Changing Insurance to State Farm, your input requested

[Marv_Hoag]

I've had my motorhome insured with Good Sam (National General) for many years. Circumstances may require me to change to State Farm. If you have history with State Farm I would like your opinion of their service and coverage on RVs.

[Mushroom]

dbates wrote:
I started out with State Farm on my motor home, auto & home owners but after reviewing their policy regarding road service I changed the motor home over to Progressive at about the same annual cost and it has increased VERY little in the 7 years I’ve been with them. Progressive’s road service is about the same as Good Sam’s separate road service but a lot less expensive. State Farm uses their auto policy to cover motor homes and is limited in what they will cover. Progressive has personal possession, campground liability, predetermined total damage for the motor home and some other coverage’s that State Farm does not provide. I did retain State Farm on my auto and home but I’m having problems with them on tornado damage to my home now. I also had tornado damage to my motor home and Progressive was very quick and professional in handling the claim.

We’ve noticed in the past that even though our agent is very nice and tries to help us with claims she has virtually no authority or leverage with their adjusters or company.

Dave

I echo this experience. I am also in Indiana and State Farm has treated us well on our auto, home, and rental properties...but is clueless on RVs. It was far more to add the RV with poor road coverage and horrific reimbursement for the coach itself. Progressive goes by an agreed value that remains in effect for the length of time you maintain the policy. SF pays what they think it's worth. As my agent told me ' It's just a big car, right?'.
Progressive for the MH everything else is SF.
Oh, and my rental property had a claim a couple of years ago..SF denied it. Local TV station did a story and suddenly it was covered. YMMV

[hipower]

I have had coverage from SF since 1963 and have shopped their rates on a number of occasions and in spite of a few dollars in savings offered now and then by another insurer I have remained with them simply because having an agent who knows my name and usually my voice when I call was more than worth the small difference.

We have insured cars homes, motorcycles, trailers (cargo and RV), golf carts and had a mortgage life policy when we needed one. I currently have an IRA account with them also. As a multi vehicle, multi line customer with a pretty good record and a long history with SF there is a guaranteed renewal clause that many people find valuable when they may have larger claims and another insurer might cancel their coverage.

All claims have been handled to my complete satisfaction. My only beef is as another poster pointed out they will not provide coverage if we become fulltimers without a S&B home. Not an issue now and may never be, but we spend 4-6 months per year in the coach now.

[SRT]

BigSkyBob wrote:
I've had State Farm for over 40 years and have had several claims handled to my satisfaction. I've bundled the coach, the house, my pickup and daughters car under SF. I've checked several times over the years for cheaper rates but over all SF has been my best bet.

Yup......

[et2]

Not to say other insurance companies aren't good. As I said before we have SF. Rates are the best in our area. We had AAA for 10 years prior to that. They still insure our home and we have RV Plus through them and we still are a member.

I think all insurance companies raise your rates over time. AAA did, but when we checked others they still were the best. Then comes the accident my wife had that should have totaled the car. They fixed it at a cost of $18,000 to them. Upon renewal our rates more than doubled. It wasn't her fault as someone turned in front of her. Too bad that's the way it is.

So now we have State Farm and are happy for the last 3 years.

[JetAonly]

DSDP Don wrote:
Marv.....if you were ever in the military, USAA was just rated as the best insurance company in the US. I know several people who have them and love them. If I had served in the military, I would definitely be using USAA.

They are a good company, I've been with them 38 years. They sent me to their Progressive partner for my MH insurance. Progressive quoted me 3X what National General ( GMAC) did. They won't write insurance on my Motorcycle either, Progressive was reasonable for that. They won't write Homeowners in Florida.

[Deano56]

WyoTraveler wrote:
Had State farm auto from 1954 to 1990. Never had a claim. Then had 1 glass breakage claim on the rear window of my MH. Attempted burgalry. All they did was break the window and passerby scared them. My rates doubled. Never renewed the auto insurance. Went with GS, National General and have been very happy. However, I do still have State farm home insurance and happy with their home policy. I would go with whoever is cheapest.

i have State Farm also along with our cars and home, I too checked with many of the claims to save money, only one was cheaper by 20 dollars on the cars (per 6 month policy)but higher on the others which overall was more. No problems with SF here, want to add I was with All State too and there rates kept climbing every year then tried good rated smaller (no national) company, there rates got too high also. If you don't shop around you won't know. strange how its different for many people even with the same insurer

[DSDP_Don]

Marv.....if you were ever in the military, USAA was just rated as the best insurance company in the US. I know several people who have them and love them. If I had served in the military, I would definitely be using USAA.

[N7SJN]

State Farm dropped us when we went full time with no S&B to insure.

[Norm___Deb]

I insured a new 120K RV with SF 15 years ago. Was going over my policy last year and found out that the "Under/Uninsured Motorists" protection level was capped at 10K and had been all along. That means that if an uninsured motorists would have run into me and totaled my RV all SF would have paid me was 10K. I was not happy with my local agent, not happy at all. So I changed companies.

[fla-gypsy]

rgatijnet1 wrote:

fla-gypsy wrote:
I have been with SF since 1977 for cars, house, and later added RV. No issues whatsoever, they have always paid quickly for claims and I have never seen a rate increase due to a claim. I do not believe they are the cheapest in Florida but getting homeowners insurance here is a challenge and finding an insurer who covers everything in Florida is hard so I have stuck with them. My only RV claim (lightning strike) was handled quickly and completely to my satisfaction.

