<strong>Reader question:

How do you know if a car insurance company is a good one or not?

Lillith

That’s an important question to ask, Lillith.

Sometimes, you don’t know. Many companies can appear to be wonderful in every way on the outside, offer you great quotes, give you several discounts and smile the whole time, but in the end they just end up bungling things up.

Still, customer service is very important. One way, though it may seem a little silly, to test a company out is to call their customer service hotline with a question prepared and see what happens. If they put you on hold for an hour and then blow off your question, you’re probably not going to get good, fast service from that company.

Another good way to find out what company is a good one is to talk to managers and workers at car body shops. They work with insurance agencies all the time, and they can tell you which ones they prefer to work with. Follow this same route by getting advice from your friends.

In the end, it’s best to get a more well-known insurance company than some hole-in-the-wall dig. You don’t need to go with the one with the flashiest commercials, or even any commercials at all, but it’s a fact that the smaller, lesser-known companies generally take forever when handling claims, and even if you don’t plan on filing any claims, you don’t know what the future will bring, so you might as well prepare for it.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.