Posted 29 December 2006 - 12:11 AM
I use AAA, and its been quite good for me so far. Even after a at-fault accident, the rates didn't rise as much as expected, because of some little factors.
I'm usually a bit worried about insurance companies that claim to be cheaper than everyone else. This is usually how they can be cheaper: They tend to get cheap when it comes to insurance claims, like not approving a factory part and insisting on aftermarket parts for repairs to your car when something happens. Secondly if the car is totalled, they tend to low-ball you on the value of the car, and its not funny when you have to argue like crazy about it to them.
The worst part is when it comes to paying out to the other party when it comes to a at fault accident. If they low ball them, like for medical and property damage, then guess what... they can come back to sue you (sorta defeats the purpose of insurance here). Thats why I don't like these types of insurance companies. I hear too many stories from Progressive, Geico, etc. customers on my car forums, that were screwed over horribly. Sure I pay more with AAA, but when I had my accident (at-fault) they took care of everything... and it all went smooth and I didn't have to worry at all. The last thing I wanted was to get sued (because it was a major accident).
Being sued is a big issue. Especially the person who has the title of the insurance (the person who buys it), because in court they can only sue up to your net worth, so lets say you have a house, $100K in savings, a few cars, etc. The total they can sue is the value of everything there, and of course it has to be justified. If you're some 18 year old kid (buying it under your own name) with little net worth, you don't need the highest coverage possible (like $1 million in medical, etc).