[Davidson Deac II]

I like Geico

I agree, Geico has been great. My wife hit a deer in my truck a few weeks ago. I drove it to their site, they cut me a check on the spot. They even waived part of the the deductible for some reason, I can't remember why. They were extremely efficient.

My wife had an accident three and a half years ago, my insurance did go up, but not to the extent the OP's did. And even in that, when she was at fault, they were extremely efficient.

[MagPie]

Most insurance companies will do the dirty work for you when you tell them who you are currently with. They will cancel for you, when you sign with them.

[Jackofalltrades]

Most insurance companies will do the dirty work for you when you tell them who you are currently with. They will cancel for you, when you sign with them.

They can't, if someone wanted help canceling a policy with a competitor we had to keep the new customer on the phone in order for us to talk on their behalf.

[MagPie]

They can't, if someone wanted help canceling a policy with a competitor we had to keep the new customer on the phone in order for us to talk on their behalf.

Correct. That's what I meant. I've had it done before, although I was a walk in.

[MadHatter]

First question is why would anyone have their homeowners ins and auto ins with different companies? You get discounts by bundling the coverages.

[Jackofalltrades]

First question is why would anyone have their homeowners ins and auto ins with different companies? You get discounts by bundling the coverages.

In some cases you can save more by keeping them seperate.

[Bronn]

In some cases you can save more by keeping them seperate.

This was why we did it...

As an update to the situation...

I talked to my current car insurance agent today, and the cancellation/admin fees are, by his statements, NC law...

Apparently, the law stipulates that insurance companies are allowed to charge individuals a percentage of their rate should they cancel before the end of a term. The percentage increases the longer the policy is active, but any moneys you pay towards the balance are deducted from the percentage you would owe. This is, in his words, to prevent people from starting a policy with one company, not paying, and starting a new policy with another company down the road (whenever they need some sort of proof-of-insurance)...

In other words, if your policy is for 6 months at $1,500 and you're 30 days into it when you cancel, they can charge you 27% of the $1,500 ($405). If you've made a couple payments already, like in our case, that amount is deducted from the $405 and ends up pretty close to being a wash, meaning you owe little if anything.

I'm going to verify this with the new company (Nationwide) and see if they tell me this is the case, but it seems (by my calculations since my current agent apparently didn't have time to crunch the exact numbers for me) that we'll only owe Allstate about $25...

[Jackofalltrades]

I was a licensed agent in NC and 22 other states and this is the first time I've heard of that.

Have you shopped around?

[Bronn]

I was a licensed agent in NC and 22 other states and this is the first time I've heard of that.

Have you shopped around?

yeah, Nationwide is the best we got... almost half what we were paying with Allstate...