How is the customer service and claims handling at Farmers Insurance Company? How good is Farmers Insurance Group‘s auto insurance & homeowners insurance? This blog entry helps you answer these important questions and decide if Farmers Insurance Company is best for you!
Update 4/17/2013: I have posted the latest Farmers complaint statistics for 2011, 2010, & 2009 (2012 will be available Aug 2013) which you can see here.
Visit my site to get price quotes, complaint statistics, and customer service & claims satisfaction ratings for all the leading auto & home insurance companies in the USA. How is your insurance company rated? Does it have a lot of customer complaints? Find out at my home page and CLICK HERE!
_____________________________________________________________________
Auto insurance & home insurance customers do not have a lot of objective information available to them to evaluate how well their insurance company will provide customer service & handle claims.
Unfortunately, paying more for auto & home insurance does not mean better service or a fair claims settlement, so the price you pay is not an indication of whether you will have a problem with your insurance and feel ripped off.
There are plenty of individual stories on the Internet of problems with claims or service for every insurance company. But reading a lot of complaints on the Internet does not inform you if the majority of customers are happy with the insurance company, since they don’t write about it on the Internet.
Even a website full of complaint stories are anecdotal and not statistically significant. You need to look at large numbers to really spot a trend in poor service.
However, number scores may not be simple and easy for people to interpret, even though I explain them on my website.
So, I am doing a series of blog posts giving letter grades based on the complaint ratios, to make it as easy as possible to find the best auto & home insurance companies and avoid the worst insurance companies.
Here are my letter grades:
Note: After a few years of reviewing complaint statistics, I’ve changed my rating system to a better than average, average, and worse than average rating scale, which I think is more useful & fair in assessing an insurance company’s complaint record. A small difference in the number of complaints can make an “A” company go to a “C” company from year to year, so I think my old rating system is not helpful for understanding a positive or negative trend in complaints for a company. Please click here to see my new 2011, 2010, 2009 (2012 coming in Aug 2013) Farmers complaint ratings.
A+ = Insurance companies with complaints 25% or less than the average insurance company.
A = Insurance companies with complaints 50% or less than the average insurance company.
B = Insurance companies with complaints 90% or less than the average insurance company.
C = Insurance companies with complaints from 90% to 110% of the average insurance company.
D = Insurance companies with complaints from 110% to 200% of the average insurance company.
F = Insurance companies with complaints over 200% of the average insurance company. Over twice as much as average!
Consider these grades, along with price and other factors (as listed on my website), when choosing an auto insurance company.
Farmers Insurance Group has several subsidiary homeowners insurance and auto insurance companies. Make sure you know the correct name of the Farmers Insurance subsidiary company quoting or insuring you, to check the proper complaint grade.
Farmers Insurance Company’s 2010 Complaint Ratings for Auto Insurance
Update 4/17/2013: I have posted the latest Farmers complaint ratings for 2011, 2010, & 2009 (2012 will be available Aug 2013) which you can see here.
Farmers Insurance Company Inc. = C
Farmers Insurance Company of Arizona = A
Farmers Insurance Company of Idaho = B+
Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon = D
Farmers Insurance Company of Washington = A
Farmers Insurance Exchange = C
Farmers Insurance Hawaii Inc. = A+
Farmers Insurance Company of Columbus Inc. = B
Farmers New Century Insurance Company = F
Farmers Reinsurance Company = A+
Farmers Texas County Mutual Insurance Company = A+
Mid-Century Insurance Company = A
Mid-Century Insurance Company of Texas = A+
Truck Insurance Exchange = F
Illinois Farmers Insurance Company = A+
Civic Property & Casualty Company = A+
Farmers Insurance Company’s Complaint Ratings for Homeowners Insurance
Farmers Insurance Company Inc. = D
Farmers Insurance Company of Arizona = A
Farmers Insurance Company of Idaho = D
Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon = B-
Farmers Insurance Company of Washington = A+
Farmers Insurance Exchange = C
Farmers Insurance Hawaii Inc. = A+
Farmers Insurance Company of Columbus Inc. = B
Farmers New Century Insurance Company = B
Mid-Century Insurance Company = A
Fire Insurance Exchange = B
Truck Insurance Exchange = D+ -
Illinois Farmers Insurance Company = B
Neighborhood Spirit Property & Casualty Company = D
Civic Property & Casualty Company = F
Exact Property & Casualty Company = A+
Now you know the complaint records for the Farmers insurance subsidiary companies. The next step is to get price quotes. By shopping your auto insurance or homeowners insurance with ALL the leading insurance companies, you can get a great price AND great customer service & claims handling. Use my website to find all the leading insurance companies, evaluate their customer service, and find the best price for you. Many people pay too much for their insurance because they never shop for better rates, or if they do shop, they don’t check the rates of enough companies. For a lot of people, the best insurance company is the one with the lowest rates. The ad below will take you to links to get online quotes from leading Home, Auto, Health, & Life insurance companies in your area. go to the ad, choose your type of insurance, put in your ZIP code and start shopping now!
Do you have any experience with Farmers Insurance Company? Tell me about it. Comment on my facebook page. Email me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.