Author Topic: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?  (Read 7301 times)

Tim1965

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Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« on: July 20, 2016, 09:55:08 AM »
We're currently with Liberty Mutual, and pay $2,000+  a year for a house built in 1885 in a very trendy, popular neighborhood in the Boston area.

Looks like we could get cheaper rates with Progressive or Geico. I switched to Geico car insurance last year, and like the ads say, 15 minutes saved me a lot of money.

Anyone have home insurance with Geico or Progressive? Any experiences to share, good or bad? Our inclination is to get the highest deductible possible and make a claim only in the event of something catastrophic. But I want to make sure the insurance is reliable in case something catastrophic does in fact happen.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

AMandM

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2016, 10:04:02 AM »
We've had house insurance through Geico for several years.  Two years ago we had a catastrophic event--a pipe burst after we'd moved out of our house, but before we'd sold it.  There wasn't any personal property damage, since the house was empty, but the repairs from the flood came to about $30k.  Geico covered it all very smoothly, even though the policy was for our primary residence and we had moved out.

boarder42

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2016, 10:06:14 AM »
my advice is to find a broker who represents many and can shop it for you.  also to call a nationwide rep. 

nationwide is unique in the way they use your credit report to determine your risk -
when i first bought a house they rated me extremely high and it gets locked in there, things they take into account that will positively effect you:
1. little to no debt
2. great credit
3. very little available revolving credit

so have a CC open for a long time with a low credit limit and little to no debt and you will rank very high with them

when we bought our second house b/c of these issues above they were over 50% higher than progressive, but the net overall cost with cars included ended up being slightly with safeco thru a broker than progressive.

the reason they say "15 minutes can save you alot" is because most people dont shop very often or re evaluate their insurance. you should call 10+ places in my opinion and figure out the lowest total overall cost for home and cars b/c when packaged they save more money typically.  i reshop insurance every few years maybe more just to see whats out there.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2016, 10:08:04 AM by boarder42 »

KaizenSoze

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2016, 10:07:14 AM »
GEICO home insurance is handled through Travelers. We have had it for years but not had any claims.

They have been responsive to coverage changes. So far so good.

GEICO does give some discount if you have both home and car with them. I don't have the paperwork handy to give you the amount.

CheapskateWife

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2016, 10:07:53 AM »
I had Geico for about 15 days, until they sent over an inspector and decided that my treehouse and pit-mix were too risky.  Had to go crawling back to USAA.  Oh, they don't like trampolines either.

Frankies Girl

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2016, 10:10:53 AM »
Either one of those are going to be reliable; they've been around for years and both have excellent reputations.

We've had GEICO (but they use Travelers in our area for our homeowner's part) for around 20 years. I periodically shop around and can't beat their price on car or home.

Had hurricane damage a while back, they had a guy to our house within 3 days of our calling to report damage, inspected things quickly and cut us a check on the spot. Didn't raise our rates either.


FerrumB5

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2016, 10:49:03 AM »
Will be shopping around very soon. are brokers that can do it for you free or do they charge some amount irrespective whether you buy or not buy in the end?

Choices

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2016, 11:05:25 AM »
I had Progressive for years and they had good rates, but we didn't have any claims.
We now have USAA and they've been fantastic, even with lots of damage from a freak hail storm in the desert. Do you have any family members with USAA who could give you a referral?

purple monkey

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #8 on: July 20, 2016, 11:24:42 AM »
I have used GEICO for 10+ years.
We use their subcontractors for homeowners.
I have had three different ones.
They have consistently been the cheapest for homeowners and car insurance.
I do call around every year to try to get better deals.

I have yet to have a claim, so I am not sure what kind of customer service you might get.

boarder42

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2016, 11:37:17 AM »
Will be shopping around very soon. are brokers that can do it for you free or do they charge some amount irrespective whether you buy or not buy in the end?

brokers are paid commissions but also can offer lower rates than direct buying from the company based on the business they do with them.  so its a win win win all the way around unlike stock brokers.

jamaicaspanish

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2016, 11:39:48 AM »
Geico and Progressive both use HomeSite for their homeowners policies.

FerrumB5

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2016, 11:53:18 AM »
Quote

brokers are paid commissions but also can offer lower rates than direct buying from the company based on the business they do with them.  so its a win win win all the way around unlike stock brokers.

