State Farm Auto Insurance Review
State Farm Review
Like a good neighbor, State Farm will screw you over .
I normally try not to whine too much on my blog, but some events surrounding a car accident I was in has lead me to detest State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. My experience was bad enough that I not only left them likely forever, but I also pro actively prevent people from using their services and will use my blog to share my story with others. After writing and re-writing this a few times, I realized it’s hard to comprehensively explain the problems that happened in a short summary, so my apologies for the long post.
The Wreck
I thought about going into major details here, but basically the wreck wasn’t small. My car flipped around and almost slammed into a store front, pretty bad neck and back damage. An ambulance came, Provo police gave the other guy a few tickets since it was clearly his fault and he broke laws designed to prevent accidents. I was hauled off to the ER for X-rays of my neck and back since both hurt quite bad. The police got the other man’s insurance info and grabbed some of my personal effects out of the car. My family has been with State Farm for as long as I can remember, and we have never had any major wrecks, so no major claims to really test their service until this.
The car was hauled to a holding lot in Provo, and at State Farm’s recommendation we have it later moved to a lot in Springville, UT nearby where I live, to be close during the repair, or assessment of total loss process. I already knew for a fact that the car was totaled. It was likely destroyed enough to be totaled and I am sure every insurance company probably would have agreed. Luckily I had Comprehensive coverage from State Farm. Luckily right?
Insurance Mess
They (State Farm Insurance) A.K.A. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company arrange for a rental car, and since I know for a fact my car is totaled, they said the rental will be covered until a few days after they make an offer/settlement on my totaled car. At this point, with the 5 minute conversation to make the claim, and arrange the rental I felt comfortable with State Farm handling it. I asked them what processes I should follow, who I should contact for what, etc.
I missed work, started physical therapy on my back and neck, State Farm agreed to cover everything and said they would “take care of me” and all the bills from the wreck, with which they said they would pay upfront and then later get the money for everything from Nationwide Mutual, the company who covered the driver who was at fault. I thought this was a good idea because I didn’t want to have to deal with both companies, and have some bills go through one and some through another.
The first major problem anyone might encounter with State Farm and the way their claim service is set up, is that you will rarely talk to the same person twice unless you have a super nice dedicated agent that wants to be the middle man between everyone. They have a “team” of people (call center style), and as they started collecting statements and gathering info about my car, the wreck, and my bills, made an offer for my car, etc, no one communicated very well with anyone else and everything is based off of “notes on your account” which never said anything to help me. I had to deal with Nationwide Insurance for the medical bills once State Farm actually came forward and said they wouldn’t pay for them anymore. At Nationwide, there was one person over my entire claim who remembered me very well every time I called in.
State Farm stopped paying the medical bills after about 3 weeks, and since I still needed therapy I had to pay it out of pocket (send it to my crappy personal insurance I was paying for) and then try to get Nationwide to pay back the bills. After a few weeks of having a rental car, State Farm came to me and said that they wouldn’t pay for the past week, and nothing further. This was stressful because I still had a loan out on my Galant, they hadn’t made an offer yet for my totaled car, and I was broke from not being able to work. The rental was 30$ a day, so close to $300 in the last few days of driving, and how ever much longer I might need it until I find a replacement car. I needed a rental until I could finally get an offer, accept it, and buy a new car. I was forced into a situation where State Farm eventually changed their opinion after a few heated conversations and said they would cover the rental, but might bill me later. They reversed their stand on the rental car issue with every person that I talked to. I got uneasy and was kind of forced into buying a super cheap Daewoo to hold me over.
I left my stereo system and after market rims and other stuff on the car because there was a chance State Farm might give a fair value for them ( this I did at the recommendation of one of the State Farm employees I talked to). If they wouldn’t pay fair market value, then I would pull everything off/out of the car and put the stock ones back on. I still owned the Galant, and had not received payment for it, nor gave permission for anything to be touched. State Farm called me and said they wouldn’t consider those parts in the value of the car so I could go get them, I verified the car was still at the local lot/repair shop it was supposes to be at and literally just 5 minutes later I go over to the lot to get them off and the repair shop said the car was moved by State Farm Insurance a week or 2 previous. State Farm moved the car I still owned to a wrecking/auction yard way up in Northern UT, despite me never giving permission to do so.
