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Are you in the market for auto insurance? Farmers Insurance offers a wide range of options for customizing your policy to meet specific needs. The company also offers home insurance, life insurance and more, making it a one-stop shop for personal insurance needs. Keep reading to learn more about car insurance from Farmers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Wide range of insurance products | Customer satisfaction ratings are below average in most parts of the country |
| Many options to customize policies | Auto insurance only sold in 37 states |
| Rideshare insurance available | |
| Multiple ways to save on premiums |
| Farmers Customer Service 888-327-63356 301 Owensmouth Avenue Woodland Hills, CA 91367 |
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Started in 1928 as a company to provide auto insurance to farmers, The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is now one of the country's largest providers of insurance and financial services products. Farmers currently handles more than 19 million individual policies across all 50 states with over 48,000 exclusive and independent agents nationwide.
What Farmers Auto Insurance Offers
Farmers offer several types of auto insurance coverage. The basic types of coverage that almost every driver needs are:
- Liability: Required by law in most states, this covers the cost of injury to others and damage to their property in an accident when you're at fault.
- Collision: Covers repair or replacement of your vehicle when you're at fault in collisions with other vehicles, objects and animals.
- Comprehensive: Covers damage to your car caused by things besides a collision, such as hail, wind, theft, fire, vandalism, animal damage and more.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist: Helps pay for damage to your car and bodily injury to you and your passengers in an accident caused by someone who's uninsured or underinsured.
You can also add various options to your Farmers car insurance, including:
- Medical payments coverage: Helps with the cost of medical care for you and your passengers resulting from injuries in an accident, no matter who's at fault.
- Personal injury protection (PIP): Helps cover the cost of your rehabilitation and lost wages resulting from an accident.
- Towing and roadside service: Provides 24/7 roadside assistance if your car is disabled and helps pay for towing, tire changes, locksmith services and jumpstarts.
- Rental car reimbursement: Covers the cost of renting a car for up to 30 days while yours is repaired; Farmers can handle the arrangements and billing for you.
- Loss of use: While your car is being repaired, this provides a flat sum for transportation that can be used for public transit, rentals, taxis and rideshare services.
- Guaranteed Value: A popular option for owners of classic and collector cars, this pays you a defined, agreed-upon value if your car is a total loss.
- Customized equipment: Covers the cost to repair or replace aftermarket auto equipment such as infotainment systems or custom wheels.
- Glass deductible buyback: Covers windshield and glass repair and replacement with just a $100 deductible.
- Full windshield and glass coverage: Covers windshield and glass repair and replacement with $0 deductible.
- Spare parts coverage: Covers the cost to replace spare parts you keep on hand, up to $750; this is another popular choice for owners of classic and collector cars.
- Original equipment manufacturer (OEM): Available on cars up to 10 years old, this covers the cost of using factory-original parts in covered repairs.
- New-car replacement coverage: Covers the cost to replace your car with a new one of the same make and model; available when your car is totaled within the first two model years and 24,000 miles.
- Accident forgiveness: Except in California, Farmers will forgive one at-fault accident for every three years you drive without one. This helps keep your premium from increasing due to a single accident.
One type of coverage Farmers doesn't offer is gap insurance, which covers the difference between the amount you owe on your car and its value in the event of a total loss. If you owe more on your car than it's worth, you may want to look elsewhere for a company that offers gap insurance.
How to Save With Farmers Insurance
Want to save money on your auto insurance costs? There are several ways you can minimize your insurance premiums with Farmers auto insurance.
- Keep your car longer. Driving an older car that's less valuable can help keep your overall premium lower than what it would cost to insure a new car.
- Drive safely. Maintain a clean driving record without traffic violations or accidents.
- Choose a car that costs less to insure. Depending on average safety ratings and theft rates, some cars cost less to insure. If you're buying a car, a Farmers agent can provide insurance estimates for different makes, models and years to help you compare.
- Opt for a higher deductible. A higher deductible can mean lower monthly premiums. Just make sure you're prepared to pay more out of pocket if you do have a claim.
- Purchase multiple policies. Combining your auto policy with another type of Farmers insurance, such as a homeowners policy, may qualify you for discounts.
You may also be eligible for additional discounts depending on the state where you live. These can include:
- Multi-car discount for insuring more than one vehicle.
- Membership in certain business or professional organizations.
- Retirement discount for those 55 or older living in a retirement community.
- Distant Student discount for young drivers who attend school 100 miles or more from your home and don't have regular access to your covered car.
- Youthful driver or mature driver: Drivers in certain age ranges can get discounts by completing driver safety courses.
- Teen Driver discount if you add one licensed teen driver (your child or grandchild) to a policy you've had in force for two years or more.
