Wish I didn't need insurance but since I do ...
Written: Oct 09 '00 (Updated Nov 14 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Price Confidence: |
|
|
|
Pros: Lowest rate available
Cons: none
|
|
|
| wytman's Full Review: AIG - American International Group - Auto |
I am not your typical car owner. I own two Chevrolet Camaro's - a 1997 Z28 and a 1969 Rally Sport (my pride and joy). So - when looking for affordable car insurance, you can imagine I had to shop around.
My old insurer was Mercury Insurance. In general, there rates were reasonable. I was paying about $1600 a year for insurance with them. My problem with Mercury was the service. When I had a little fender bender, I had to go through the usual hell of documenting the accident, getting three repair quotes - etc etc etc. I also had to sit on the phone for what seemed like days waiting for a person to answer my questions.
Mercury and other insurance companies talk about how it's better to use a smaller carrier that will give you a real person to talk to all the time. But - in my experience, real people more often than not are NOT helpful at all. I have had so many "customer service representatives" treat me so rudely over the past 4 years that the less I can interface with them the better off I will be. Plus, customer service reps are reading answers off a computer screen anyway - and usually, if you ask a tough question, they will sit there dumbfounded anyway.
So, after growing fed up with Mercury's service, I figured that they are all the same more or less and just wanted to get the best possible rate. Well - I found that in AIG. I am now paying $200 less a year. But - more impressive is the service! There had been a clerical error on my application which resulted in a 4 looking like an A. I called to correct the error (minor problem really) and I didn't wait at all, I was on the phone for about 30 seconds and the problem was solved! Granted, I have not had an accident so I don't know how their people will handle that, but I am impressed! I had a second call to make when I paid off my Z28. I had to remove Ford Credit as the payee in case of loss - and again, the service people were extremely quick and responsive.
The bottomline on insurance is that no one wants to actually pay out - and anyone that claims they do is full of it. When you buy insurance - it's almost pure profit until you file a claim - so the more they can do to hold out on your claim the more money the company makes. So - in my opinion, the lowest rate with a national carrier will most often be best simply because I feel you can expect about the same customer service everywhere.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
wytman
|
|
Member: Eric White
Location: Streamwood, IL
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 5 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.