My car was stolen by my own insurance company with a bunch of my belongings still on/in it. Some dumb customer service rep put a note saying I gave verbal permission that they could have my car. Never happened, and no amount of fighting or complaining could get my car back down here so I could get the $2000 of after market stuff off the car. Which I was promised I would always be able to do until I signed it over to them. Why would they think I would give permission for them to have my car and do with as they please so early in the process? Why would one of my Claim Rep’s call me and tell me to get my stuff of the car, verify it’s still in Springville, if in fact it was over 2 hours away and I had supposedly given them permission to have the car? I kept a note diary of every conversation with State Farm and Nationwide. When I was steaming mad and called to express how f*#?’ed up this all was, I asked who had said they talked to me and I gave them “verbal permission”, someone who I had in fact never even spoken with before.
After enough complaining to enough people, they said if I wanted my things, I had to drive to North Logan, almost 2 hours + of a drive in my awesome Daewoo to get the stuff off it. I arrange a time and place to pick it up, only to find that somehow mysteriously everything had been stolen off the car and I was no longer allowed to go see and verify what had been stolen exactly. Someone at State Farm (SLC office) even went as far as to insult me, multiple times, concerning this matter not because they personally had talked to me, but because of *notes* on my account that they had read from someone probably long ago in a place far, far away. Actually from the first week on, despite just having wrecked my nice car, and dealing with the pain from the injuries from the wreck, not being able to work, and just plain being mad at the world and depress, State Farm stopped treating me like anyone there cared what I was going through. They constantly insulted me and weren’t willing to do anything to make me at least slightly satisfied with the job they were doing. I had to constantly push and fight just to get things to go a little smoother. The more they messed up and the more frustrated and mad I got, the worse they treated me.
Claim Wrap Up
They offer me $5000 or something for the car at first. Even with the minor imperfections, the base model of my car wouldn’t sell for anything less than $7600. I called about 15 used car lots in the area (because value is based on the local market apparently) and they all had an average of about $7800 - $8000 estimate for the resell value, which is exactly what State Farm said the offer was based on. If I wanted to really dispute the amount though, I had to hire an appraiser. More money out of pocket that they knew I was in no position to afford. With the after market add-ons (19” inch maxim rims, low profile ZR tires all the way around, and a really amazing sounds system), it was valued over $9,000 easy. I understand that after-market stuff is where insurance companies usually screw over claims, which is why I was prepared to pull them all off and sell them. If only my car hadn’t been moved with out my permission then had everything stolen.
After an extreme amount of fighting with my own insurance company, who by the way tried to get good compensation for “taking care of me” from Nationwide, I became peaked with my frustration and tired of fighting. I just wanted it all to end. It took over a month to finally settle on my car. I mean a car wreck is stressful enough not to mention I missed over a month of work and was a few months of back and neck therapy ahead to try and fix the pain, I didn’t want to ever have to talk to State Farm again. State Farm is probably lucky I didn’t commit suicide over how horrible this whole thing was for me. They pushed me to a point of mental exhaustion, so I settled on $5600 (raped) and then eventually got $600 for the stolen audio equipment after threatening to sue.
The offer barely paid for the remainder of the loan. The audio equipment, used, would still have gotten at least double (it was nice stuff, and there was a lot of it). They stole my car, and wouldn’t provide proof that I had ever said they could taken ownership before receiving payment for the car and transferring the title. They scared me to death with random threats of not paying for medical bills and the rental car, which I had to have. I still had to deal a ton with Nationwide for the lost wages, and compensation for “pain and suffering”, all of which was much more pleasant than dealing with State Farm. Not to mention, that every time I had to deal with someone at State Farm for a huge range of issues, it was easy to tell they were trying to squeeze every dime out of having to pay me anything. If you are in a wreck and the other driver is at fault and has a decent insurance company. Make a claim on their insurance, not on yours, especially if you are with State Farm.