- Classroom discounts for students who maintain a certain grade point average.
- Signal discount: Download and use the Signal app to earn discounts of 5% to 15% for safe driving habits and up to 10% more if you have young drivers in the household.
- Planning Ahead Discounts for paying via electronic funds transfer (EFT) or paying your annual premium in full.
- Alternative fuel discounts for vehicles that run on electric, electric/gasoline hybrid, ethanol, methanol, compressed natural gas or propane.
- Safety discounts for safety or anti-theft equipment on your vehicle.
Select your state to see other discounts you may qualify for.
Farmers Offers Rideshare Insurance
If you drive for a service such as Lyft or Uber, you'll be interested in Farmers' rideshare insurance. Not all car insurance companies offer this type of insurance, and Farmers was one of the first to do so. Why is this coverage necessary?
Your personal auto insurance generally doesn't cover you when you're logged into a rideshare company's app as available to accept rides. But the company's full commercial liability coverage probably doesn't begin until you accept a ride. During the time you're logged in but haven't yet accepted a rider, you're only covered by the rideshare company's limited liability coverage. While this covers medical expenses and damage to others if an accident is your fault, it doesn't usually cover injury to you or damage to your car. Farmers' rideshare insurance bridges that gap and covers you during periods not covered by company or personal insurance.
Getting a Quote From Farmers
You can get an auto insurance quote from Farmers by calling 800-974-6755, by using the Find an Agent tool to connect with a local agent, or online. You'll be asked to provide your name, age, gender, address and whether you currently have insurance.
You'll also need to provide the following information about your vehicle:
- Make, model, year and type of vehicle
- Whether it has any special features such as anti-lock brakes or a theft recovery system
- Whether it's leased, financed or owned
- How many miles you drive annually
- Whether the car is primarily used for business or pleasure
- Whether you use it for ridesharing
Next, you'll be asked how many drivers you want to insure and to provide more details about each: occupation, marital status, when they received their license, whether the license came from outside the U.S., and whether they've had any accidents or violations in the past 10 years. Finally, you'll answer some questions to determine if you qualify for discounts, such as whether you own a home and what other types of insurance you are interested in.
How Filing a Claim Works
If you need to file an auto insurance claim, you can call Farmers 24/7 at 800-435-7764, call your agent directly, report your claim online or use the Farmers mobile app. Whichever method you choose, Farmers will ask for some brief information about what happened.
To make the claims process easier, have the following information ready: your driver's license number, your insurance account number, any information about the other party that you collected at the scene of the accident (such as name, vehicle license number, driver's license number, contact information and insurance information) and witness or police information, if applicable.
When you file your claim, you'll be asked to describe the accident and have the opportunity to provide additional information, such as photos, documents and a police report. A claims representative will be in touch after you file your claim.
Do Auto Insurance Quotes Affect Credit?
When you're pricing auto insurance, it makes sense to shop around and get quotes from several insurers. But will doing so hurt your credit score? Good news: Unlike applications for credit, which are considered hard inquiries and can negatively affect your credit score, getting an estimate for auto insurance is a soft inquiry and won't impact your credit score.
That said, auto insurance in most states can be more expensive if you have poor credit, because auto insurance companies typically use a credit-based insurance score to determine your premiums. This is a specialized type of credit score—different from your regular credit score—that has been shown to predict whether a person is likely to file an insurance claim. (If you live in California, Hawaii or Massachusetts, using credit-based insurance scores is illegal.)
Farmers offers a wide array of insurance options extending well beyond auto insurance coverage. Read on for other types of insurance coverage you may need.
Farmers Homeowners Insurance
Farmers offers homeowners insurance coverage for a variety of needs. You can customize your coverage, but in general, policies cover fire, theft of property, injury to a guest on your property, tornado damage and some losses of property away from home. The company's homeowners policies do not cover damage from earthquakes or floods; however, you may be able to purchase separate earthquake coverage or flood insurance through Farmers.
The Farmers Smart Plan Home policy has three levels of coverage you can customize to your needs:
- Standard: This plan for new homeowners focuses on covering key risks affordably, but lets you choose higher coverage limits for specific items that are unusually valuable.
- Enhanced: Designed for established homeowners, this package offers higher policy limits and extra features such as covering the costs of replacing your home's contents without deducting depreciation.
- Premier: This package (not available in California) offers the highest limits and coverage on personal property. If you meet certain criteria, this policy can include Guaranteed Replacement Cost coverage, which reimburses 100% of the cost of rebuilding after a covered loss, regardless of policy limits.
There are several automatic discounts available. Your deductible is reduced by $50 each year your policy is in force; you'll also get a discount if you've been claim-free for three or more consecutive years, even if you're coming from another insurer. If you remain claim-free with Farmers for five consecutive years, you enjoy claim forgiveness, meaning your next claim can't increase your premium.
