Home & Auto insurance

[gildo]

I know this has probably been asked before but I couldn't find the thread looking for any tips or brokers (maybe you're even one) of where to get some auto and home insurance as we are looking to leave ours, $600 increase over the last two years but no claims or tickets by us. Going to be respectful and not name the insurer

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by gildo

Going to be respectful and not name the insurer

Wouldn't really matter anyways as they are all doing it.

What you want to do is call a broker, they can shop around for you and provide you with at least 4 or 5 quotes.

Keeping in mind this wont get you quotes from carriers like State Farm, All State, AMA and banks as they are all direct insurers and don't use brokers.

[ricosuave]

Call Darren at Touchstone Insurance.

They saved me 1000 and gave better coverage.

Highly recommended.

If you do, please PM me and I'll give my name as a referral.

Lots of happy customers on beyond.ca too

[smithtofuhr86]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Wouldn't really matter anyways as they are all doing it.

What you want to do is call a broker, they can shop around for you and provide you with at least 4 or 5 quotes.

Keeping in mind this wont get you quotes from carriers like State Farm, All State, AMA and banks as they are all direct insurers and don't use brokers.

Interesting point I hear State Farm and also banks give pretty good coverage and a pretty good price, any good experiences or feedback from someone?

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

Call Darren at Touchstone Insurance.

They saved me 1000 and gave better coverage.

Highly recommended.

If you do, please PM me and I'll give my name as a referral.

Lots of happy customers on beyond.ca too

x2. Bill and Darren are absolutely terrific. Couldn't say enough good things

[RW99]

Originally Posted by smithtofuhr86

Interesting point I hear State Farm and also banks give pretty good coverage and a pretty good price, any good experiences or feedback from someone?

It really depends. I believe that in the end you generally get what you pay for. Insures are usually either competing on price or on service. The policies though are pretty much comparable.

[mrkajz44]

Just a word of warning on brokers, my buddy was getting home insurance about 6 months ago for his new house, and the quotes coming back from the brokers were pretty high for the value of his home. He said he made a few calls himself and every quote was lower than the "best possible" price the broker could get him. Ended up dropping the broker.

TL;DR - Make sure your broker has good references (like the ones here from CP) or you might be better flying solo.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by smithtofuhr86

Interesting point I hear State Farm and also banks give pretty good coverage and a pretty good price, any good experiences or feedback from someone?

If you were to take a home policy from every carrier in Canada and compared them side by side, you would find the coverage is almost identical. What you really want to keep an eye out for is limits on things like sewer backup or age of roof. Other than that, there really isn't much difference. A few may try to entice you with add-ons like identity theft, claim savers etc....

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Just a word of warning on brokers, my buddy was getting home insurance about 6 months ago for his new house, and the quotes coming back from the brokers were pretty high for the value of his home. He said he made a few calls himself and every quote was lower than the "best possible" price the broker could get him. Ended up dropping the broker.

TL;DR - Make sure your broker has good references (like the ones here from CP) or you might be better flying solo.

I post this everytime this topic comes up.

Ensure your broker is truely independent.

IE: Broker Link presents themselves as independent, they are in fact owned by Intact Insurance.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Spot on UCB.

[93Hound]

When using direct writer like TD or RBC for example only can use what they have available to them..... their own company. When going with a broker we have many different companies available to us.
I am Darren by the way with Touchstone Insurance.
We here try to get the best possible coverage available for the best possible premium. Price isn't always the best way to go. You may be a little higher is some cases but the coverage is the most important.
We will usually beat most direct writers when comparing the same coverage packages.

Just be sure anyone looking has the proper coverage in place, whether it is for your home or your auto. Deductibles make a difference as well. Be sure to compare apples to apples.

[Ace]

How does home and auto insurance work if you're not at renewal, is there an early exit fee? Do you get unused premiums back?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Ace

How does home and auto insurance work if you're not at renewal, is there an early exit fee? Do you get unused premiums back?

Some do, some don't. You would have to check with your provider to know for sure.

Yes, minus any cancellation fees, you do get back any unearned portion of your premium. If you are on monthly payments, it likely wouldn't be much if any. That scenario is usually more applicable to people who pay their entire premium up front at renewal.

[Slava]

Hey GoinAllTheWay, do you work in the industry (out of curiosity)? You don't have to say here and if you prefer you could PM me. You just seem to know more than the average guy and have posted here a bunch of times, but I assume you aren't a broker. Anyway, just curious.

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

Call Darren at Touchstone Insurance.

They saved me 1000 and gave better coverage.

Highly recommended.

If you do, please PM me and I'll give my name as a referral.

Lots of happy customers on beyond.ca too

used this reference from this thread, and I recommend it too now. Thanks Rico

[93Hound]

Originally Posted by Ace

How does home and auto insurance work if you're not at renewal, is there an early exit fee? Do you get unused premiums back?

With regards to canceling your home or auto policies. You can cancel whenever you wants, however there may be a cancelation fee. Just about every insurance company has them. The closer you are after the renewal date, the higher the fee. the closer you are to coming up to the renewal the lower that fee becomes. We will try to do new polices right at the same renewal date so there is NO fee at all.
Intact for example, if you have both home and auto policies with them, do not have any cancelation fee at all no matter when you cancel. this is something new in the last 10 months or so.

[Derek Sutton]

...Bump

Just switched companies for Auto for the first time, saving $800/ year. Combined the two vehicles went from $2032 to $1156. Will also be switching over the home went it expires in two months and it will be $400 dollars cheaper compared to last year (which was sure to go up again). It also seems to be much better coverage as I'm going back to full roof coverage (not the new depreciation system that many are implementing) and no $10000 maximum for sewer back up.

[woob]

So I became an AMA member at the end of last year, as I wanted it for a big road trip we did over Christmas. That being said, does anyone use AMA for home/auto insurance? Any feedback on their products, cost, and claims?

If you don't want to post your experiences in the thread, feel free to PM directly.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

...Bump

Just switched companies for Auto for the first time, saving $800/ year. Combined the two vehicles went from $2032 to $1156. Will also be switching over the home went it expires in two months and it will be $400 dollars cheaper compared to last year (which was sure to go up again). It also seems to be much better coverage as I'm going back to full roof coverage (not the new depreciation system that many are implementing) and no $10000 maximum for sewer back up.

Switched from which insurer to which insurer?

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by woob

So I became an AMA member at the end of last year, as I wanted it for a big road trip we did over Christmas. That being said, does anyone use AMA for home/auto insurance? Any feedback on their products, cost, and claims?

If you don't want to post your experiences in the thread, feel free to PM directly.

AMA is who I'm leaving as they had our house insurance. Never had any problems other then the price went up $100+/- every year for the last six years. We were paying $1200 in 2009 $1796 and last year. Made one claim due to hail a couple of years ago and everything went good with them that way.