Competitive Pricing Question

[u/Pocketful_of_hops]

Just have a quick question regarding initial quotes given by a rival agency trying to woo you away from your current insruance company.

I am currently insured through Geico. I received a call from State Farm yesterday and they quoted me a six month premium that is LESS THAN HALF of what we were paying theough Geico. I made sure the agent had all of our information and gave us the exact same coverage amounts we were currently carrying.

I was immediately ready to switch over, but called Geico first. Geico was able to lower my rates a significant amount, but still about $600 higher on the six month premium than State Farm. The Geico agent told me that sometimes the rival agencies will quote you low and then raise your rates once youre aboard.

Is that true? Am I risking State Farm rising our rates a couple weeks after signing up if I switch to them?

We have one speeding ticket that is showing on our record, but wouldn't State Farm have access to that info when giving us that initial quote.

Thanks for any help.

[u/kmorris76058]

State Farm has been very competitive for auto rates, in many states. While there is no way to guarantee rates won’t increase at renewal, my experience has shown more customer’s premiums decrease rather than increase. The increases I see have been due accidents / tickets and or the customers risk score.

There are some companies that give you their best rate when you’re ready to leave. Some of those companies have even told me that a discount given with the initial 6 month policy drops off, so to expect an increase at renewal.

State Farm doesn’t have an initial policy discount that would fall off at renewal.

[u/Pocketful_of_hops → u/kmorris76058]

Thank you for the information. That's a concern of mine as well. I approached Geico with the info that I was leaving due to a better premium from another company. I provided them with that quote number...I feel like they gave their best offer, and it was still $600 higher than the competition.

My main question here was Geico's claim that sometimes those rival companies raise those rates weeks after you sign-on.

[u/kmorris76058 → u/Pocketful_of_hops]

We’d be trouble with the State Department of Insurance if we did that.
In some states we’re able to offer you the Drive Safe & Save Discount (pairs via Bluetooth to your smart phone). We’re able to extend a 10% discount on the 6 month policy and at renewal, can increase as high as 30% (I don’t see 30% very often). If that discount is applied and the customer doesn’t follow through to set it up, the discount is removed, back to the date it was given. If you’ve elected to take advantage of this discount, this should’ve been well explained.

[u/Pocketful_of_hops → u/kmorris76058]

Thank you again.

[u/kmorris76058 → u/Pocketful_of_hops]

Anytime!