joe blow

Review of Liberty Mutual Group - Boston

My elderly parents had been Liberty Mutual custome...

My elderly parents had been Liberty Mutual customers for what seems like forever. They, like most seniors, continued to pay their renewals year after year regardless of rate increases , not wanting to or incapable of tediously shopping around for different insurance.

Last year my father died and I began going over my parent's finances. Upon reviewing their Liberty Mutual car and home insurance, I discovered a history of massive premium increases over the last several years. For starters, between 2010 and 2014 their auto insurance premium went from $1415 to $2011, an over 42% increase, despite no claims or tickets and no change in their vehicles.

Even more egregious are the home insurance increases. From 2001 to 2014 their home insurance premiums almost tripled, from $961 to $2831. And from just 2011 to 2014 alone, the premium increased from $1832 to $2831, an over 50% increase, despite no claims.

After discovering this, I asked for a quote from my insurance company, AAA. For home insurance, they quoted $1175, am almost 60% reduction despite identical coverage compared to Liberty Mutual. Even more surprising was the auto insurance quote of $669, a whopping 67% reduction despite a tripling of the amount of insurance coverage, to $300K.

It's quite telling that the combined car and home premium from AAA is far less than just the car premium from Liberty Mutual, with substantially more coverage. Which should serve notice to adult children that they should review their parent's property insurance like I did and see if their long-standing insurance company, like Liberty Mutual, is ripping them off. Which is exactly what Liberty Mutual did to my parents in gratitude for years of customer loyalty. And by taking advantage of seniors' reluctance to make major financial changes in their lives, Liberty Mutual is seemingly able to make massive premium increases without impedance.