Farmers Insurance Review 2020

Farmers Insurance is the fifth-largest home insurer and seventh-largest auto insurer in the country. It offers an array of other insurance products as well as financial products such as mutual funds and annuities.

Farmers auto insurance

Farmers auto insurance earned 4.5 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account pricing and discounts, ease of filing a claim, website transparency, financial strength, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and more.

Based on these ratings, Farmers is among NerdWallet’s Best Car Insurance Companies for 2020.

Farmers offers standard coverage choices for auto insurance, in addition to several types of optional coverage, including:

• New car replacement: If your new car is totaled within the first two model years and 24,000 miles of ownership, Farmers pays to replace it with a new one.
• Accident forgiveness: One accident is forgiven, meaning your rate won’t go up if you have one, for every three years you drive without an accident.
• Loss of use: When your car is in the shop or totaled after an accident, Farmers reimburses you for a rental, cabs or public transit. Most companies’ coverage only pays for a rental car.
• Customized equipment coverage: If you have custom parts installed in your car, such as chrome rims or a new stereo system, this option expands your policy to cover those parts if they’re stolen or damaged. You must have comprehensive and collision to buy this coverage.
• Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) coverage pays for replacement parts from your car’s manufacturer if you’re in a covered wreck, rather than aftermarket parts, which are cheaper. You must have collision and comprehensive coverage to opt in, and your car’s model must be within 10 years of the current calendar year.

Rideshare insurance: Companies such as Uber or Lyft typically provide limited liability insurance for drivers while the app is on, with full coverage that kicks when you accept a ride and have passengers. Farmers rideshare insurance extends your personal auto policy to fill in the gaps, providing coverage between rides, so you’re always covered during your rideshare job.

Farmers auto insurance discounts include:

• Good driver discount.
• Multi-vehicle discount.
• Multi-policy (bundling) discount.
• Discount for being part of a professional group.
• Good student discount.
• Discount for driving an alternative fuel vehicle.
• Discount for being a homeowner.
• Discounts if your car has certain safety or anti-theft features.
• Teen driver discount.
• Discount for paying for your policy in full.
• Electronic payments discount.
• Continuous coverage discount for starting a policy with no recent lapses in auto insurance.

Signal by Farmers is a program that uses a smartphone app to monitor your driving behavior. Once you sign up and complete 10 trips, you’ll receive a 5% policy discount, and at your next policy renewal the discount can increase up to 15% or more based on a driving score calculated by the app. The discount can also decrease based on your driving score, and the program is not available in every state.

» MORE: Compare car insurance rates

Farmers home insurance

Farmers homeowners insurance starts with three basic packages — Standard, Enhanced or Premier — but each has customizable limits for standard options. Standard policies include the typical homeowners coverages and are designed for new homeowners, while Enhanced and Premier policies have perks more established homeowners might appreciate.

The company calls them Farmers Smart Plan Home policies, and regardless of which level you choose, each includes:

• Claim forgiveness, which waives the surcharge if you go five or more years without filing a claim.
• Declining deductibles: Each year your policy is in force, Farmers takes $50 off your deductible.
• Cosmetic damage repair, which is included when you file a claim for functional damage.

There are other individual options you can add to any Farmers homeowner policy, if they are available in your state:

• Identity Shield: This feature includes identity theft coverage, credit monitoring and assistance replacing identity or travel documents.
• Eco-rebuild: Receive up to $25,000 for extra costs to repair, replace or rebuild your home with green materials after you file a claim.
• Contents replacement: When an item in your home is damaged or destroyed, you receive reimbursement for the value of a new one.

Farmers homeowners discounts include:

• Discounts for recent heating or plumbing upgrades.
• Newer home discount.
• Roofing materials discount for installing impact-resistant roof.
• Several home safety discounts for installing or having items like burglar alarms, fire alarms, fortified windows and more.
• Non-smoking discount.

Farmers life insurance

Farmers offers several types of life insurance policies, including term, whole and universal life insurance. All of Farmers’ term life options are convertible to lifelong coverage.

Simple Term Life fast-tracks the application process, allowing you to skip the medical exam and get insured more quickly.

• Coverage starting at: $75,000.
• Terms offered: 10, 20, or 30 years.
• Ages: 18-65 when issued.

Value Term Life from Farmers comes with a guaranteed death benefit amount, and your premiums won’t increase during the term you sign up for. If you convert to whole life or a longer term, your rates might increase.

• Coverage starting at: $150,000.
• Terms offered: 10, 20, or 30 years.
• Ages: 18-75 when issued.

Farmers complaints and customer satisfaction

Farmers had fewer than the expected number of complaints to state regulators for auto, home and life insurance relative to its size, according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Customer satisfaction ratings for Farmers are consistently about average.

More about Farmers Insurance

Website: You can connect with an agent, get a quote, report a claim and check on its status and more. You’ll find ample resources to help with your claim, as well as a checklist of what to do in an accident.

Mobile app: You can pay your insurance bill, update payment options, get your agent’s contact information, view your policy details, and get access to your digital insurance ID cards when you need proof of insurance. In some cases you can also upload damage photos for a car insurance claim.

Auto insurance ratings methodology

NerdWallet’s auto insurance ratings reward companies for customer-first features and practices. Ratings are based on weighted averages of scores in several categories, including financial strength, consumer complaints, website transparency and affordability. Using our editorial discretion, we also consider customer satisfaction surveys. These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.

Methodology: Insurer complaints

NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2016-2018. To assess how insurers compare to one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home and life insurance.