Customer Review - 21st Century Insurance

Re: "CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS" "My Quote was too high" and ALL UNSATISFIED FOLK

I first would like to state that I am an employee of 21st Century Insurance and work as a Service Advocate, but am not speaking on behalf of the company, nor has the company asked me to read/reply to reviews; rather I am shocked at the amount of dissatisfied customers I see here, and because I care I want to educate :) and there is LOTS that you folks can do in your own defense, I am not kidding when I tell you that 21st Century Insurance REALLY does care! I care too, you all are my livelihood and put food on my table, as a company we recognize that, seriously! I would like to keep things entirely human with everyone, because much to your defense i notice that the majority of the complaints posted here are not problems with just 21st Century, but problems with the Insurance Industry in general. My best advice to everyone, regardless of who you are insured by, insurance is a product that works 2 ways; it insures the customer who buys it at the same time ensuring a balanced income for the insurer who sells it. As such, in cases where we must pay for a company that is looking out for itself, it is entirely in your(the customers) benefit to do your homework on what insurance is, how it works, what the law of large numbers is, and use that knowledge to then shop for the ==company== that is right for you, rather than the ==rate== that is right for you. All these commercials get us too focused on how much our monthly bill is, and not about coverage. 21st includes "Security Advantage" automatically with every policy, which is the same thing as AAA; an awesome service yes, but also a double edge sword because should your "tier" be such that you land with an underwriting company (again this is all ins. companies) who has more claims than others, then up goes the premium. The company does not jack up premiums in a twisted attempt(I know its hard to believe, really I do) to squeeze you dry, doing such with no regard to your length of time with us, we KNOW your not dispensable! Perhaps you call up and get a quote, and your rep failed to tell you that unless we have the exact VIN of your vehicle, if there's been an accident(regardless of fault) within the last 3-5 years, and a few other things, then the premium will go up. That's why its important to be brutally honest with your sales guy when you start the policy, otherwise Underwriting will play detective, and you end up feeling screwed just because you didn't tell us something, and we didn't ask enough questions. If someone has access to your keys, DON'T tell us unless you want them added to the policy as a driver, we have to by law. If your nanny drives the car every wed., DON'T tell us, or she will be added. If you get a moving violation, we will find out at renewal, no need to tell us. Most important, you can ALWAYS call to review: vehicle use, vehicle mileage, check to see if any accidents have fallen off/when, check to see who is listed as operators and if anyone you don't want then get us that piece of paper that says we can take em off the policy! If you drive your car 3 days a week less than 7500 a year its pleasure use not work use, even if you drive it to work, that saves money. Check out discounts, mature driver, defensive driving courses online can save you big time. GET ON AUTO PAY, i know some people say don't do it, but just MAKE SURE you have the money in the account when its supposed to be there. If your not on auto pay, you are wasting 100 bucks a year in service fees. Go paperless, you'll save money, yes embrace the internet if you value a buck. Hmm what else....pay your bill on time! the billing system just automatically cancels you if you don't, after day 1 your in cancellation billing" but your not canceled, after 6 days your canceled. If you happen to get canceled, non renewal, you can STILL be reinstated, unless underwriting canceled you(in which case there was a very good reason for it, because it doesn't happen all the time), just ask and we can reinstate with or without a lapse. You don't want a lapse, it makes your premium higher, a lapse is the time between coverage, it has to do with tier-ing, and that decides which UW (underwriting) company your gonna end up with and that will really decide your premium. Thats it in a nutshell. Be patient, do some research, no were not perfect, but dammit were trying :) and although our premiums are sometimes a little higher, all insurance coverage is NOT the same. OH and if you live in CA,NJ,OK,FL, or MA your rates are through the roof, im sorry but that's more of a political issue that I wont touch on atm. Anyways i hope I was of some help to you all, call your insurance companies and give em hell(but be nice we are humans) and make sure your rep is working to get your premium lowered or your questions answered!