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Posted on 12/28/2025 11:24:56 AM PST by freebird5850
I've seen ads regarding car/home insurance and how you should NOT get it through an agent but get it "direct". Does anyone have info or experience? I'm retiring soon.
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I should add that my parents had a SF agent. They swore by him. He was a small shop and he retired about the same time my folks retired and moved. MY guy was my wife’s family’s agency. LOL. So, I guess she’s been with the same folks for about 40 years.
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.
That was a wise post. I have used both and just pick the best deal.
I forgot to add this: I am with an independent agent now and have been for about 5 years. He has taken care of me well, Texas hail storms! I like being able to go to his office and telling him what I need and not deal with AI over the internet.
I OWN MY HOUSE FREE & CLEAR.
MANY NEAR ME ALSO DO.
THEY HAVE RAILED AGAINST ME FOR HAVING FULL COVERAGE PROPERTY INSURANCE...
I CAN USUALLY SHUT THEM UP: “IF EVERYTHING BURNS DOWN -—CAN YOU REPLACE IT ALL WITH WHAT IS IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT”???
THEY CANNOT.......
ANOTHER REASON I CARRY FULL VEHICLE INSURANCE-—UNINSURED MOTORISTS & ALL-—SINCE CAR I BOUGHT IN 1965 IN CALIF——
CANNOT LOSE PAID FOR PROPERTY VS UNINSURED MOTORISTS
ALSO AM HOMESTEADED: COST ME $14-—ONE TIME FEE—GOOD AS LONG AS I AM RESIDING ON/IN PROPERTY.
IF FOR ANY REASON SOMEONE TRIES TO SUE ME-———AND PUSHES TO SELL MY HOUSE: I GET THE FIRST $605,000 IN NET PROCEEDS....
I like being able to talk to my agent in person, not some call center agent that I can’t understand
It is better to have a larger deductible than an inadequate amount of coverage.
YOU BUY/INSTALL A FULL HOUSE POWER SURGE PROTECTOR FOR A FAIRLY LOW COST. TRULY A GOOD INVESTMENT-—COURTESY OF MY MAGTAG DEALER-——
SINCE EVERY APPLIANCE TODAY IS ELECTRONIC-—IT IS WORTH IT.
WHEN WE HAVE POWER OUTAGES HERE IN N NEVADA HIGH DESERT-—I SHUT OFF THE CIRCUITS TO THE REFRIG & FREEZERS.
IF THE POWER COMES ON AT REDUCED LEVEL, IT CAN BURN OUT THOSE APPLIANCES.
We had surge protectors but lighting blew through them.
I might add that a LOCAL agent is probably a good idea as well.
Well now I’m confused...your agent does not belong to a company? Maybe that’s what I’m looking for.
They are a broker who shops insurance companies for me.
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.
“Could not imagine not having agent.”
I can. And I have an agent.
Life and health insurance commission comes out of premium. If i wrote a whole life policy that costs 2000 per year I would receive 2000 for the 1st year and a percentage every year till the policy is exercised or canceled. They did have to keep the policy for a minimum amount of time or that commission would be paid back.
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