Just curious, but did they make any hassle about switching ? We had Erie with the same agent as our in-laws and the agent screwed them over on something so I decided to drop him. I called another Erie rep (independent agent) and told him I needed to switch agents. He told me Erie's policies with their reps is it's not allowed - they don't want agents stealing clients from each other, which I can understand. I told him "we're dropping that agent so if that means put me with another company, that's what I'll do". He told Erie's regional manager/supervisor and they allowed it as an exception.
I have a feeling this isn't an uncommon policy with insurance companies.
That's almost exactly my experience, and yes, I'm with Erie.
When I first went with Erie, there were not a lot of agents in my area, so I had to go to one about 30 miles away.
I found out (in short order) that he was a flaming a**hat, that suffered tremendously from Napoleon Complex.
The both of us had gotten into it about some items on the policy, pricing, discounts, etc., but I promptly put him in his place.
The last straw was when Mrs. Tdbo had to call in regarding a claim, and he went off on her to the point she was in tears.
Less than 10 minutes after that, his secretary called me back apologizing for him. After I apologized to her for being put in that position, I asked her to get a piece of paper to dictate a response for her boss. Moderation here will not allow me to repeat the message, but let's just say that the theme of it revolved a comparison to him and poultry feces.
Then I got a call from the agent's wife, who was also an agent in the store. She informed me that she would be my new agent, and that I would no longer have to deal with her husband. My response was that I wasn't dealing with either of them, because I was taking my business to another agency. She told me that I couldn't do that. I told her that she didn't have the right to tell me what I could do, and it would be done, and if not, there are plenty of insurance companies in the state that would gladly take my check.
I found the agency that I wanted to go with (an independent who also sold Erie.) He told me that I would probably not be able to change agents. I told him to get the company on the phone. He was on the phone with his supervisor who told him no. I told him to put me on the phone. She started explaining to me why she couldn't, however I cut her short and said that she had a choice, either make the change or loose a customer. When she saw that I was serious, she approved it.
However, here is the thing with Erie (and some companies.) In a mutual company like State Farm, the company owns the policy. Agents for them merely service it, and thus can be assigned/reassigned. With Erie, the agent owns the policy. So to make the change, they had to totally rewrite my Home/Auto, and then go back and cancel the other policy. Yes, in my case, I actually ended up with better coverage for less money with the same company. Actually, I think that was agent driven as I said previously.
So, if you are a good customer they will do it. However, they don't like to.