Post Claim Screw Up
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company has been trying to bill Nationwide since last august on this matter. In a general process, State Farm has to prove to Nationwide why they are charging what they did. Why was the car totaled, why was it valued at _x_ number of dollars, and most importantly is there documentation to prove all this. As it turns out, the ‘Good Neighbors’ are coming up short with proof of anything. They can only produce one stupid picture of the car, no assessor form, no listed deductions and values, NADA. State Farm seemed pretty dang good at documenting *notes* on my account, that strangely were rarely true and only benefited them. Now that Nationwide doesn’t want to pay them with out the legal documentation? State Farm is scraping the bottom of the barrel and has turned to calling me here and there to try and get a recorded statement about the wreck.
Sound like a company you want to represent you in a wreck, legal issues following a claim, and a company who should be trusted in financially supporting you after a big loss?
About State Farm Insurance Company
State Farm was founded in 1922 by George J. Mecherle. Aside from the Popular State Farm Car Insurance plans people know about, they also offer renters, life, health, disability, home, motorcycle, boat, and business insurance types. They have a Mutual Funds and retirement plans, and even have a decent sized Bank division. I am sure you just want to run and get a credit card from them right now. At the following link, you can see a decent sized list of State Farm Auto Insurance Reviews. In 2002, they had $46.2 BILLION dollars of revenue.
They have over 74 million policies, and over 1.8 million bank accounts. Their mission, vision and values statements created by George J. Mecherle are probably on walls in some of their buildings, at the bottom of e-mails, and probably in their books and manuals, but they act like their real mission statement is “Make as much profit from as many clients as possible”. The way I was treated reminded me of the annoying, short insurance company boss in “The Incredibles”.
what a bunch of assholes. i feel bad you had to go through that. you can always borrow my car anytime you want! everyone else does….
this post was very informative because i am now looking for new insurance and had thought to go with State Farm…..
State Farm is truely a company that offers everyone that same good neighbor treatment. If you are insured by State Farm and you have the misfortune of being in an accident, in which you were the one who was hit by a car in the rear doing 75 miles per hour, while you were stopped in traffic your car knocked 540 feet ahead 2 lanes over, your car totaled, and the person that hit you was also insured by State Farm, your are screwed both ways. The EMS that transported the injured to the hospital, was not paid 4 months later and calling and harrassing the person for the money. The girl that was hit was my daughter. The claims adjuster’s first offer was less than the hospital bill, car pay off was just what was loan balance, not what the value of the car was.She was unable work for 4 months. They treated their people that are insured by them just as bad as the ones that have claims against them.
When you deal with State Farm on any level, get an attorney. Waste no time, with them.
Wow, some blog and a truely misfortunate occurance. Well most of the time you hear “stories”, like the man who bought 1 lottery ticket and won the big jackpot, or the person who “flipped that house” for a $200,000 profit, is because they are a rare occasion. 74 Million policies is a lot of people who I guess just have not read your blog and are probably going to cancel since your latest rant. $46.2 Billion Dollars! That is alot of money! I can’t recall the exact number in the papers, but I think Hurricane Katrina caused over 21 Billion Dollars of estimated damages to the Gulf Coast. Doing the math….State Farm itself could have paid for the entire storm twice??? I bet they were truely worried when you treatened to sue over $600. I am pretty sure they paid it because $600 to State Farm is really a drop in the bucket. The sad part is that, did you stop and think for just one second while you were crying and writing this blog, how many people try to screw over insurance companies, commit insurance fraud, even cause damage to their own property because their deductible is low enough and the property is worth more than the deductible, knowing insurance will pay for it?? Didn’t think so. I think there is more to your story than you wanted the world to read, maybe the “major details” that you decided readers didn’t need.
