Having just recently moved from Maryland to California, I decided to see about switching insurance carriers for my car, while adding my girlfriend to the coverage. Here's what I found.
I'm sure you've all seen the commercials about how Progressive is "a different kind of insurance company" and how you should "expect more". What they neglect to tell you is that what you should expect more of is insurance premiums.
I'd called them, expecting that since I was adding a driver, my premiums would be higher than in Maryland. Also, moving to California wasn't going to help, either. What they quoted me was a price almost three times as much as what I'd been paying through Nationwide. Being in a hurry, since I was going to be going away on business and wanted my girlfriend covered, I went with them, even though it was less coverage that I'd had.
Having thought about it some, and having more time today, I called Nationwide to see what it would cost to transfer my policy to California and add my girlfriend. I was dumbfound to find out that, keeping the same coverage in my old policy, and adding my girlfriend, was over $1000 less than Progressive, or about $300 more than I'd been paying for just myself.
Shocking? You bet. Did Progressive even attempt to find better rates from other carriers? Nope. Commercials are great, but I can safely say that my phone call to Progressive was nothing like those commercials with the friendly operator telling the woman that Company X would be able to give her a better rate. I've definitely learned my lesson in all this. Stick with what you know, don't rush into these things, and if a company claims to be too good to be true, there's probaby a reason for it.
In the greatest tradition of sucks/rocks: Progressive sucks. Nationwide rocks.
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