Are they paid if I decide not to buy? Never went thru a broker before - only direct buys from companies or their reps

boarder42

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2016, 12:28:58 PM »
Quote

brokers are paid commissions but also can offer lower rates than direct buying from the company based on the business they do with them.  so its a win win win all the way around unlike stock brokers.

Are they paid if I decide not to buy? Never went thru a broker before - only direct buys from companies or their reps

you dont pay them anything just like with a rep you go to them give them your info and they shop b/c they are a rep for mulitple places.  they give you prices you decide to go with them or not. just like normal insurance. but they do the leg work for you with multiple places.

ketchup

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2016, 12:33:37 PM »
I had Geico/Travelers for a bit.  They were crazy expensive so I ended up switching, but that probably depends a lot on your area.

Tim1965

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2016, 01:21:08 PM »
Nice, thanks for the advice, everybody. The online quote I'm getting from Geico is about $600 cheaper that what I'm currently paying, so I suspect I'll end up going in that direction.

Gin1984

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #15 on: July 20, 2016, 02:04:54 PM »
GEICO home insurance is handled through Travelers. We have had it for years but not had any claims.

They have been responsive to coverage changes. So far so good.

GEICO does give some discount if you have both home and car with them. I don't have the paperwork handy to give you the amount.
My area uses Liberty Mutual through Geico and it saved me 15% on both my car insurance and home based on the multiline discount. 

Tetsuya Hondo

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #16 on: July 20, 2016, 03:45:31 PM »
Try Amica. I got a cheaper rate than Geico for my homeowners and auto insurance. They also score a lot higher than Geico or Progressive on various customer service ratings.

Prior to switching, I had been a Geico customer for years and my experiences with them were mostly positive though. Their customer support reps were always helpful and they took care of a frivolous lawsuit against me that arose from an auto accident. My rate didn't even increase.

brotatochip

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #17 on: July 20, 2016, 07:04:27 PM »
Farmers has always had the lowest rates for me

FerrumB5

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #18 on: July 20, 2016, 07:31:24 PM »
I'll try Dave Ramsey's ELP shortly - within 1-2 weeks. Will report back on experience

ender

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #19 on: July 20, 2016, 07:34:20 PM »
Try Amica. I got a cheaper rate than Geico for my homeowners and auto insurance. They also score a lot higher than Geico or Progressive on various customer service ratings.

Prior to switching, I had been a Geico customer for years and my experiences with them were mostly positive though. Their customer support reps were always helpful and they took care of a frivolous lawsuit against me that arose from an auto accident. My rate didn't even increase.

I just got Amica too, they were about the same cost as Geico but... their reps were a loooot better to talk with (we called both and talked to both after filling out the online quotes).

After talking to the Geico and Amica reps I would definitely go with Amica, they were much less "make the sale" like.

MoonLiteNite

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #20 on: July 21, 2016, 03:59:15 AM »
I use Geico/Travelers for my home/auto
The house value is like 180k. I pay around 1200$/yr, but i think i get a discount because i have been under the gieco auto plans since i was a teen. (15 years now)

misshathaway

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #21 on: July 21, 2016, 06:02:37 AM »
Geico does not do their own homeowners - at least in MA they don't. Before you sign up for anything, ask them what the actual local company is and look at consumer satisfaction for that company.

I switched to Geico for car and umbrella, but not for homeowners after seeing the online reviews for the local company that would be providing the homeowners.

boarder42

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Re: Anyone had luck with Progressive or Geico home insurance?
« Reply #22 on: July 21, 2016, 06:10:17 AM »
Try Amica. I got a cheaper rate than Geico for my homeowners and auto insurance. They also score a lot higher than Geico or Progressive on various customer service ratings.

Prior to switching, I had been a Geico customer for years and my experiences with them were mostly positive though. Their customer support reps were always helpful and they took care of a frivolous lawsuit against me that arose from an auto accident. My rate didn't even increase.

I just got Amica too, they were about the same cost as Geico but... their reps were a loooot better to talk with (we called both and talked to both after filling out the online quotes).

After talking to the Geico and Amica reps I would definitely go with Amica, they were much less "make the sale" like.

have to call to get my online auto quote but home owners is 200 less than safeco.  only issue is wind/hail damage deductible is 8800 vs 2500 ... we get a few hail storms here and my roof is aging so dont know if i want to roll the dice on this.  or not. guess i'll have to talk to them about the car insurance and see where it comes in