I guess since you left State Farm, they now only have…..well….over 74 Million policies. Sorry. You have pretty good facts, but there is one I looked up because I recently read this…State Farm is one youngest companies in the Fortune 500 companies ( I think they are rated at #30) most of the others are 100 and even 200 years old. Look at all the numbers you provided,…. 74 Million policies, $46.2 Billion dollars (5 years ago) #30 in the Fortune 500
Global Fortune 500 Rank:#76 (2005 rank: 62) Employees: 67,943. # 1 insurer of automobiles and homes in the United States. Alot of people have the “wool over their eyes”…. I guess?
I read your blog about your wreck so I decided to share mine with you. I bought a GMC truck about a year ago. One month after I bought the truck, my girlfriend was driving it when a woman backed into the front of it. I have State Farm ( I have had State Farm since I understood what Insurance was) the lady who backed into my truck was insured by Hartford Insurance. Because the accident happened going into the holidays and I was leaving for Italy, I told the woman who hit my truck, don’t worry about it right now and once the holidays past, we would settle it then. I live in Colorado and this past winter was one of the greatest winters ( as far as snow fall ) that we have had in many years. Again I contacted the woman who hit my truck and explained to let the winter months go by ( I needed my truck just to get out of my driveway ) she understood and she waited again to settle. Just last week I received a call from Hartford to take my truck in and get an estimate done and they would contact me if they accept the estimate. I took my pickup into the body shop, got my estimate and was told to wait for about 2 days to hear something back from Hartford. 2 days later I got the call from Hartford advising me that they accepted my estimate and get my truck fixed. I set the appointment to get my truck fixed. Sounds very simple ha? It was…The reason I shared my “story” with you, is because this is the norm when everyone is cordial, respectful, and nobody flies off the handle. Things get handled quickly and smoothly and everyone wins. This is how it happens in real life. I am a State Farm policy holder, they have come through for me on several occasions and I have nothing to bitch about. Also as I mentioned, I live in Colorado were State Farm has a rather large office, so I have alot of friends that are great people ( some of the nicest, most genuine people you would ever meet… I guarantee that! ) Oh, and did I mention that a couple of them are auto adjusters??
You spout out quite the lot of ammo for someone who thinks that this whole blog post was about $600. What made you think it was $600? Did I say anywhere that this whole thing was for a mere $600? That was a dollar amount they paid me for the stolen goods, the smallest dollar amount they screwed me over and only a minor part of why I wrote what I wrote. If $600 is a “drop in the bucket” as you put it and is super easy for them to pay, why would they low-ball me on the worth of anything? If $600 is nothing, then why not the $1100 the stuff would get a fair market value for? Why not the fair market value of the car?
Your whole comment was pretty generic, quite unstructured, and mediocre at best in trying to prove a real point. For a bit there, your reply was like one of those “Kids, stop complaining about your food, there are starving people in Africa” type attitudes when you said how little my tiny experience was in the grand scheme of things. Then it was like a name dropping, poser type attitude where you gave the “look how cool I am” time for you wasn’t it? You and your Italy trip, and how nice it is to know some insurance adjusters for State Farm.
It’s all pretty naive of you. A year ago when I was out of work for a month from this accident, $3500 or more loss on the car value, having to pay the medical bills out of pocket up front, and just being treated by my own insurance company like I was the scum of the earth when they knew this was all really, really hard for me, is nothing that you can sit back and say “but Jon, it all means nothing because they are so big”, “your case is rare”, “I have always had good experiences”, and all that other generic crap I assumed people would come and write. You’re quite an idiot if you think I really believe that the way they treat me is the way they treat everyone in every case.
Sure I can’t expect you to understand what this must have been like, I mean, you sure know lots of statistics now about State Farm, and this leads you to believe that…. they didn’t take advantage of me as much as possible? Oh right, that because they have so many policies and are so profitable that what they did to me doesn’t matter and people don’t deserve to hear it. I am having a hard time understanding how you think what you said really proves anything buy that State Farm is an extremely profitable company, and that you are financially well off enough that an experience like mine wouldn’t phase you, except possibly postpone your Italy trip for a little while. (You made some dumb ass assumptions, so I am too.)
