I also had some bad experiences with State Farm and Allstate in years past. The details aren't important. Suffice to say that the local agents for both were playing games (either on their own, or at the direction of their corporate bosses, who knows?) to either jack up my rates, or shift me to assigned risk.
I've been with Erie for close to 30 years now. Originally, when I got married the first time, I went on my wife's policy. When we split, the agent we had split me off onto my own policy. I've had exactly two claims on my own policy ever since -- one an auto, when someone hit the (current) wife's new car, and one for homeowners, after some snow-related damage after Snowmaggedon. No significant hassles... well, at least with Erie themselves... and more importantly, no rate increases, for my own policies at least.
However, I am reminded of one incident, back when my step-son started driving. His dad gave him a car to use. Checked with my agent, she told me that since it was his dad's car, and he wasn't driving our cars, I didn't have to worry. His dad was told (by a different Erie agent) that since Bud lived in our house, he should be covered umder my insurance, even though it was his car. So neither of us had him covered. And of course, after a year or so, there's a small fender-bender. Turned out I was given bad information by my agent, who had gotten said info from the underwriters. Now... Erie did admit that their underwriter made the mistake, so I wasn't dropped... but I was hit with a surcharge to cover Bud's insurance retroactive to the start date on the policy. That was a cool $1000 I didn't have, but I was able to work out payments with them.
Meanwhile, I don't know what Bud's dad's agent was told... but suddenly, the car is now in Bud's name, and he has his own insurance policy. And as soon as that happened, my insurance went right back down to where it originally was, and they dropped the unpaid part of the surcharge. Go figure.
So... getting to the present day, Little Miss Field Day is now old enough for a learner's permit, though she hasn't gotten it yet. So as soon as that happens, my insurance may spike.
... incidentally, my current employer is an insurance broker, but is not my agent. I've looked into it, and even with employee discounts, Erie offers me a better rate than I could get from any of the carriers the company works with. Part of that is a "loyalty" discount since I've had the policies so long (not exactly what they call it, but...)
Recomendation, courtesy of our Personal Lines Department folks: Shop around. Call a few agents. Call a few brokers. You can almost always find a cheaper price... but you usually get what you pay for as well. Still, you can often find the same coverage AND service as good (or even better) than what you have now, but you have to look. Not everyone advertises, not everyone blows money on Maxwell and cavemen, Cirano aka The President, and The World's Most Annoying Sales Rep, and all the rest. BUT YOU HAVE TO LOOK. They don't always come to you.
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