Progressive Insurance questions

[rgatijnet1]

As I do every year, I check with numerous insurance companies to get competitive quotes. I have a very good driving record with zero claims.
As a point of reference, I have never found any company that could beat my existing company in the last 5 years. Recent quotes from the following companies are similar to what I get every year.
State Farm, +$515 over my existing
AARP/Hartford, +$478
Travelers, +$450
Geico, +$505
Nationwide, +$550

And then I get this quote from Progressive that is $471 LESS than my existing policy for a year, even tho they only write 6 month policies.
I have never been with Progressive and this is the first year that they have even been competitive.
Has anyone had experience with Progressive "low-balling" a quote to get the new policy and then jacking up the price next year, even without a claim.

[T18skyguy]

Ten years ago I insured an old Goldwing motorcycle with Progressive. One month later the engine blew(fatal), so I took it off insurance. The very next day, the DMV asked for proof of insurance for my many other vehicles. What happened was Progressive thought I did it for the proof of insurance, so they squealed to the DMV. The DMV never told me, but I knew it was them that sprang that audit on me. Of course all my vehicles are insured, but I won't forgive that dirty trick they pulled on me.

[ThomBoles]

I now have 4 different quotes outside of my Existing State Farm renewal.

SF renewal — $1103/year
Progressive directly from them — $950/year
Safeco through a local broker — $770/year
Foremost through the broker above — $1404/year
Progressive through a broker associated with Escapees — $821/year

That’s quite a spread. I, as a poster above, also feel that insurance is a necessary evil that I hope to never use. I’d need to do some research on Safeco as I don’t know much about them. I’ve been with State Farm since I have been driving but in this instance I may go elsewhere.

[koda55]

I took my RV policy to my agent because the renewal had almost doubled. When I received my bill from the new insurance company I could not believe how much it had gone down with Progressive. I actually took my old policy up and made sure I was getting the exact same coverage. They used the exact VIN and manufacturer. My policy is up for renewal in April, will see if it changes much.
My policy is also for 12 months not 6.

[LVJ58]

For whatever it's worth, we had our first coach and our current coach insured by Foremost Insurance Co.

With our first coach we filed a claim of over $9,000 and a few minor claims. We experienced excellent no hassle service on our claims and no increase in premium.

On our current coach we've filed a few minor claims, ie. window and awning replacement. We have full coverage with $250 deductible and our current annual premium is $838.00. Based on our experience with Foremost I would highly recommend them.

Good luck with your choice of insurers and safe travels...

[doxiemom11]

We have had a Progressive full-timers policy for 3 years and our rates have changed very little. As someone else stated, our did actually go down one year. We also have our vehicle insured with them. No complaints so far and the service we get from our agent has been great. n

[tropical36]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
As I do every year, I check with numerous insurance companies to get competitive quotes. I have a very good driving record with zero claims.
As a point of reference, I have never found any company that could beat my existing company in the last 5 years. Recent quotes from the following companies are similar to what I get every year.
State Farm, +$515 over my existing
AARP/Hartford, +$478
Travelers, +$450
Geico, +$505
Nationwide, +$550

And then I get this quote from Progressive that is $471 LESS than my existing policy for a year, even tho they only write 6 month policies.
I have never been with Progressive and this is the first year that they have even been competitive.
Has anyone had experience with Progressive "low-balling" a quote to get the new policy and then jacking up the price next year, even without a claim.

What's the diff and the main thing is for keeping an eye out for increases and shopping around, like you have been.
Usually with widespread prices, it's because of the amount insured and have found that the amount they will insure you for, is based on how bad they want your business. In other words and like an agent once told me, under the collar, go for the lowest amount for seeing if it will be accepted and in case of a total loss, they'll still have to pay the value. As always, will you get full retail without an argument, but have found that's not so difficult either, once you're known to stand your ground?

[Dutch_12078]

My Progressive rates have only changed by a few dollars each year except when moving up to a newer coach, and in a couple of years actually went down a few dollars. I had one small claim some years back on a previous RV, and the body shop's estimate disagreed with Progressive's adjuster by just under $100. The difference come down whether a part should be repaired by the shop or replaced, and the adjuster showed the shop guy where the replacement part saved enough on labor for the difference in cost, and the shop guy agreed. No hassles, and I do have an annual policy, not 6 months.