So I can see how you can sit back, condescendingly look upon on down-trodden, and say they are to blame for their problems in life, and laugh with your buddies about it. You realize what kind of other people have that same view right?
Chevron and the other ‘big oil’ companies are extremely profitable companies as well (which is in response to your comment about how big and successful they are), because they straight know how to take advantage of the masses that buy their gas and don’t know any better. I didn’t know any better being a State Farm client in the same way, and now I do.
And what makes you think I was anything BUT “cordial, respectful, and nobody flies off the handle” until after they pushed me to be a little rougher with them a few months after getting raped? I was nothing but as cooperative and nice I could have been considering the situation.
Yeah, people try to screw over insurance companies all the time, so I have no qualms with them being defensive and cautious to help me if there is even a little hint of foul play until they can make a better judgment on a claim. Fact: From day one, when the claim was made with State Farm, the other driver and his insurance company was at fault and liable. It was immediately proven that there was no insurance fraud, and State Farm had absolutely no reason to suspect me of insurance fraud and treat me as bad as they did.
You said, “did you stop and think for just one second while you were crying and writing this blog, how many people try to screw over insurance companies, commit insurance fraud, even cause damage to their own property because their deductible is low enough and the property is worth more than the deductible, knowing insurance will pay for it??” That has what exactly to do with what happened to me? Nothing, unless, you are insinuating that State Farm just has to treat everyone crappy as a general rule of business because of the few that are involved with insurance fraud, which in the grand scheme of 74 million policies is something I would classify as “rare” as well. I know you aren’t dumb enough to insinuate that, because you said the way I was treated was a “rare” case and therefore nothing that should be shared with others, and that it shouldn’t reflect on the company as a whole (which merely means you haven’t really read that many bad state farm reviews). My case was as rare as, maybe about as many fraud claims they get? Which you feel is good justification for how everything happened? If the fraud cases are rare enough that an entire company will treat 74 million policies based on the few, your argument is in my favor, because State Farm should also treat the majority of their policy holders based on the bad experiences of the few. This isn’t what I expect from this article. I encountered a service, had an experience, and reviewed it. I have done this on other articles with both good and bad experiences.
You like State Farm, I don’t. You can afford a little mess up, I couldn’t at the time. You don’t care when a company promises to help and then doesn’t, I do. Sure, like you thought, there are some “major details” I left out, but it isn’t good stuff about State Farm.
Hey Jon, I work for a personal injury attorney and I really, really think you should sue. I see these kinds of cases everyday (insurance companies screwing everyone over). If you get a good attorney you can really get a nice settlement. You’ve got to get a legitimate attorney though, not one of those crappy billboard/late night commercial guys. If you want, I can ask the attorney that I work with about looking into your case. The good thing with PI attorneys is that you don’t have to pay them unless there’s an actual settlement. They could go after Nationwide and State Farm for an under insured claim. You should seriously look into litigation. If nothing else, you can get reimbursed for medical bills and loss of work. Just let me know if you want any help in the legal field.
BTW, I’m Provo tomorrow if you want to hang out….
that sucks man, it sounds like i’d take any other insurance company over state farm. i think i had mutual of enumclaw, based out of washington when i hit that dead deer laying on i-15. they were absolutely amazing, i was able to rent a mustang for like 3 weeks and everything above and beyond my *gulp* $1000 *gulp* deductible was covered. i thought it was fair, they knew my name, and i really felt that they cared about my situation and about getting my car fixed quickly. two thumbs up to mutual of enumclaw, two thumbs way down to the ground for state farm.
