Contact both and see what their offers are.
Then post your results on FR so the rest of us know.
Could not imagine not having agent.
It means you get it online. Do you want cheaper rates or better service?
I have used the same insurance agency for more than 30 years.
The price difference isn’t significant in MA because it’s highly regulated.
That said, I had a tree fall on my house and two vehicles three years ago. My agent stepped up and took care of everything. I had a check in my hand in about a week for the cars (1 totaled and the other needed significant body work) and he hooked us up with a contractor to fix the house.
Without the agent, I would have been battling with them for months (as my neighbor did over his home.)
Numerous times over the past decades my agent called me up and suggested changes to the coverage—often resulting in better coverage for less money. In the instances where the changes cost more, the explanation was sensible and put me at ease.
When I opened a business that required some commercial coverage, he was able to write the policies that I needed to get contracts at state universities in three states.
I understand wanting to keep coverage decent at a lower price. But there are “costs” associated with “cheap.” Those are the risks you have to balance.
It’s not all about cost. My agent provided me with the inspectors report for my roof after a tornado which I used to get the company to pay for the whole roof when they only wanted to pay for half. Saved me from getting a lawyer.
I’ve been with Geico for 35 years. Bundle my car and homeowners. No middle man. You just deal with Geico.
We use a brokerage (Gallagher). When our prior carrier (Nationwide) came in with HUGE premium increases a couple years ago, they were very helpful in finding new, affordable coverage.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions, and have rates quoted with higher deductibles, if you can afford to cover. Start with maybe at least $1,000 on auto coverages and $5,000 on homeowners. Some homeowner coverage a few years back would state the deductible as a percent of the market value of the house, but I think this is a little dangerous, since the value can fluctuate so much over a couple years.
If you are retiring, be sure to tell them that your mileage will be reduced (if true), and not doing a daily commute.
My agent knows what I want and shops for the best deal for appropriate coverage.
I went direct for years, will never look back.
But you have to find a good agent.
I actually did switch all our insurances to a new broker last year because our old broker retired and his replacement was a lazy POS that kept making basic errors.
Because we own our own business we have a LOT of liability insurance and stuff gets complicated so I stuck with keeping an agent.
But I did go direct/online for our auto insurance with Progressive because it was $150/yr cheaper.
Their website is easy to use. They are very good at automated payment reminder as we pay annualy rather than monthly for additional discount.
We only carry liability and uninsured motorist as required by state law on our vehicles as we only drive rebuilt X titled cars that we rebuilt ourselves.
We carry the largest amount of liability they sell particularly for injuries because that’s what will wipe you out financially in an accident.
There are sites on the internet where you can plug in your details and they will send you quotes from a number of companies so that you can select the one offering the best quote.
I like being able to talk to my agent in person, not some call center agent that I can’t understand
I’ve been going “direct” to Geico for 30 years. An “agent” is available 24x7, and the online takes care of 99% of anything I need.
I once had agents with other companies, but getting to them was a pain and often took days.
Understand both your risk and your risk tolerance.
Shop around.
I personally prefer dealing with humans, so we still use a human agent.
Read and thoroughly understand the boilerplate in the policies you’re looking at.
Buy the best insurance you can afford for your risk tolerance.
Your peace of mind is worth something, too.
Good luck!
Agents are handy if you want to get an answer from a real person. Sometimes it’s handy to hand a check to a person. That said, I usually pay by phone or online. I changed agents once because the old one didn’t know anything.
Good, fast or cheap. Pick two.
A good agent, if you can find him, is a huge plus. I have worked with mine for years gladly.
I’ve never had an agent in my entire life for any type of insurance. I don’t understand the need for one.
And long ago I did work for Liberty for a few years.
Dave Ramsey says you’re an idiot if you use an insurance agent.
And because Ramsey said it - I do the opposite of his advice.
If you were in the military just sign on to USAA.
I do an independent agent. Not all are good, but mine is.
They call me every year and give me the update, and how to save $