What's the deal with Progressive Insurance?
 

I thought I had paid my premium months ago, but today received a message saying my coverage is dropped and I'm no longer a customer. The renewal amount for 6 months liability coverage on 4 vehicles was $752, the amount I thought I had already paid.

Since it lapsed, I signed on to see if I could just pay the $752 and resume coverage. The website recognized that I wanted to continue insurance, but quoted me $817 to continue.

Frustrated, I opened a different browser and went through the quote process. For the same coverage, I was offered insurance for $717!

How can starting a new policy save me a hundred bucks when supposedly I was saving money by being a loyal customer in the "diamond" program?

Is rate creep a practice used by all insurance companies?

I notice the same crap with other services such as internet. If you remain a customer, you loose the $30/month introductory internet deal and the price goes to $75. I just switch back and forth between CenturyLink DSL and Comcast cable every 12 months to stay in the "introductory" rate.

They would make much more money from me if they just left my rate alone. It's like they think I am going to accept the ridiculous price purely out of inertia and laziness.

Now if only I could figure out how to get rid of the absurd sewage bill...

Progressive is quite stupid that way. I'd been a customer for many years; did the "Snapshot" thing and got the max 30% discount. It wasn't long before that discount didn't feel like a discount at all- really fast rate creep. Shopped around, found better rates. Called Progressive and said ^ and they couldn't have cared less so I switched. So much for loyalty programs and getting a fistful of "discounts". :mad:

I'd been with some other company for 20+ years, but I put in a claim at the beginning of the year and I had to push back against their settlement offer for a month and a half before they deigned to pay the claim. I was looking at lower rates offered by other companies, but it sounds [too good to be true].

Now I'm held up by back-ordered parts.

I got locked in with Centurylink for five years. That reminds me, it won't go on forever. I'm looking forward to the LEO swarm that will bring everyone connectivity at a disruptive price.

Sounds like a common thing...
Reading This on IE or Safari? You're Likely Paying More for Car Insurance - DailyFinance

users of certain browsers paid as much as 23 percent more. ...average user of Internet Explorer or Safari user pays $750 for car insurance every six months. By comparison, Chrome users pay $731 and Firefox users pay the least -- $608.

I like those kind of statistics. It's fun to speculate why there is a correlation.

My browsers- Firefox at work, Chrome at home, and Safari on the work-issued iPhone.

In my experience, they all do it. Many people will initially shop around for the best deal then simply renew, paying whatever is asked for the new policy.

I've also found the exact quote can vary with the same company depending on the day which it is obtained. I think there is a market that the insurance companies are in. It's worth watching quotes over a few days to weeks before you need to buy a policy.

It doesn't surprise me if we get profiled via web browser use either. If you have fly buy or loyalty card memberships you may get profiled through those also.

Just got the wife to switch tax preparers from our credit union to one of those that have been here forever, they offered to do the return for half price which saved us $108.
Next year I'll probably do it myself, I used to but SHE has trouble trusting me to get it right.

Continuous fight with Cox Cable to keep the cable bill (phone, cable tv and internet) below $150. Been with them 30 years.

Next continuous fight, is State Farm, the home owners insurance has gone from $500 to $800 a year, while the deductible has increased drastically. Last time we got a run around I had our account transferred to another agent two miles from home versus 25.
Also car insurance from State Farm who has covered both of us for close to 50 years.
I just ticks me off that the bike insurance is $108 a year but $80 of that is uninsured motorist. If that's the case the state needs to start busting people for no insurance. Last time I went through a state police license-registration check, the trooper refused to even look at my insurance card!

If you require insurance why do you REFUSE to even verify?

The car at $260 a year is hard to beat, even without the airbags. Maybe next time I'll get a quote for a 94 which had a drivers side air bag.

Sadly it seems like loyalty is going the way of the passenger pigeon.

