Source: http://www.hoovers.com

Reviews & Ratings

Ginsan’s Full Review of Farmers Home Insurance Group

You never know how good an insurance company is until you need them and that is too late. I would highly recommend Farmers and I’ll tell you why. We had Farmers on our 100 yr old house for several years. One night our house caught on fire from Christmas lights on the outside. It was the most terrifying experience but they were able to save the house. Somewhere in the confusion huddling at my neighbors while the fire fighters worked, someone said to call our insurance agent then. I called our agent and he said he would go to his office and see what coverage we had and be back in touch.

We went to my mother’s for the night and at 7:30 the next morning we received a call from Service Master that they had been hired from by the insurance company and they were on their way. Within the hour we got the first call from a claims adjuster. The people hired by the insurance company immediately moved on getting windows boarded up and heat in the lower part of the house turned on so we didn’t have frozen pipes causing more damage. The adjuster arrived and after evaluating the situation explained that because of the large amount of damage, their catastrophic adjuster would be there the next day and would take over. Oh, and by the way, here is $3000 to get what we need immediately and pay for a hotel.

Through the next 5 months, the insurance company paid for a rental house for us including renting furniture and utilities. They put together a comprehensive description of everything that needed to be done and the costs and allowed us to pick our own contractor. Our contractor felt the prices were right in line. As additional things were needed, the insurance company was cooperative.

Five months later our house was ready to move back into. Service Master brought back all of our belongings that were salvaged with everything clean and odor free. Farmers had paid all bills.

To say we were pleased would be an understatement. To come through a catastrophe like that and actually like your insurance company is amazing. They say in their ads that they will get you back on your feet fast and it is true. They did not just give lip service but they really did what they said they would. I would highly recommend them and several of our friends and neighbors have switched to them after seeing how well we were handled.

jwimberley’s Full Review of Farmers Home Insurance Group

We have been with Farmers now for about 12 years. We have had to use just about every aspect of our policy coverages and have had great service from both the agency force and the claims department.

Farmers is one of the few companies left in Texas that is still writing insurance for homeowners. They are limited in who they can write for right now but that is improving. As of today each agent can write up to five new home policies each month. Those clients must already have an auto policy with Farmers. If they do not have an auto policy with Farmers they are eligible to be written in Farmers sister company Foremost Insurance. In order to get a Farmers policy you must also be claims free for the last three years. There are some companies that will only take you as a new client if you have perfect credit, Farmers offers discounts (up to 40%) if you have an excellent insurance score (like a credit score but weighted differently) but they will not decline someone based on credit.

As for the coverages, there are several and I will try to explain how each one works.

DWELLING: This is your home. It does not include the land but it has nothing to do with market value. Don’t get stuck on the “I didn’t pay anywhere near that much” argument. The fact is that this is the money that will be used to rebuild your house. That includes demolition of the remaining structure, hauling off the debris, re-engineering the plans to fit on your existing slab and the cost of custom building your house. Remember, the first time your house was built there was probably a builder working on all of the homes in your neighborhood with multiple crews and buying supplies in bulk to keep costs down. That is not the case when an insurance company has to come in and rebuild your house.

OTHER STRUCTURES: This includes your fence, decks and any permanent structures like well houses or storage buildings that are not attached to the dwelling. It does not included temporary buildings like Morgan sheds.

LOSS OF USE: This coverage will take care of providing you with a place to stay while your house is being rebuilt. Remember, just because you had a fire doesn’t mean you get to stop making your mortgage payments. This coverage is used to rent you a place to stay until you can move back into your home.

PERSONAL PROPERTY: Just like it sounds. This is your television, computer, clothing, etc… There are limits to some items like Jewelry, fine art and important papers so if you have a lot of high dollar items be sure to talk to your agent about getting special increased limits to cover them.

PERSONAL PROPERTY OFF PREMISES: If you are on vacation and your bags are stolen, you have coverage under this part of your policy. Some people don’t realize that if their car is broken into and their CD’s are stolen the auto policy will not cover the CD’s. This part of your homeowners or renters policy will however.

PERSONAL LIABILITY: Maybe the most important part of your homeowners policy. This is what will protect you when someone sues you. Everyone always thinks that this will take care of you if someone is hurt on your property and sues you. That is true but it goes so much further. If you are playing softball and slide into third breaking the baseman’s ankle he might well sue you for his injury. Your personal liability protection will cover the cost of your defense and pay any damages up to the limit of the policy.

MEDICAL PAYMENTS TO OTHERS: This coverage is for injuries to people that don’t live at the house while they are visiting the house. For example if you are having a barbeque and someone grabs a hot skillet burning themselves you can call an ambulance, get them to the hospital and get them taken care of knowing that your homeowners insurance will be there for you when you need to be reimbursed.

Farmers also provides some great endorsements to their policy.

REPLACEMENT COST: This is an absolute must have on both the dwelling and the personal property. Without it you have an Actual Cash Value policy. With Replacement Cost the insurance company will pay whatever it cost to replace the item that was damaged or stolen. Under an ACV policy the company will take depreciation on the item based on its age or condition. For example if you have ACV on your dwelling and there is a hail storm that destroys your roof the adjuster will come out and tell you that your $3,000 roof is only worth $750 because it is 15 years old. With Replacement Cost your get the full $3,000 (less deductible) regardless of the age of the roof.

TX AMENDATORY ENDORSEMENT: In Texas there are precious few companies that will cover a house for water damage because of the way the courts have been deciding mold claims. Farmers still offers coverage for water damage in increments of $5,000 – $10,000 – or $25,000 depending on how much coverage you think you need.

