Overpriced even after 24 years of continuous coverage
on a budget, safe driver, fuel-conscious, Safety conscious, noticing the details, computer literate, value conscious, daily driver
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NOV
6
2008
Allstate —
Details and Support of my Review
PROS: multi-car discounts, long-term customer discounts, good driver discounts, safety features discounts, some (not all) claims are easy.CONS: HIGH COST, Agents are not on the ball, rude agents, agents that don't care about the customer, company itself doesn't support customer complaints against agent, apparent sexist attitude about drivers, slow to respond to correspondence, auto-payment does not ensure payment of premium, agent doesn't follow up to prevent problems with loss of insurance, gives you the cheapest limits available in your area (yet they don't tell you).
Recommendations: only after comparing all other insurance companies to make sure there are none that are cheaper for your needs. Be aware that the agents are just a person who sits in an office and doesn't really do much for you. He/she doesn't check to see what s/he could do to make your insurance cheaper, s/he doesn't check with you to make sure nothing has changed for your needs, s/he doesn't make sure you have the best coverage, s/he gives you the lowest of everything that the state will allow, just to give you cheap coverage and make it look like you are getting insured for less; only s/he doesn't tell you that s/he has done so (we found this out when we changed insurance companies and were told we were under-insured for the amount of property we owned). Their agents don't seem to be concerned about your best interest, only their pockets.
***Some will call this fluff; others will be able to get a better picture***
Our StoryWhen I moved from California in 1985 I had AAA insurance. When I arrived in Pennsylvania, they did not have AAA. So, the search was on for an insurance company. I called every company I could to get comparisons. Allstate was the only one that seemed within reason for price in this area, and it was $900 more per year for the same coverage that I had in California - Yikes!
As the years passed, I learned a number of things about Allstate. First, when my husband and I were married we thought our rates would go down - they didn't, they stayed the same. What did happen when we changed to one policy though, was that they took my car, which was in my name and switched my car to having him as the primary driver (I had insurance with them for 5 years before we were married and combined our insurance). What? I called them up to inform them of their mistake, and let them know that I was concerned that since I was the primary driver if there was a problem, then I wanted to make sure they had the right driver. The agent (Mr. Worthless) was RUDE, and said it didn't matter who drove the car, so who cares whose name is the primary driver. Well, uhhhh...me. I was insured before why would you change that? The conversation did not go well and needless to say, we called Allstate and asked for a new agent. Allstate refused saying that they don't switch agents just because customers ask for a new agent and don't get along - that it's not fair to the agents. What? That's ridiculous - you mean you would rather lose a customer? I didn't say that, but after that conversation, I hung up and again called around for insurance companies - I found that we were getting the long term customer rates and most of the other companies could not give us the rates we were currently paying, so we were stuck. :(
Claim - NOT! My husband was driving on the turn-pike, a person tried to make three lanes out of two and side-swiped the entire length of my husbands car. We called Mr. Worthless Agent only to be told, can't help you - you don't have that kind of coverage. What, this was a hit and run he had the license, what do you mean you won't pursue this? What is the point of paying under-insured/non-insured fees when you do nothing? Fortunately, soon we moved, so I again called the company and asked for a new agent, this time being wise and not mentioning what a loser the agent was, but that there was an agent much closer to us and that it was now inconvenient to have to go to Mr. Worthless, so could we switch to New Mr. Impersonal. They allowed the switch this time.
Claim - Yes! My husband doesn't seem to have much luck with cars. Since my car was older than his, he took my car because he was going out of town and didn't want to leave his new car at the airport. On the way home though, he fought a deer and the deer won. Poor deer, poor car. We took my car to be repaired, they called the insurance company; the insurance company totaled my car. :( They said the repairs cost as much as the total worth of the car, so they paid us what the car was worth and called it totaled. It was enough to get another used vehicle with some additional funds. Our insurance did NOT go up with this claim. At this point we had been customers with Allstate 20 years.
Switched to AUTO payment. First, payment done manually to set up the process. The next year we received a notice that we had not paid our insurance premium and were about to be canceled. What? I'm on AUTO payment - how can you cancel someone on auto-payment? We have been customers for 20 years and have always paid the full insurance premium on time, didn't they think to ask what is up? Apparently they coded the wrong numbers in the account and so the payment did not go through. Okay, then what's the point in having an agent? Shouldn't he have PREVENTED this kind of thing from happening? Shouldn't he have called and say there seems to be a problem with your auto payment, let's fix it so you don't lose your insurance? That's just not right. I also notice the same thing with this agent as the last one - everything is in my husband's name, including my car. They had me listed on the car that we say we drive 2 times per year, but the other 2 cars, that are driven full time to work and back by each of us, they have both of those in his name. Hey, what's up with that? How can he be the primary driver of the two most driven cars, but the car that is driven 8 times a year is me (I do go to work daily)? I called to let them know of their mistake. Agent's response, "Well, he is older than you, so it's cheaper." Yeah, so what, I'm over 35 years old and have been driving since the day I turned 16, my experience should be a factor in my insurance at this point, and my age should not really be relevant since I'm way past teens and 20's. Besides, I'm the one who has NEVER made any claims. He did change it, our insurance did NOT go up as he suggested it would, so this seems a sexist ploy more than a savings activity. We did get the payment made and did prevent loss of insurance, but we shouldn't have had the scare since we were on auto-payment.
We also had a glass claim (apparently the Car Gods think my husband needs frequent testing, LOL). A large rock broke his windshield. They were very good about the claim. No issues.
Eventually, AAA was finally available in our area, so I checked the rates again. There would be a SAVINGS of over $1,600.00 per year. Did I switch? You betcha! No more husband's name on on the cars, no more extra payments, no more impersonal insurance agent.
Last edited on Nov 06, 2008
Allstate is recommended by VixenViewTreasures
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