AMEX is now Ameriprise and they can be competitive, but not nearly as competitive as they used to be. I was with the old AMEX starting in '01, they were the cheapest around. Then my rate crept up every year, not enough to worry about, but always up. Then in '08, my rate doubled all of a sudden. I called to ask for a reason and they said that since I had 3 "incidents" on my record, they moved me from a certain discount tier up to a lesser discount. I had no at fault accidents or speeding tickets so I asked what the 3 were. One was a hit and run, I filed the claim with them (supposedly not supposed to count and they said that it in itself didn't raise my rate, but it was still and "incident"). Second was a rear ending where other party was at fault and their insurance paid. Third and this is when I lost it - back in 1997 my wife got into a one car accident, lost control in rain, spun out, minor damage, and a ticket for something. The crazy thing is that back in 1997, I didn't know my wife, we weren't married, and we weren't even with AMEX yet they still counted it as an "incident" and invoked a 3 strikes rule. So basically 7 years of no accidents or tickets and they doubled my rates over issues they didn't pay out for and one of which was before we were even customers. It seemed incredibly shady. So I dropped them that day and found State Farm which surprisingly was half the price of what AMEX quoted me. FWIW, American Express spun off their insurance business so Ameriprise has nothing to do with AMEX the card company these days.
