I'm looking for a good Home/auto insurance Co.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
Bill has already contacted me with a resolution. The folks at Touchstone are amazing, I love that I can whine on the net to no one in particular and they still rush to my side.

+11111111eleventy for Touchstone!

Oh, in that case, I'm paying too much for insurance, home and auto.

[npham]

How does switching work if you still have contracts with TD MM? Cancellation fees? Or can you cancel anytime?

[realazy]

Originally posted by npham
How does switching work if you still have contracts with TD MM? Cancellation fees? Or can you cancel anytime?

Contract? You mean you've paid the full year premium?

How it worked when I switched was they refund you the remainder but with a cancellation fee. Depending on the savings vs. the cancellation fee, it may or may not be beneficial.

In my case, I waited till the policy ended to switch. I just told TD MM that I was not going to renew.

[sneek]

Originally posted by realazy


Contract? You mean you've paid the full year premium?

How it worked when I switched was they refund you the remainder but with a cancellation fee. Depending on the savings vs. the cancellation fee, it may or may not be beneficial.

In my case, I waited till the policy ended to switch. I just told TD MM that I was not going to renew.

I guess I am late to the thread but +99999999 for Touchstone. I deal with Darren but he saved me a $600/year on my insurance. I ended up with Aviva FWIW

[nj2Type-S]

it seems like that there is quite a bit of members who uses Intact for their insurance. whar were your experienced when actually making a claim for home and/or auto through them?

all i see are negative reviews online for Intact. i've been with State Farm for over 15 years now, and i'm considering switching insurance providers to cut down my cost.

thanks!

[Masked Bandit]

I've actually done a lot of investigating of online reviews over the last few months and I've come to a firm conclusion...that they're pretty much useless. For the most part, if you read between the lines and know how things actually work, most of the problems stem from poor communication and an overall lack of understanding what their particular policy actually covers. It's uneducated consumers over-expecting on coverage while wanting the absolute cheapest possible rate, even if there are holes in their coverage.

I've been doing this a long time and I can say quite confidently that there is not a single insurance company out there that has a superior claims department when compared to the rest of the industry. Here's why:

A) All insurance companies outsource a large percentage of their claims to private adjusting firms. That means on any given day, Mr. Smith who is an adjuster for ABC Adjusting Inc. will have a file from TD, Aviva, State Farm & Intact all on his desk.

B) The claims end of the insurance industry has extremely high turnover. Finding someone that works auto & property claims with more than 5 years experience is RARE. Most bail after a year or two and either go into underwriting or jump to the broker side. This industry is FULL of people who USED to work in claims.

So the long and the short of it is that a claim with any given insurance company is a total crap shoot. With every company along with the handful of private adjusting firms, you're going to get a few rock stars, a few totally incompetent idiots, and the bulk in the middle that are just warm bodies. Not great but not terrible. Add on top of that a system where these people are very overworked, and there is no hope of any given company being better than any other given company when looking at the big picture.

So what's a consumer to do? Find a good broker that can help you through the process if & when you have a claim and it goes sideways. That right there is one of the biggest reasons consumers should use a broker instead of a direct writer (like AMA, the banks, etc.). If you're with one of the direct writers and things go sideways, you don't have anyone to fight on your behalf. You're completely at their mercy.

[ExtraSlow]

In terms of claims, I haven't had to make a claim with my newest provider (Avivia), but back when i was with TDMM, they were pretty easy to deal with through four different Auto claims, and one house claim. I never had any issues with their service. Changed due to sewer backup coverage on house, and price.

I have been happy with my communications through Touchstone, but so far ***knocks wood*** no claims to report on.

[A790]

Originally posted by nj2Type-S
it seems like that there is quite a bit of members who uses Intact for their insurance. whar were your experienced when actually making a claim for home and/or auto through them?

all i see are negative reviews online for Intact. i've been with State Farm for over 15 years now, and i'm considering switching insurance providers to cut down my cost.

thanks!

I've been with Intact for a few years now (via Touchstone) and have no complaints. When my Optima got hit & run in a parking lot, the claims process was super simple. Very easy, stress free, etc.

[msommers]

The long and short of Touchstone is that Bill knows his stuff, doesn't bullshit you, has good rates and just gets it done.

That's all there is to it.

Was with TDMM with APEGA discount and my house + auto insurance yearly premium went down $4xx a year with slightly better coverage.

[whiskas]

Originally posted by msommers
The long and short of Touchstone is that Bill knows his stuff, doesn't bullshit you, has good rates and just gets it done.

Darren at Touchstone is also really pleasant to deal with. He helped me out a lot when I was flipping my S2000 between parked and full coverage.

[Sugarphreak]

Touchtone all the way... Bill is awesome!

[DENZILDON]

Bill +1

[Tik-Tok]

+1 for Bill

[nzwasp]

I just changed to touchstone (with shelley) and she saved me over $1000 a year on my car insurance, plus both my cars are full coverage and listed as commuter vehicles too. I have avviva insurance.

After being with TD MM for 6 years their rates just couldn't compare.

[AllGoNoShow]

Never received any quotes from Touchstone for the couple of times I sent a request in so -1 there from me. Yes I even got a response saying someone else was going to work on it and get right back

[ee2k]

Originally posted by nzwasp
I just changed to touchstone (with shelley) and she saved me over $1000 a year on my car insurance, plus both my cars are full coverage and listed as commuter vehicles too. I have avviva insurance.

After being with TD MM for 6 years their rates just couldn't compare.

I found TD MM to have bloated pricing. They get to you through promotions via your alma matter, your professional association etc and say they are offering you special rates. Rates are special alright, especially when they quote a single car's insurance at $160/mo when others go as low as $70/mo. Their rates are like corporate rates that rental car companies charge, no they are not discounted, they are more but whoever is swiping the corporate card doesn't care and just goes for it.

In my case, RBC Insurance offers my company's employees discounted rates which are unreal even after adding full coverage, loss of use, coverage for driving someone else's car including rental cars etc. So, check with your employer if their financial/insurance company offers similar things. And when bundling it all with home insurance, I couldn't go anywhere else.

[thinmyster]

Originally posted by AllGoNoShow
Never received any quotes from Touchstone for the couple of times I sent a request in so -1 there from me. Yes I even got a response saying someone else was going to work on it and get right back

Bill literally answers my emails in <15mins. I could never go back to TD. Too inconvenient. And too expensive!

[bigbadboss101]

Aviva reviews are good here. I have seen some negatives ones when I do a google search. I guess one can only take online reviews with a grain of salt.

[suntan]

Originally posted by nj2Type-S
it seems like that there is quite a bit of members who uses Intact for their insurance. whar were your experienced when actually making a claim for home and/or auto through them?

all i see are negative reviews online for Intact. i've been with State Farm for over 15 years now, and i'm considering switching insurance providers to cut down my cost.

thanks!

I've had two auto claims (hail + got rear ended) and one house claim (hail) with Intact.

They were mostly fine. The lady handling my car hail claim was a hateful bitch from hell though. I complained to a manager and they switched me to someone else. Even she was aghast at how the girl talked to me when she heard the recorded conversations.

[jabjab]

Aviva reviews are horrible!

I just got quote that is significantly lower than what I pay now but a little reluctant to switch giving what I've read about Aviva.