I HATE how companies have gotten into the habit of passing along big increases in their pricing without so much as a letter explaining themselves.
Time-Warner is famous for it. One month your bill just starts being 10 percent higher for no apparent reason. When I ran a business I could never have gotten away with that. I'd send out a letter three months in advance explaining our rates were increasing and why, giving customers the opportunity to prepare for it or make a change.
Today my car insurance bill arrived and had a TWENTY SEVEN PERCENT increase! I've had a perfect driving record for about 20 years now.
So I called and "Oh yeah, it's no fault of your own. We just raised our Wisconsin rates". To which I said "Well good luck with that".
Ten minutes later I switched from Progressive (bye bye Flo) to Geico (hello British sounding lizard) and went from my newly inflated rate of $242 per six months to $164.20 for six months.
So I guess in the long run Progressive did me a favor, they wound up saving me $27 from my OLD rate.
Still though, I'm getting tired of changing auto-insurance companies EVERY SINGLE YEAR. I've literally had five companies in five years, always in response to massive rate increases.
Companies only value NEW customers, they think they can treat current customers like sh*t.
I have Geico and am pretty happy with it. Granted, I only recently got into the responsible driver age group, so I haven't had long enough to notice a significant increase. I haven't really shopped around, but I did used to have Progressive, and their customer service sucked. Geico customer service has always been super good for me.
MZ, I never get a chance to find out how their customer service is, that's what's so infuriating. I haven't had so much as a ticket in 20 years. I don't understand how the value of my vehicle keeps dropping, they take my money and don't have to do a THING for me, EVER. Yet ever year decide "hey, let's gouge this guy a little". It's maddening.
The one incident I had was when I hit a deer, but that was never reported because I just sent the car to the scrap heap and went down to one car. A police report wasn't even filed.
I understand rate increases, and a 3 percent one I wouldn't even question. But 27%?!?!? Just 'cus?
If I'm not mistaken, I think I was with Geico at least once before and they did the same thing to me. I'm convinced they all use a low rate the first year to get you in and then rely on your complacency to accept big increases after that.
But with the internet now, it's not hard to switch. It took me less than 10 minutes to compare four companies and find three with rates lower than I had BEFORE the increase.
I probably should do that again sometime soon. I've had Geico for years. Haven't tried shopping around because of the recent accidents the wuzband had. So far my rates haven't gone up and I don't want to go calling attention to myself.
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MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
since I made this switch a few hours ago I've gotten two follow up calls from the insurance companies I didn't go with.
They start their scripted speech and I interrupt and say "save your breath, I've already signed up with Geico, they had the best rates"
Then they follow up with "I'm sorry to hear that sir, but if you ever need to make a change..." and launch right back into a lengthy scripted goodbye including a ten digit phone number. As she's reading the number I'm thinking, does she actually think I'm gonna write this down?
In my mind I just see the poor woman following her script, skipping down to the bottom part once I've told her I went another way.
Competition is good. I wish cable would get some serious competition. Or the electric company!
I used to have Farmer's many, many years ago. Then they got ahold of ol' Kev's driving record. They made me sign a waiver saying that if he wrecked my car that they wouldn't have to cover it... not a problem... he never drove my car. I signed it, then they still dumped me. Had Shelter for a while after that, then they quit covering cars around here. Had American Family next... until Kev quit paying the insurance premium and got us both cancelled. When I went shopping for insurance, Geico was the winner.
__________________
MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
I used to have Farmer's many, many years ago. Then they got ahold of ol' Kev's driving record. They made me sign a waiver saying that if he wrecked my car that they wouldn't have to cover it... not a problem... he never drove my car. I signed it, then they still dumped me. 
Had Shelter for a while after that, then they quit covering cars around here. Had American Family next... until Kev quit paying the insurance premium and got us both cancelled. When I went shopping for insurance, Geico was the winner.
