Liberty Or Not

For about 50 years I have had my auto insurance with Liberty Mutual and I have never had any problems at all.  Now I've not had any traffic tickets and very few claims during that time, so other than paying my bill, I've not had to deal with them very much.  Now as many of you may know, last January a lady went through a red light and hit us.  She admitted it was her fault but unfortunately I didn't have any witnesses or a police report.  And then she decided to lie to her insurance company and claim that I went through the light.  So for months our companies each claimed the other was guilty.  Finally it went to binding arbitration and the arbitrator couldn't assign guilt - so I guess we are both guilty.  So we are out $500.  My main gripe, other than that I don't think they really represented me in the early negotiations, is that I had to make all the contacts with them to find out what was happening.  Then a few months ago we had a seat belt accident with Dianne being injured.  No auto claims were involved but I was forced to go through Liberty Mutual because it happened in the car.  Her claims were paid and their customer service was very helpful.  But they are still showing both cases as being open and that is causing me problems.  That leads to the main problem.  When I received my bill for the coming year I was disappointed that it again went up 12%, even though I was not charged with the accidents.  I talked to AAA and they quoted the very same insurance for about $700 less, but they couldn't write a policy because my two claims were still shown as open.  I then contacted the company that has my homeowners policy and they couldn't give me a quote since the claims were still open.  So I called Liberty Mutual and told them that I was thinking about leaving them.  I sent them an email asking several questions but I never got a response.  So I finally called the office and found that suddenly they were able to give me the very same policy for $500 less. The agent told me that she had met with her manager and since I was a long time customer they would give me this break.  Amazing!  Why couldn't they have offered that to me originally instead of bilking me out of another $500 if I had just renewed without any questions.  So I thanked them and told them that I would stay with them given the new quote.  Actually I have no choice until they decide to close the two claims.  Since I had only 17 days until my policy would lapse, they said they would immediately put the papers in the mail for me to sign. Twelve days later they still hadn't shown up.  So when we got home from vacation I called them.  My agent was on vacation but another one said she would take care of it. She also offered me a new way to pay for it monthly without additional cost.  I hadn't been made aware of that option. Four days later I received the application to sign.  But as I was reviewing it, I realized that it was not the same as my previous policy.  There were two differences, the major of which was that they had dropped the collision on my 2009 Toyota completely.  I would have had no coverage at all had I caused an accident or had a repeat of the January situation. That was a major change.  I called the agent and she said that they had made a mistake and it would now cost me $98 more to get the same coverage I have had.  Now I am only saving $400 which is $300 more than AAA's quote.  How could the agent and her manager have made that mistake?  Was it really a mistake or a way to bring the price down so I would stay with them?  What if I wouldn't have caught it?  Why must I pay for their mistake?  I have asked those questions in letters which I have sent to their regional and national offices.  But I really don't expect any answers or changes. It will be interesting to see if they do respond or stand behind their original quote.  Stay tuned. But buyer beware.  Never sign without reading the details.  Can you trust any business today?  I guess for the time being I have no choice but to stay with them since nobody else will deal with me until they close my two claims and that should have been done a month ago.  And since my old policy ended on June 23, I need coverage now. So by their delays and possible deception I have had no choice but to renew.  But as I mentioned I did learn that when you have your charge deducted automatically each month from your checking account, there is no additional fee.  So I will do that and that will give me the chance to cancel their coverage whenever I want to and not lose any money waiting for a refund.  And that is a plan!  If you have an agent or a company that you trust and can recommend, please let me know.  I haven't shopped for auto insurance for about 50 years so it may be a new but necessary adventure.