Commerce Insurance Customer Reviews
Commerce Insurance is a New England insurance company. They market auto, home, and business insurance products to residents of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. They sell car insurance through independent insurance agents.
Although Commerce Insurance is limited to two states, they claim to be one of the leading providers of auto insurance in their areas of operation. If you have an experience with Commerce Insurance, leave a review – good or bad. To see reviews for a different company, checkout these auto insurance reviews.
To see reviews for GEICO, click here.
To see reviews for Allstate, click here.
| Overall Rating |   |
| Price |  |
| Service | |
| Claims | |
Reviews (10)
Helen
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This company SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not get insurance from this company I’m warning everyone this company really really SUCKS……..
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Rich
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Negative: We have three family members covered under the Commerce Insurance Company and recently my daughter was involved in and automobile accident. The accident occurred the night before Thanksgiving and the car was towed to a nearby gas station. I reported the accident immediately, they entered the information and told me to call back and ask for a specific person who would be handling my claim after the holiday. I called three times on Friday once on Saturday and again on Monday and did not get a return call. I finally got to speak with someone on Tuesday but not the appropriate person. Eventually I was able to reach the person who told be they still had not sent someone to evaluate the damage. Finally a week and a half passed and someone from the insurance company was scheduled to look at the vehicle. They told me it would take 2-3 more business days until they could provide me the loss. About 5 days later they reported to me that it was a total loss and would be a few days for them to give a an offer of what they would pay me.
Positive:
I did extensive research on the value of the car from both Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds to determine what it was worth to a dealership and approximately how much it would cost us to purchase something similar. My research said based on the mileage and condition the cost to purchase a similar car would be $7,000 – $9,000. So I was mentally prepared for the insurance to offer much less and also prepared to negotiate strongly. When the agent called he explained how they evaluate the damage and offered us $7,500. I was extremely surprised but did not accept the offer. I mentioned the car was a 2007 with only 50,000 miles which is quite low and the offer amount would not allow me to purchase similar vehicle. After just a few minutes on hold he indicated that he didn’t realize it had such low miles and came back with an offer of $10,000 less the deductible. I was in awe and of course accepted the offer.
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M. Mason
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I initially chose Commerce because they had a neighborhood branch and I wanted to talk to an agent in person. They were friendly, helpful, and I had no problems for the first two years.
When my monthly rate started to increase, I contacted Commerce on four separate occasions, leaving messages and speaking with people who could not help me or tell me why my premiums were suddenly 30% more. So, after four years, I’m looking for a new insurance company.
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Catherine C.
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I have an odd predicament with my insurance rates. I took Driver’s Education and had a permit in North Carolina, but being unable to provide records for these, as they were years old and seemed to be more trouble than they were worth.
That being said – to start, I never had the best options for insurance rates. My roommates provided me with the insurance company they use, Commerce (which seems primarily in New England). Their rate seemed pretty expensive, with a 300 dollar or so down-payment I still owed $160 monthly for bare minimum coverage.
One thing about Commerce though, and probably the primary reason I kept them, was that they did not check my credit score. I had done some online comparisons and every other insurance company had inquired about my credit score. Being an undergraduate student with limited time to establish a credit history, and neck deep in student debt, I am grateful they did not calculate my credit score into figuring out my rate.
There are a few great things about Commerce that I enjoy. Firstly, they offer online payments on their website, which saves your credit card information so you do not have to enter it again. You can also easily view your policy details and additional information in conveniently organized and labeled PDFs. Also, their online billing allows you to enter manually rather than set up an account for automatic payment, although you can do that as well if you desire. The bills have always been sent to me around the same time each month.
However, office payments are a bit strange. The agency’s office has strange hours and can only take Cash (no change) for payments. This is good if you are running extremely late on your bill and need the payment to be processed right away, but the Cash only policy can be a little bit aggravating.
Another great thing about Commerce is that they offer tons of discounts. Firstly, you get a discount if you pay your premium in full, which is a good option for those whom are more financially stable and responsible. For others that cannot afford such options, Commerce also offers discounts to their clients that are fairly easy to obtain. I for one have 10 percent off my premium for being a AAA member, and another 10 percent of for being on the Dean’s List at my college.
I’ve only had to deal with them for collisions once. I have liability coverage so I had to file a collision claim against the other driver. They asked me for an accident report, but it was a fender bender so I never bothered to fill one out. A few weeks later Commerce gave me a list of agencies that would check the damages on my car and give an appraisal to estimate repair cost. I went to a random company, they provided me with a repair cost estimate, and about a week later I got a check for that much. I think Commerce does really well in this regard.
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Connor
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I had Commerce insurance for only about 2 years when I first got my license. Naturally the policy was expensive, being that I had JUST begun to drive, but Commerce came back with a good price on my policy, but I soon found out why. I was in two accidents while insured by Commerce (NEITHER was my fault, I was hit TWICE) and both times dealing with Commerce was bad.