[…] Posted by as Uncategorized I normally try not to whine too much on my blog, but some events surrounding a car accident I was in has lead me to detest State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. My experience was bad enough that I not only left them likely … article continues at areallygoodname brought to you by insurance and conSalsita […]
I too went through hell with SFI. My car was stolen I was told Ii was going to get $5300 then the car was found. The special investigation unit got involved and advised me it was impossible to steal my car because their “expert” said it runs on a transponder key. They held my car for 6 months, never paid and dumped it back on me. When proved it wasn’t a transponder key for that car they dragged me through the mud for 6 months. Made me go to a 7 hour deposition, and treated me like a criminal. I was a 28 year customer with them and had a clean record(no accidents or claims!) They said I didn’t change the oil enought and when I showed them the reciepts they listerned with a deaf ear. The car came back with a wrecked front end which made the car undriveable and 4 different bald tires as well an engine that required 5 quarts of oil and now knocks. So I guess they are trying to say I’ve been driving around on 3 wheels!!! The car was 13 yrs old if I hadn’t maintained it haw did it last so long? My mechanic said the car is totaled from the robbery and would cost over 10 grand to repair properly. I have a court date this week in small claims for the 5k limit. I now have Geico for my 3 cars and I’m saving around $700 a yr. They even lowered my rates by $125 after the 1st 6 months. I even wrote to the CEO Mr Rust who never acknowledged my letter. The state ins commission had them reopen the case but their powerless and suggested I go to court. I read online The CEO got a 53% increase in his bonus over 2005 because of how hard they were hit with Katrina. Bottomline the less they pay out the more goes in his pocket. And were talking Millions in bonus money. Good Luck.
Hey Jon, I can somewhat relate to your story, though mine wasn’t near as bad. When i totalled my car it took them over a month and a half to pay off my loan. I also talked to someone new almost everytime i talked to them, and i was the one that always called them. They would never call me, or return my phone calls. plus the guy the was supposed to be in charge of my claim would go out of town every other week for that period of time. (it was near christmas) so i wouldn’t hear from them for a good week or more. and they refused to pay for a rental for more than a week. so i was forced to buy a car with my credit score still showing that i already had a $15,000 load for a car. which made my interest rate on my new car extremely high! anyways, just thought I would share my own wonderful expierence with State Farm.
Just found this while searching. They are trying to screw me right now. I was hit 2 weeks ago. Clearly the other guys fault. They are trying to tell me it was 80% his 20% mine!!
He friggin backed in to me in a giant F 250 extended!!
So it took them 2 weeks to get to this offer and now my lawyer isn’t in till Friday. These guys are not making any friends. I too will spend the rest of my life trying to convince people to ditch them if this is standard procedure for them.
I would not want a person i hit to be treated like that if it was my fault. Just shut up and fix the damaged car as quickly and pleasantly as possible!!! And COMMUNICATE for Gods sake!
[…] Unfortunately, outside of Sherwin corporate control they occasionally might have an employee who could possible make one mistake. Not that this should really ever reflect on the company as a whole, but sometime you just get a sour-duck who might not be up to par for a few minutes when making a judgment call. With my recent State Farm Insurance Review I know, and admit that it is somewhat of a rare case. […]
StateFarm is the worst. I feel bad for you. It is amazing how much profit they pull in every year by screwing their customers.
I’m sorry to hear about the crappy experience with State Farm, I have heard bad things about them before and the way they treated you reinforces that I will NEVER use them.
[…] I write reviews on my blog about the services and products I encounter. I recently wrote a Auto Insurance Company Review. […]
I am going through the same issue’s right now with Hartford insurance. I was rear ended by someone doing 55 -70 miles an hour in a 40 when I was waiting to make a left turn. I was pushed into oncoming traffic and over 100 feet away from where I was. I am using his issurance it was a company vehicle. They are trying to offer me $3300.00 for my car. I had alot of custom stuff into it and had recently put $700.00 into it. I declined there offer. So I was told they would no longer pay for the rental car or storage fee’s. They took my car from where it was to the middle of no where. I trying to retrieve this weekend. I rather keep my totaled car then to give to them for anyrthing until my day in court. For you have any suggestions please let me know. All insurance companies are this way.
