Cash Back for Not Driving - That's Allstate's Stand
With the coronavirus pandemic providing little in the way of silver linings (even rock-bottom gas prices aren’t much of a bonus if you’re living under lockdown orders), Allstate has provided one of its own.
Given the vastly reduced number of vehicles on the road and the anticipated cratering in insurance claims, the provider is giving customers a temporary break.
As reported by Reuters, Allstate plans to return more than $600 million in insurance premiums to policy holders.
In April and May, some 18 million policy holders will see Allstate, as well as offshoots Esurance and Encompass, return 15 percent (on average) of their monthly premium. The company calls it “Shelter-in-Place Payback.” The move comes after an analysis showed a 35- to 50-percent drop in total miles traveled in most U.S. states, leaving the company with perhaps too healthy a balance sheet in the near term. A business-customer relationship never suffered from a little voluntary goodwill.
If only this writer’s insurance provider could take a hint.
As of Monday afternoon, eight states have not issued stay-at-home orders — most of them located in the Great Plains, an area that has thus far felt only minor impacts from the novel coronavirus. Larger population centers on the east and west coasts, and in the Great Lakes area, have long since locked down their citizens in an effort to slow the virus.
While Allstate is the largest car insurance provider to offer its customers a break, it’s not the only one. Also on Monday, American Family Insurance in Madison, Wisconsin announced policy holders will receive $50 back for each insured vehicle, Reuters reported.
[Image: Ford]
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Since many people are posting about how great or bad insurance company X is, I'll post my view. With many years in auto service, I can tell you which companies are the best and worst, at least as far as automotive. AutoOwners insurance is by far the best. They will get your vehicle back on the road quickly, with factory parts. Most supplements require just a quick phone call. AAA, USAA and Citizens are close behind. Usually only send out an adjuster once or twice. Most things get handled quickly, and again with factory parts. The middle is where most of the other insurance companies like Progressive, Allstate, Geico and the most of the smaller companies. They'll put up some resistance, send out an adjuster for everything. Try to send used or aftermarket parts first. Usually they can be talked into ordering the factory part after what they sent clearly won't work. Then there's State Farm. They are not only on the bottom, but they are such a distant outlier it's ridiculous. Aftermarket or used parts are pretty much the rule. Adjusters take forever to come out. They will also send one out for everything. Then send damaged junk parts about once a week until you have gone through the whole national used inventory. I once had a car down for over a month because of a wheel. They refused to order a new factory wheel, and instead got a refurbished wheel. Once it finally did come in it had a high gloss clear while the factory wheels had a satin finish. State Farm said that was within their standards. I also had a vehicle that needed a front subframe. We were waiting for two months with the weekly delivery of a junk part that was more damaged than the one I was replacing. I felt bad for the customer until I found out he was a State Farm agent. Then I laughed. Full disclosure, I have Progressive based on price. If my car is at the body shop, I know how to pay attention to them, to get a desirable outcome. That's true really for any in that middle tier. If you want a better experience, those at the top offer it. My buddy somehow qualifies for a great rate from Auto owner's that I don't. Probably worth a few dollars. I wouldn't get State Farm insurance for free.
I have AAA CA and never had any problems with them. Handling accidents were painless with them so far. I could negotiate the payment for my totaled car getting couple of grands more than initial offer. Restored car (mine was hit from behind) also looked like new. Every year I shop for insurance and never was able to find quote less or equal to AAA.
Y'all need Metromile. Plug in the dongle, pay only for the miles you drive. The wife can work from home or bike-commute, so it saves us a ton of dough on her car. I'm an "essential worker" who can't work from home, and like a good neighbor, State Farm is never going to return my crescent wrench--er, premiums--anyway. So I stick with old-school, none-of-your-damn-business-where-I-drive, I-prefer-to-overpay-in-advance insurance.
My insurance (Amica) is a Mutual, so you always get money back (lower premiums) when they save money. Allstate on the other hand told me several years ago that they didn't want me as a customer. They wanted to charge me 3.5 times as much as Amica. I told them about the difference and they suggested I read between the lines. Lost me as a customer for life.