State Farm is a great company and they handled the one claim that we had against one of their insured quickly and completely to our satisfaction. That said, they are not even close to the lowest cost insurer in Florida. There is no need to combine all of your policies with one company to get the best rate. They expect you do to this and they advertise how it will save you money, but it is basically all just sales BS. To get the best rate on your Florida homeowner's insurance, register here: Homeowner's insurance
Then you want to contact Auto-Owners Insurance to get a quote on your RV and other vehicles if you wish.
You will be surprised at how much you will save over State Farm and still have excellent coverage.

I am sure everything you said is true but I do not want the hassle of two insurers fighting over who is covering what if I am involved in an incident when the RV is hooked to the truck or the risk that some low cost small time or big homeowners ins company will exit the state never to heard from again when the big blow comes through (like happened after Andrew) when I know SF has handled every claim from homeowners, auto, and RV exactly like you would expect them to be handled and never tried to penalize me for them. I am certain they are not the low cost provider but when I wanted to initially cover my home in 1986 some large insurers would not even make a quote because I built it myself (properly permitted and to code). They have proven they wanted my business since 1977 when I covered my then, only car and have provided good service ever since.

[soren]

Good to see that many of the loyal SF users take the time to shop around for better rates. My long term experience was much different. the wife was with SF from the day she left the nest, and her parents were with them for many decades before that. The auto rates were constantly climbing, and I got suspicious, since there were zero claims. I shopped, switched us to another major brand and lowered the rate by 40%. for significantly increased coverage. The next move was to shop homeowners. I stopped at another agent, asked for a quote based on NOT being a current SF policy holder, and got a bit of a surprise. He quoted me a dollar less per year for twice the coverage. When they were caught, they simply said, too bad. We will give those rates to a walk in prospect, but not to existing customers. As you might guess, I haven't done business with SF in many years.

[rgatijnet1]

fla-gypsy wrote:
I have been with SF since 1977 for cars, house, and later added RV. No issues whatsoever, they have always paid quickly for claims and I have never seen a rate increase due to a claim. I do not believe they are the cheapest in Florida but getting homeowners insurance here is a challenge and finding an insurer who covers everything in Florida is hard so I have stuck with them. My only RV claim (lightning strike) was handled quickly and completely to my satisfaction.

State Farm is a great company and they handled the one claim that we had against one of their insured quickly and completely to our satisfaction. That said, they are not even close to the lowest cost insurer in Florida. There is no need to combine all of your policies with one company to get the best rate. They expect you do to this and they advertise how it will save you money, but it is basically all just sales BS. To get the best rate on your Florida homeowner's insurance, register here: Homeowner's insurance
Then you want to contact Auto-Owners Insurance to get a quote on your RV and other vehicles if you wish.
You will be surprised at how much you will save over State Farm and still have excellent coverage.

[abom2]

Started with SF in the 70's. Switched to GEICO when I entered the Marines. Slightly cheaper and could do payroll deduct. (Sometimes I was sent to places that made mailing payment difficult.)

Switched back to SF in the Early/Mid 80's when I got married. Some fellow Marines were have trouble getting claims completed/settled w/ GEICO.

SF always gave best rest where ever I was home based. In the 90's after I left Active Duty I stayed w/ SF. Moved back to TX in 2000. SF in TX is a Lloyds. It was explained to me as a way to change rates without State Insurance Commission input. (IDK if this is true) Rates were much higher than any other state I had SF in. The important thing was I could get home owners insurance. At that time TX was difficult to get home owners insurance due to all of the MOLD claims folks were filing.

When I left active duty I needed to get my license in the state I was living. I surrendered my TXDL and did not get that states Motorcycle Endorsement. When I returned to TX I did not get the endorsement immediately.

I eventually took a MSF Motorcycle Safety Course and got my motorcycle endorsement again. Purchased a motorcycle and went to add it to my SF accounts.

They would not write a policy because I had my endorsement less than 1 yr. I gave them my old TXDL # so they could see that I had previously had a TX motorcycle endorsement for 20+ yrs. No dice. Hmmm

Went with an Independent Agent who set me up with Dairyland. Good policy and very fair rate.

Switched to Progressive after 5 yrs. OK rates and coverage. Never have had a motorcycle claim in my life.

After I had my license for 1 yr SF agents staff tried to talk wife into adding my motorcycle to the policy. She got a quote first and called me. The quote for six months was more than my annual with Dairyland and later when I was looking a Progressive the SF quotes were still more for 6 months than the others 1 yr quote.

I have had my current bike for 7 yrs and 100k miles with no claims, tickets, or accidents, etc and that is one area SF cannot compete in.

RV, Home, cars, trucks, and additional riders with SF and rates are reasonable for TX. I believe that SF is just wary of the risk with motorcycles in TX. I can understand with the traffic, the way people drive here, and the ability to ride year around here increases the odds of a claim.

My RV insurance coverage is excellent. Even includes any of my property within a 25 ft radius of my RV.

[Marv_Hoag]

Thanks for all the input. Hearing from others makes changing easier. Have State Farm agent coming to the house today. If my Good Sam (National General / Homesite) homeowners insurance would have stuck with me, none of this would have been necessary. Time to move on.