Years ago SF had been a fairly good neighbor. With 74 million policy holders, it would take a long, long time before a substantial number of cancellations make a dent in those numbers, whether due to plain shabby treatment or downright unlawful treatment to their policy holders. Who knows just how many disgruntled customers they have mistreated. Only a few of these customers find a site like this to vent. I am another one, not “rare’, but severely denied fair compensation for personal property loss and personal injuries. Promises they will cover your losses, just keep submitting them, lack of returned calls, lies that they did call, delays until past the statute of limitations and the list goes on. You pay, they delay and along with loss of use, both property and physical health, wages and time, mental stress, then you get to be treated more like a criminal than a customer/member of this ‘prestigious’ company.
DSaid, I believe your post states that Hartford, the other insurance company, actually was the company that paid you for your loss and was sooo nice about it. No where did you say that your own SF paid anything on your behalf. So how do you know what it’s like to be treated unfairly? You assumed Jon was to blame with his ‘attitude’ for the poor treatment he received. (I’m using nice words like ‘poor treatment’ to cover a range to downright nasty/unlawful.) One hopes you could truly empathize with the suffering of another, but to do that, you would have to suffer what the other has gone through and it is not within me to wish the same events on another person. It would just be good to not judge the other so harshly.
If you think that SF is suffering losses, if you think that the CEO got his raise ‘before’ Hurricane Katrina, please go to the link below. It is current for this year 2007. It is impossible to feel sympathy for a company who complains of terrible losses to their bottom line when their true bottom line - that’s called PROFIT as in “after expenses” - is as staggering as this article reports. It is ridiculous in this income bracket for anyone to get an 82% pay raise when millions are being denied coverage their premiums should have provided. I am financially handicapped and physically handicapped as a result of my accident and SF was not there for me except to kicked when I was going down. Unlike SF after a tragic event, I will not recover, let alone make a profit.
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2007/03/07/77498.htm
STATE FARM should be called SCREWING FIRM. I was in a rear end collision accident. The at fault party had state farm insurance and she admitted her 100% fault. I was injured in the accident with neck and chest injury. I contacted her insurance company i.e state farm and reported the injury. They were very nice in the beginning and adviced me to go and get medical treatment as if they really cared my injury and agreeing to pay for my medical bills . I started my treatment for neck which took almost 3 months with chiropractor/physician and then i was recommended to continue my treatment with a neurologists for the nerves treatment. During the treatment, i was not able to work and i lost 3 software projects. I submitted my total claim worth $4,30,000.00 with state farm for my medical bills/loss of wages/pain and sufferings. I actually lost one year contract job worth $100000 with state of georgia which was extended for another 1 year worth again $100000 as i was out of work because of my treatment. After finally submitting my claims with proof of contract work and supporting documents, my adjuster who is a dumb or a idiot who has no eyes to look into my documents rather believe in their computer calculator’s settlement offer amount programme, simply offered me $6500. Thats like 1.5cent for every dollar i claimed. The adjuster is such a stupid lady that she doesn’t know the difference between a contractor and a employee, she is demanding a letter from my employer that i was out of work and a salary amount how much i would have earned during the period of my treatment. Despite repeated attempts that i wasn’t employed at the time of accident but i was just offered a contract work, she insists me to have a employment work loss letter. I’m so much upset with her stupidity have no other option other than to sue state farm. Later i learned that state farm uses 3 Ds tactics. Deny, Delay and Defend tactics to kill the claim. They are crook people to screw your claims. I suggest anyone dealing with state farm not to deal with them directly without a attorney. They are like a dinosaur and you just a human being to deal with it. They have no emotions/feelings/intelligence/honesty and sincererity to settle claim in good faith. They understand only one language “lawsuit” that is the only way to get your claim money, they will pay out of their pocket only when the court orders them to pay. They will never pay a reasonable claim without court’s order. I have to file lawsuit now to get my claim of $4,30,000.00. By the way look at their cheap professional level, i had claimed a $220 my restaurant bills as i was not able to cook sometimes during my 3 months treatment, i had to eat food outside. They paid ZERO dollars and rejected my bills. What do you wanna call this?
