Weddingbee boards

We have State Farm, and chose them in part b/c I had them for renter's insurance before and once had to file a claim, and they were amazing about it. I also really liked that they were one of the few above-board insurers who stood by their policies on the Gulf Coast after Katrina. We've happily never had to file a claim with the house, though. We pay a lot less than $120/mo, but also have a little house.

We actually wanted USAA---use them for auto---but they wouldn't insure the house because it had old wiring. (Really weird b/c half the houses in our city of that age do, and we planned to replace it anyway---but they wanted it done within 30 days of moving in, which was clearly not going to happen.) State Farm had no problem with the wiring, came out the next day to do the walk-through, and we had the policy two days after that. Every fall, I price both when it's time to renew, and thus far USAA has always been much more, so we've stuck with SF.

I think your point on the auto situation has an important element: some of what you're experiencing may also have to do with which insurer is responsible (e.g., it's in USAA's interest to get you your money ASAP when they will ultimately not be paying for it---good customer service, no impact on bottom line---whereas it's in SF's interest to make sure they're not paying for anything they don't have to since they don't have anyone to recoup it from). So some of it may just be context as far as which side of the claim you're on---it may be that generally the experience is better with the insurer that's not at fault. The only times we've filed claims with either (one w/ each), it's been for theft, so there's no second party there, and the costs are relatively fixed and low compared to injury accidents, house fires, etc., so may not be as comparable. (And again, we have one policy with each, so I have nothing against either company! :))

On the cost front---remember, too, that many policies don't insure against floods, earthquakes, or hurricanes regardless, so being in a zone for those may not matter if it's not part of the policy. (Where we are, flood and quake insurance must be purchased separately from federal and state agencies respectively.) That said, though, when we moved from our old apartment into our house, we only moved six blocks in the same zipcode and we were moving into a slightly safer neighborhood with a secure garage for the car---and our USAA auto premium went up. Go figure!