IDENTITY THEFT: This is a very low-cost but important coverage in today’s high tech world. If your identity is stolen this coverage will pay your legal fees up to $15,000 to repair any damage done to your credit.

INCREASED JEWELRY / COMPUTER / MONEY & SECURITIES: Because there are limits to these items in the standard policy Farmers offers a way for people to increase the amount of coverage in these and a few more areas. All you have to do is ask.

RESIDENTIAL GLASS: This coverage will keep you from having to meet the full deductible on your homeowners just to replace a pane of glass. Whether it is your storm door or the bay window in the kitchen you can have it fixed under this portion of the policy without paying your deductible.

There are many other coverages and endorsements that will cover things like Rental Property, Boats, Home Businesses and company equipment kept at home. That is one of the great things about Farmers; they have a huge agency force that is willing to sit down with you and talk about the coverages in order to find the right package for you.

In our experience with the claims department they bent over backwards to make sure that we felt like we were being taken care of at all times. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like things are moving as quickly as you would like but I would rather wait an extra couple of days and know that the adjuster was doing everything he could to help us that to have someone cut us a check on the spot without really knowing what it was that we needed.

Georgianni’s Full Review of Farmers Home Insurance Group

We recently lost our home to a fire. The fire broke out at around 5:00 p.m. Since I was at home with the children and saw the smoke coming through the attic vents, I was able to get the kids and the pets out with a bit of help. When the fire department had the home under control, a very wonderful woman came to talk to me. She was there to make sure that our large family had a place to go as well as to offer advice on what we needed to do immediately. The top priority was to call our insurance company.
When we finally called Farmers, it was late at night. We had to get our kids and pets settled with family. However, despite the late hour, our claim was taken quickly and efficiently. We had an appointment with an adjuster the following day.
The only problem that we encountered was that my husband is heavy into carpentry. Not your average, modern carpentry, but antique tools. He had lots of them. This posed a problem because the local adjuster was not authorized to handle a claim the size of ours. He did however give us a check for $5,000.00 to cover our immediate expenses. He also gave us literature on how we needed to document our expenses until the regional inspector was able to get there. Despite the title, he was there in 3 days. He offered to help us set up a temporary home, rental furniture and anything else we needed until our home was rebuilt. Since we have 6 kids and 3 dogs, that was a challenge.
Our Farmers adjuster took care of us from start to finish. There was no fighting over what we had or didn’t have. We just had to turn in an inventory complete with pricing. That was a chore! An important lesson to be learned at this point..DO NOT HIRE A RESTORATION COMPANY! They charged us $47,000 to pack up what was left and do the inventory for us. We still had to price everything out on our own. I can sincerely say… I could have replaced EVERYTHING in my home for that amount. (Not including the tools.) This is another subject, so I will get back on target.
We have figured that we will pay Farmers our yearly insurance for the next 114 years before they will have earned back the money that they have put out for us. No problems, no questions, and once we were in their hands, no issues. Their rates may be higher that other companies, but the bottom line is you get what you pay for.

Source: http://www.epinions.com

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Reviews & Ratings

sox’s Full Review of Farmers Auto Insurance Group

We have been with Farmers Insurance for at least 20 years. And for the most part have been very happy with there services. When we were looking for insurance for our daughters when they were beginning to drive the Farmers agent we had at the time was very helpful and helped us get the most affordable rate and we as parents with teenage kids know that this is sometimes a difficult task when it comes to car insurance.

I am not saying that Farmers is the lowest, but they seem to be about the fairest of some to these companies around. Who may have a lower rate but watch out when the kid gets a ticket or an accident even if it is not there fault. The rates will be hiked up so high they can’t see up or they will drop the kid altogether.

Farmers insurance does have a discount for grades, also they used to give a discount if the kid takes drivers education, no smokers also. I feel that they have some pretty competitive standards as an insurance company.

I did have a problem one time with the main office in California one time but the matter was taken care of within a couple of days by our office here and an apology was given to us which is not done to often so I feel that unless something drastic happens we will probably stay with Farmers Insurance.

cmashby’s Full Review of Farmers Auto Insurance Group

I live in southern California and in traffic conditions like I’m in, I put my faith and trust in Farmers Insurance. I have tried several of the ‘newer’ insurance companies in order to save ten dollars a month but I’ve always returned to Farmers. I like the idea of actually having an agent and knowing who I’m talking to on the phone when I have a claim or question. Farmers’ insurance Company has been around since the early 1920′s and have established an excellent reputation in that time for quick and easy claim handling and personal one on one service. The only downside to Farmers Insurance is that their prices are slightly higher than several of the large competitors out there, but I’ve found that if you combine policies together, you actually end up saving a considerable amount of money, not to mention the peace of mind.

Char64’s Full Review of Farmers Auto Insurance Group

Farmers insurance company is by far the best insurance company I’ve ever had dealings with. I’ve had policies with four other companies over the years and for one reason or another I was not satisfied with the service. With Farmers I can get in contact with my agent when I need to without feeling like I’m in a circus. Their rates are by far less than many other companies I inquired about when looking. For me they are easier to work with and seem to take a more personal approach. I have auto and renters insurance with them, which means they give me a discount for multiple policies.(Every little penny helps.) If there is a problem with my account they contact me by phone immediately, as well as by mail, so it can be resolved as soon as possible. From my experience dealing with Farmers, I will not be changing companies anytime in the near future.

Source: http://www.epinions.com

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