I think I mentioned earlier this month how our Progressive car insurance renews next month and they sent the billing notice. I was surprised to see the premium for 6 months to insure our Camry and Explorer was over a hundred dollars more at $742. We've been with Progressive for all our mobile insurance since they have the best rates for motorcycles and boats, we decided to give them our car business too.
But not this time. When we called for an explanation, they didn't have one. We hadn't had any claims, and didn't move or anything so there was no justification for it. So we shopped around and found out that State Farm actually had the same level of insurance for the same rate we currently pay $637 for 6 months. In the past we have boycotted State Farm even though they have had our homeowners insurance for 15 years, because they raised rates so much and threatened to leave Florida. We never got dumped by them, even though our neighbors did.
So we sign up the cars with State Farm and paid for 1/2 the premium and have the start date of the policy for the middle of next month. Imagine our surprise when we got the billing notice for the 2nd 1/2 to be due 11 days after the policy starts. WTH! So when we had the vehicles inspected, we asked them what the deal is with the billing. Well it turns out they want the 2nd half just 30 days after the first payment. It doesn't matter if the first payment is way earlier than the policy starts. We asked to talk to corporate and it was very easy to change the billing so that its due 30 days after the policy starts, rather than 11 days after. It wasn't a big deal to us, but we questioned why offer to let the customer make 1/2 due now, 1/2 due later when there really wasn't a "later". It was the principle of the thing. Of course they have already charged the credit card for the first half of premium, even though the policy doesn't start for over 20 days. We suggested them give us our money back and we would pay them next month when it was due, but they didn't like that, they would rather change the second 1/2 payment due date.
Anyway, lesson learned. Don't pay your car insurance early, they take your money right away even though they don't give you services right away. Needless to say, it was not a very good first impression.