There are also state-by-state homeowners insurance discounts available depending on your location. And, of course, you may be eligible for multi-line discounts if you have more than one type of Farmers policy, such as homeowners insurance and auto insurance.
In addition to insurance for traditional single-family homes, Farmers sells homeowners insurance for condominiums; mobile and manufactured homes; and specialized insurance for vacation homes, rental properties and vacant homes. If your home is worth less than it would cost to rebuild, or if you have poor credit or a lot of previous homeowners insurance claims, it can be difficult to find insurance—but Farmers offers insurance for these situations too.
Farmers Life Insurance
Life insurance helps your loved ones cover expenses that linger after you're gone—everything from your funeral costs to paying the mortgage or financing college for your children. Farmers offers three types of life insurance:
- Term life: Term life premiums are fixed for the term of the policy, usually 10, 20 or 30 years. This kind of insurance is a good option if you're on a budget or want to ensure your survivors will be able to cover costs that have an "expiration date," such as a mortgage or college tuition. Once the policy term ends, you can renew coverage, but generally will pay a higher premium because you're now older.
- Whole life: This is permanent insurance that lasts your lifetime, or until the policy matures. Premiums stay level while the policy is in force. Eventually, whole life insurance accumulates a cash value that you can access during your lifetime—for example, to live on during retirement.
- Universal life: Like whole life, this is permanent insurance that may accumulate a cash value. However, it's more flexible than whole life because you can modify the policy and premiums. Universal life insurance is often used as a type of investment to generate wealth for yourself, your heirs or for charitable giving.
You can supplement your Farmers life insurance policy with these options:
- Accidental death insurance can be useful if you're frequently in risky situations, such as traveling a lot for your job.
- Disability riders can help pay your life insurance premiums and supplement lost income if you become disabled.
- An accelerated death benefit rider lets you collect part of your policy's death benefit if you are diagnosed as terminally ill with a short life expectancy.
- A critical illness rider pays a lump sum if you're struck with a covered critical illness such as cancer, stroke or a heart attack.
Farmers has a life insurance calculator you can use to help determine how much life insurance coverage you need. That's a good starting point, but it's also a good idea to talk to an agent for advice on your specific situation.
While you can't get discounts on your Farmers life insurance policy, adding a life insurance policy to an existing homeowners or auto insurance policy may qualify you for a discount on those premiums.
Additional Insurance Coverage Offered by Farmers
In addition to auto, home and life insurance, Farmers sells several other types of insurance coverage you may want to consider:
- Renters insurance for coverage against risks such as fire, theft, a guest injured on your property, or a lawsuit by a neighbor.
- Recreational insurance for boats, off-road vehicles, travel trailers, motorhomes and fifth-wheel trailers.
- Motorcycle insurance including collision and liability insurance.
- Farmers Identity Shield helps cover losses due to identity theft. It also includes credit and public records monitoring and provides for replacing your identity or travel documents.
- Personal umbrella insurance provides additional liability coverage above the limits of your auto, home and other personal liability policies. This extra protection is available in $1 million increments up to $10 million.
- Pet health insurance through Pets Best provides accident, illness and wellness insurance for dogs and cats.
- Business insurance through Farmers provides many coverage options, including:
- Business property insurance for damage to your building, property or inventory, as well as loss of income.
- Business liability insurance to cover costs of lawsuits, data breaches or injuries visitors to your business may suffer.
- Business crime insurance to help replace property stolen by employees or outsiders.
- Commercial auto insurance for businesses that have vehicles, including specialized coverage for contractors and food trucks.
- Workers' compensation insurance to cover medical costs for workers who are injured or become ill on the job.
- Business umbrella insurance provides up to $10 million in additional coverage beyond the limits of your other business policies.
- Life insurance coverage you can offer employees as a benefit, as well as life insurance to help keep the business running if you, co-owners or key employees die or become disabled.
- You can also get industry-specific business insurance tailored for everything from retailers to manufacturers and apartment landlords.
Is Farmers Insurance Right for You?
Farmers auto insurance offers coverage for a wide range of vehicles and situations, from personal vehicles to recreational vehicles and cars used for rideshare driving. The company also provides life insurance, home insurance, business insurance and more, plus lots of ways to get discounts on your premiums. On the downside, the company's J.D. Power ratings for customer satisfaction are below average in most parts of the country, except for the Central region.
If you need more than just auto insurance and like the convenience of having all your coverage with one company, Farmers could be the right insurance provider for you. However, it's worth shopping around and getting quotes from other insurers, too.
Insurance coverage availability, discounts, limits and other details may vary by state and other factors.