Shopping for new insurance

[RCMJR]

Hi,

I have a few different general questions.

1) State Farm currently handles my life, home, and auto insurance. I don't care for my particular agent and plan to look for someone else. Assuming I get the exact same coverage for auto, will my costs be the exact same with a different agent and the same company?
2) If I move my home & auto to a new agent, is it possible for my current agent to get p***ed and say she doesn't want to handle my life insurance anymore? I've had the policy with SF for a number of years and if I tried to get new insurance the cost would clearly increase simply because I'm older now. Or, would I move that policy to the new agent as well?
3) I've been driving for 30+ years and I've never had an accident of any kind. Am I right in thinking that SF would look at this when/should I get into an accident and keep it in mind when thinking about raising my rates as a result of the accident? I have no loyalty to SF and wonder if I should shop around but then I wouldn't have any history with the new company.

I hope these questions make sense.

Thanks.

Chip

 

[marindependent]

Have you asked these questions of a different State Farm agent yet? What did they say?
You may be able to just transfer your SF policy to a new agent. A lot of insurers allow for this.

In regards to point 2 - if you are speaking of a life insurance contract, what could she possibly do to you once its in force? What are your concerns with it?

 

[RCMJR]

marindependent,

I haven't spoken to any new agents yet. I was asking here first so I'd have some idea of what to expect. I didn't know if it was as simple as transferring policies.

As to concerns. One of the reasons I'm looking at a new agent is because I feel like this one is a bit vindictive. There is no "warm & fuzzy" from anyone in the office and again, I'm just trying to understand the insurance game before I start shopping around. Admittedly, I'm ignorant with insurance and have always felt like they handled the conversations as opposed to working with me.

 

[LostDollar]

Have you asked these questions of a different State Farm agent yet? What did they say?
You may be able to just transfer your SF policy to a new agent. A lot of insurers allow for this.

In regards to point 2 - if you are speaking of a life insurance contract, what could she possibly do to you once its in force? What are your concerns with it?

This experience is over 30 years ago, but that is exactly what happened to me with State Farm auto coverage. I moved away from my "growing up town". Needed to do a claim for my car. Asked my boss if he knew a State Farm agent. State Farm agent's first response was something like "Well the first thing we need to do is change the agent on this policy".

And we went from there.

 

[LostDollar]

Hi,

I have a few different general questions.

1) State Farm currently handles my life, home, and auto insurance. I don't care for my particular agent and plan to look for someone else. Assuming I get the exact same coverage for auto, will my costs be the exact same with a different agent and the same company?
2) If I move my home & auto to a new agent, is it possible for my current agent to get p***ed and say she doesn't want to handle my life insurance anymore? I've had the policy with SF for a number of years and if I tried to get new insurance the cost would clearly increase simply because I'm older now. Or, would I move that policy to the new agent as well?
3) I've been driving for 30+ years and I've never had an accident of any kind. Am I right in thinking that SF would look at this when/should I get into an accident and keep it in mind when thinking about raising my rates as a result of the accident? I have no loyalty to SF and wonder if I should shop around but then I wouldn't have any history with the new company.

I hope these questions make sense.

Thanks.

Chip

caveat, neither an agent or a current State Farm policy holder.

Re point 3.

I think State Farm will look out for State Farm. I had a driver of one of my insured vehicles pop up on their records with some kind of a problem. State Farm immediately sent out a notice cancellation within a week of all auto policies I had with them.

 

[adjusterjack]

3) I've been driving for 30+ years and I've never had an accident of any kind. Am I right in thinking that SF would look at this when/should I get into an accident and keep it in mind when thinking about raising my rates as a result of the accident? I have no loyalty to SF and wonder if I should shop around but then I wouldn't have any history with the new company.

There isn't an insurance company on the planet that cares about your 30 year history. Have an accident, get a ticket, your rates go up on renewal.

 

[rmhaire]

Let's answer the easy one first. Your life insurance policy. Your life insurance policy is a legal contract between you and State Farm. Assuming you're the owner, you have the right to request a new or different agent to service your policy. Who the agent is has nothing to do with it.

Simply write a letter to State Farm requesting that you'd like to have your policy assigned to a different agent. It's that simple. You don't even have to give a reason why you want to change. The worst thing that could happen is that you might get a phone call from the original agent asking why.

As for your home and auto policies, you should write a second letter requesting a different agent. Even though all the policies are with the same company I'd recommend two separate letters because you're dealing with two different departments.

Since your home and auto are p&c policies, it could be a little more complicated. State Farm may want to re-issue the policies. Shouldn't be a problem. And you should be able to do it without a rate increase. Changing agents, last time I looked, was not part of any underwriting process.

 

[Markthebroker]

Hi,

I have a few different general questions.

1) State Farm currently handles my life, home, and auto insurance. I don't care for my particular agent and plan to look for someone else. Assuming I get the exact same coverage for auto, will my costs be the exact same with a different agent and the same company?
2) If I move my home & auto to a new agent, is it possible for my current agent to get p***ed and say she doesn't want to handle my life insurance anymore? I've had the policy with SF for a number of years and if I tried to get new insurance the cost would clearly increase simply because I'm older now. Or, would I move that policy to the new agent as well?
3) I've been driving for 30+ years and I've never had an accident of any kind. Am I right in thinking that SF would look at this when/should I get into an accident and keep it in mind when thinking about raising my rates as a result of the accident? I have no loyalty to SF and wonder if I should shop around but then I wouldn't have any history with the new company.

I hope these questions make sense.

Thanks.

Chip

I recently moved my several insurance policies from one State Farm agent to another. Nothing changed. I suggest you find a new State Farm agent, and inquire, and confirm with the folks at the 800#.

 

[SF_Anon]

You can change your agent on statefarm.com, you can change your agent by calling the existing agents office during business hours, you can change your agent by calling the existing agents office AFTER business hours (so you're talking to the corporate after hours service at that point). "Who" your agent is is irrelevant to the in force coverage / contract (though garbage agents will generally write garbage policies, but you'll only discover that when you have a claim).

Companies do not take client longevity into account when assessing a claim. You most likely DO have an "Accident Free Discount" - at the ten year mark, that confers accident forgiveness for a single at-fault accident (this discount / at-fault forgiveness can vary by state).

Good luck!

 

[RCMJR]

Thanks, everyone for the answers. It helped out a lot.