The representatives were very rude, and not helpful at all. They didn’t want to go to bat for me when I was rear ended, they would rather have me fight my own battle (Then why was I paying them $2500 a year?!?!). The claims process was EXTREMELY slow, and the damage from the first accident I was in did not get resolved until 3 months after the initial claim. The second claim was by far the WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. The company sent out someone to look at my Jeep since it was in the shop. I specifically requested they call me so I could be there when they car was looked at, no call. The damage was surveyed and came back that my car was totaled. My thoughts were utter shock. The representative I spoke to was not the adjuster who looked at my car, so he “had to get the explanation as to why the car was totaled”
Thanks for the wasted call Commerce, did you think I was just going to accept it with no knowledge of what the report said? Eventually I got a response and the long and short of it was this “the damage came out to $1800 of visible damage, but there is a chance that there was damage to the front axle, and it could need to be rebuilt or replaced” (did I mention I was hit in the REAR, meaning there is a higher chance there would be a problem with the REAR axle) They also valued my car at almost $7000, so im not sure how even if I did need a new axle it would have cost over $5000 to repair/replace, although I knew for a fact that there was no problems with either axle, as my car was not hit hard enough to cause such a problem.
I ended up complaining until they fixed my car (it took over a month of back and fourth and several mechanics opinions to convince them that the car was NOWHERE near totaled). And the whole time I had to have a rental car. At the end of the process I spent another 2 weeks arguing with them when they refused to cover the rental. That’s written into my policy, AND the other insurance company was paying for it because it was THEIR Insured’s fault, so Commerce was just trying to take and keep MY money.
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Jennifer L
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|I am not sure how common this is among people with auto insurance, but I actually LOVE my insurance company! I’ve been with them since I got my first car – over 20 years now. As I sit down to think now back to my experiences with them during those many years, I can’t think of anything negative to say about Commerce Insurance. Of course, I wish the rates were cheaper, but car insurance is one of those necessary evils and I’d probably wish the rates were lower with whatever company I was insured with. I do get a discount for being a member of AAA and also for using Commerce Insurance for our homeowners policy.
But whatever the price, I do feel the service I’ve received from Commerce is worth the money. A couple of years ago I was involved in a car accident where I was not at fault, and when I got the run-around from the other person’s insurance company (Arbella Insurance, by the way – I have nothing good to say about them!), Commerce jumped right in and took over and it was smooth sailing through the rest of the paperwork and claims.
They were attentive to my calls, answered my questions quickly, and really helped process everything so I had very little to worry about. The agents that I worked with at the time were really friendly and personable, and always seemed to enjoy the job they were doing for me.
They were quick to followup for me on anything I might have needed as a result of the accident, from securing a rental car to faxing paperwork to getting signatures. As someone who had never been involved in processing such a claim before, it was quite a relief to have such attention and guidance from the agents. I often see on television commercials for other insurance companies, claiming you can save this much or that much by switching to their services.
But I don’t think I would consider switching away from Commerce Insurance, even for cheaper rates – I figure you get what you pay for, and a penny saved here or there might come back to haunt you if you were ever to need to file a claim or get some personal attention on a matter. When I pay my insurance bill each time it comes due, I have confidence that I’m with a great company that will give me lots of great service.
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Johnson
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I have a claim against Commerce, been in “the process” now since October 2009!! All they do is stall, stall, stall……
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Evangeline Custis
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I have had Commerce Insurance Company for years and mostly they have been pretty good. But when they offer discounts, they often come back in the middle of the year and take back those discounts. My low mileage discount was removed one year because they stated that I could not prove my mileage.
Well, I live in Massachusetts and the registry has record of my mileage, which they can access in their computers. Also, my inspections are recorded, which they can also access. The next year they took away my low mileage discount when I went to the agent and wanted to pay off the whole year in one payment. There would be no profit from interest, so they told me that my mileage discount was being removed because my mileage was incorrect. I showed the agent my mileage according to my inspection document.
He said, “Well, it’s been 3 months since you submitted that form to us and your mileage is probably over the limit for the discount by now anyway. The discount was only about $45., but these people insult my intelligence with their little games. They blame Commerce and Commerce blames the agent. It’s time to get rid of both of them. By the way, the agent is New England Heritage in Stoneham, MA.
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linda
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Agents can be a smoke screen for Commerce. They enjoy and are paid to do the dirty work. Find an insurance company that is willing to deal directly with the customer. This way you get rid of the middle layer and thereby stop their grammar school “blaming each other” game which is really just to confuse you and to completely avoid taking any responsibility.
I switched to Liberty Mutual and always deal directly with an english speaking customer rep who I believe is in Dover,NH. No agent. No confusion. No hassles. Good luck my friend.
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Sam T
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Commerce has been my automobile insurance company for over ten years. They offer a full range of insurance options. Discounts are available for safe driving records, multiple vehicles, theft deterrent devices and insuring my home with them as well. They also offer discounts for membership in certain organizations. The range of coverage options is excellent including varying levels of deductibles.
I have had several glass breakage claims and they were very easy to deal with. Their staff seems to be courteous, knowledgeable, flexible and empowered to deal with issues quickly. They keep my agent informed of issues with the account. They offer an online website to manage my account. The policy selection sheet is easy to follow so I know exactly what my coverage is. When I purchased a new vehicle replacement, the process was simple and quick. They promptly sent an updated policy. Overall, I have been very satisfied with their service.
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