It all reminds me of the "cash for clunkers" deal. Just another govt program to subsidize BAD behaviour, if your car gets more than x MPG you DONT qualify.

Got it you bunch of jerks :(:(:(.

regards
mech

Progressive messed up big time about a no fault accident in my vehicle when a friend was driving.
Such a massive headache. The worst is them telling you you can only talk to one person and they transfer the phone call and all you get is voice mail....

I semi-recently switched to Geico after being with American Family for over a decade (changed due to massive savings). I've renewed once with them so far and my rates actually went down a little. I was quite shocked and happy. We'll see how things continue, but they had excellent rates to begin with.

I've heard Progressive is... well progressive with their pricing, start low and ramp you up. I've heard it happen to a bunch of people.

Dafuq??????????????????????:eek::eek::eek::eek:

Maybe this spring they'll get a grant for an insurance card check. Just try showing your registration then!

I think I'll let my insurance lapse 1 day every time now, and then sign up on a new policy.

Work is like this in a way too. My pay was frozen at an absurdly low wage until one day when I was offered a job somewhere else and put in my 2 weeks notice. The company asked me to submit a proposal for what I would want to stay. I said the minimum I would want to stay is a 40% pay increase, which they accepted.

Most companies don't have much loyalty to their employees these days, and employees in turn aren't loyal. Often times you have to quit to advance in your career.

That reminds me, I have homeowners insurance through IDS, which is Ameriprise. Better get a new quote for that while I'm at it.

Only a month and a half? Seems fairly quick to me: I got hit by a guy with Progressive insurance a few years ago, and it took them close to a year to pay the claim. (Which actually worked out quite well, since in the meantime I'd done all the repairs myself, for an outlay of a few hundred, so I would up about $5K ahead.)

The root of the problem here is short-term thinking. Just like Wall Street, people get graded & paid bonuses on the amount of new business they generate, so it pays them to keep churning the market rather than work for long term profits.

We left progressive a few years baxk when they dropped our home insurance because of a crumbling chimney. Our house doesn't have a chimney.

Got insurance with Erie, pay about the same and have almost 2x the coverage. Btw, how much does advertising cost?... and who pays for it? Ive only seen one Erie insurance commercial in my life.

You guys must be smarter than everyone than everyone else or these practices would not be cost-effective.

That reminds me of people juggling credit cards to always be in their introductory periods, except most people need car insurance. Not everyone needs a credit card balance.

That goes without saying...

That's the thing; I hate paying to be advertised to. I didn't choose Progressive because of the commercials, it just happened to be the cheapest of 3 places I got quotes from years back.

Unfortunately the companies that can afford to advertise also have the sales volume to keep prices low. That's the reason why Walmart can advertise and still sell cheap crap for low prices.

In my perfect world, decisions would be made rationally and there would be no room for advertising. It would probably be a boring world though, and we wouldn't have reason to be smug about making superior purchasing decisions.

A big factor to why its cheaper is because they have lower coverage amounts.

Interesting. I put into two weeks notice last friday; my supervisor would love to keep me but I'm going into a new career with double the pay TO START. If he had the authority, I think he would find a way to keep me.

I always quote at state minimum coverage, so all else is equal when I shop for insurance.

In my previous job, I was told that after 6 months of working I would be given a 10-20% pay raise depending on performance. After 1 month of work, I found my current job and told my employer that I would be leaving. He offered a 40% pay increase to stay, but my other offer was much more, and in the field of work I wanted to be in.

I should quit though. I've read that people that change jobs more frequently also advance their careers at a faster pace. I've been at the same job for 11 years and still only get 2 weeks vacation and practically no benefits. I make enough money to be happy though, like what I'm doing, and like my hours.

Congratulations on the career move. Hope you find satisfaction in your new role.

Meanwhile, I took over 21,000 Xist-steps (I usually go by Strider) in five hours, delivering 385 door hangers, for $38.50.

I calculated that I burned over two thousand calories.