[rgatijnet1]

I have to agree that some insurance companies may be better to deal with than others. That is all fine and dandy if you have a claim.
From my standpoint, money sent in for insurance premiums has been money wasted for decades. Without any claims, it is hard for me to justify paying more to any company that may treat me or a claimant better than the least expensive insurance company will.

[dougrainer]

Regardless of the Insurance company. You GET what you pay for, or more precisely, you DON'T get what you expected to pay for. From a RV service center, we HATE dealing with Progressive AND Geico on RV damage estimates. They try to low ball every claim. Allstate and State Farm give us ZERO hassles on estimates and claims. Doug

[johnsonbert]

We had progressive through USAA for 2 years on the coach, reasonable, no claims of any kind, coach or cars, registered in Wisconsin. Single vehicle policy, cars registered in SD. Third year they tried to double it, did not renew and went through FMCA and they were using Nationwide. Progressive said they did a reevaluation of Wisconsin polices. Same thing when I had Progressive in the early 2000's on another coach in Florida, no claims, said it was a bad claims year because of the weather and doubled the third year. Nationwide beat everyone by a bunch. Will see how the renewal goes in year 2 in April. Hope this may help, Happy Trails Bert

[Ralph_Cramden]

tinstartrvlr wrote:
Rgatijnet you are correct. There is a central insurance database with everything about your driving record, claims, etc that they all access.

I wonder just how accurate it is, and how long they keep the info or if it gets purged after a certain amount of time. Don't need a claim from 10 years ago for a windshield giving them justification to quote a higher rate.

Gotta make money. It's what they do.

It's more accurate than you think it is, it's sort of like a credit report on steroids. All you have to do is go HEREand fill out the form, add the documentation, and mail it in.

As far as Progressive have had them since 09 and the rates were steady the entire time until an at fault accident in 16. Then it increased 35%. The kicker is all these companies now play the same game called discounts and accident forgiveness. I had an accident. I filed a claim. My cost increased 35%. My rate however did not increase. How you ask? My rate did not increase but due to the accident I lost the "accident free" and "safe driver" discounts for 3 years LOL. That's how it works and they all do it.

All of that said I still can not get a better rate than Progressive with that accident on the reports and have tried all of them every time the renewal comes through since 2016.

[ThomBoles]

tinstartrvlr wrote:
Something I just noticed in the OP is that their home base is Florida, as is mine. Progressive was honest enough to tell me that Florida is tops for insurance costs due to fraud and lawsuits and that everyone supposedly goes into a pool to offset their losses (meaning good drivers get lumped in with bad).

I am likely changing my domicile to South Dakota this summer and thinking I may be shocked at the price reduction if everything I hear is true.

I'm in FL too. St. Pete area. I'm going to get a quote from Progressive to see how it is. I've never had them but did work there in the past (a looooong time ago)

[John_Joey]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
And then I get this quote from Progressive that is $471 LESS than my existing policy for a year, even tho they only write 6 month policies.

I have never been with Progressive and this is the first year that they have even been competitive....

Progressive use to put a lot of weight on your credit score. Maybe this is what changed.

[tinstartrvlr]

Something I just noticed in the OP is that their home base is Florida, as is mine. Progressive was honest enough to tell me that Florida is tops for insurance costs due to fraud and lawsuits and that everyone supposedly goes into a pool to offset their losses (meaning good drivers get lumped in with bad).

I am likely changing my domicile to South Dakota this summer and thinking I may be shocked at the price reduction if everything I hear is true.

[ThomBoles]

OH48Lt wrote:
Had Progressive for a couple of policies, for the "toys". Motorcycle and ATV's. Low ball quote for first year, almost doubled for a renewal. Won't be using them again. State Farm is hard to beat, nobody else comes close.

My State Farm bill just showed up for renewal (March). $1103.09 for the next year. I'll be shopping around. I've got SF for everything else but that seems high to me.