car insurance

[arethinn]

I'm curious who-all (in CA) uses what companies for their car insurance, and what your experiences have been. It looks like I may actually be buying a car in the not-too-distant future, and one decision we have to make is whether I want to start my own policy with AAA, or whether I want to switch to another insurance company when I do so. AAA is somewhat of teh debbil, and I hear vague rumour they're worse in terms of service than some others, so tell me who's better. Cost is not exactly a factor here; of course I don't want to pay something way out of line, but at least when checking online quotes, it seems that the rates for what I want to drive and my record are all pretty similar (within $50 or so of one another), so... yeah. Any recommendations, or companies to avoid like the screaming Martian plague?

Comments

[twopiearr.livejournal.com]

To avoid: CVA. Don't recall what the acronym stands for. Found them on a "find the lowest quote" search engine. Had them for a year and had nothing but problems with them.

Recommended: Progressive. Went through five different web sites and got the lowest quote from them - roughly commesurate with the other quotes I received, but a bit lower and with one month FREE every 6-month term! (So why don't they just make a lower premium every month? I don't know. But as I said, the monthly for Progressive's five wound up being about the same as the other guys' six, so I'm not complaining too loud.)

Prior to either of those, we had one term of State Farm, mostly because we had to have *some* kind of insurance to drive off the lot, and State Farm had some sort of arrangement with the dealer. No strong emotions positive or negative, but it was the most expensive insurance I've had to date.

Of course I've never actually had to file a claim *knock wood* so I don't know how well any of these companies actually work. Here's hoping neither you or I ever have to find out!

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Well, I've already had two accidents and two break-ins in my lifetime, for a total of two insurance claims we filed (the first accident and the first break-in) and another filed against me (the second accident). The thing with CSAA is that they wouldn't tell us anything. It was hard to get a hold of a real person. They paid the claims in the second accident without notifying us they were doing so. Etc.

Ironically, at least through website quotes, however, they offer me the most flexible insurance options - they will let me buy as much as I want to, whereas a lot of other sites are limiting me to levels I don't feel comfortable with (Geico even insisted that I choose between Uninsured Motorist Property Damage, and Collision - it wouldn't let me have both! WTF!) and give me the cheapest rate while doing so! I don't get it! They also do insurance in Canada, like State Farm does, as the Canadian Automobile Association, although their website won't give me a quote.

My dad's opinion is that "the devil we know" may be a good idea. heh.