[…] areallygoodname wrote an interesting post today on State Farm Auto Insurance ReviewHere’s a quick excerptI normally try not to whine too much on my blog, but some events surrounding a car accident I was in has lead me to detest State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. My experience was bad enough that I not only left them likely … […]
If you don’t mind me asking how much was it for the therapy for the neck and back?
[…] Japan Cars Review wrote an interesting post today on State Farm Auto Insurance ReviewHere’s a quick excerptState Farm Review. Like a good neighbor, State Farm … model of my car wouldn’t sell for anything less than $7600. I called about 15 used car […]
Hi!
Well I am really sorry to hear about your bad luck with State Farm. My husband has had a bad experience with State Farm also. He to got into a wreck (in 1999 i think it was) Some kid ran a stop sign and hit him going 40MPH. The kids car flipped over my husbands, was belly up and my husband found himself with whip lash, cracked ribs, a tilted pelvic bone ( like 17% or something around there) and a totaled car. He had a 68 Volkswagon Bug…totally re done! New paint job, rebuilt engine, and a kick ass sound system. He had ahold of most all of the recipts for his car and State farm gave him $1,200 TOTAL! The kids aunt (who was the owner of the car) told the Judge that he was not allowed to be driving the car. So State Farm concidered it stollen. NOTHING of his medical bills were covered, they basically concidered his recipts invalid. My husband had to go to a Chiropratic place for almost a year after, and the only reason why he stopped is because we couldn’t afford for him to keep going. It has been a long time and we have just blown it off as a learning experience but I know where you are coming from. I think they are the company of lost promises.
I feel your pain I have about 7 things insured through them and I am about to go postal. I have a 26 ft boat that I bought a year ago the day I bought the boat I called my “agent” and asked her if the boat was covered against freezing because I live in Ohio that is the biggest problem with boats here is the motors freeze and I wanted to be sure it was covered. She said she would call her stupervisors and let me know ,She called back the next day and said it was covered and to go enjoy my boat. This year I brought the boat out of storage and it broke down the first time I took it out I called the mechanic they told me to and he said the block was froze and it was caused by zebra mussels in the intake not allowing the anti freeze to circulate. Before I had him take the motor out I called to make sure it was covered the assured me it was so I had their mechanic take the motor out when he called me to tell me the quote was 6000 dollars I turned it into them and they have givin me the run around since about 6 mos now. Today they finally told me they never said it was covered so they wont cover it. I am now in the process of contacting attorney general and the local television stations to show what kind of people State farm really are I hope everyone else who has had a bad experience with them does the same thing. Thanks for hearing me out.
I am an ex State Farm employee with 11 years of service. The things I could tell you about the company. They tell employees to always lie about claims to policyholders, claimants, attorneys, and anyone else that questions them about claims. They teach the employees how to lie and/or get around telling the truth on the witness stand when in court. They believe that everyone who has financial problems either set their cars or homes on fire, set up thefts, and anything else - now I ask any reasoning and thinking human on the planet if you have financial problems, would it make any sense to ruin your own belongings just to get the measly sums State Farm pays out on claims? I think not.
State Farm will spend $100,000 or more in order to deny a $10,000 or less claim - fighting it and delaying. They treat customers and claimants horribly on the phone - making accusations that are so wild that even a child who lives in fantasyland wouldn’t believe the wild accusations.
They have covered up a suicide that was committed in their atrium of their headquarters office in Bloomington, Illinois. The young man was tired of lying to everyone about claims and left a suicide note. The original news story about it appeared in the Chicago newspapers online; however, in the years since then, those articles have disappeared. They hire goons to enter employees’ homes in order to steal information if they get wind of an employee getting ready to blow the whistle on the company. They deliberately hack into employees’ home computers (computers that are not used for State Farm purposes - personal use only that the employees buy and pay for out of their own pockets) - how do I know this - I have a family friend who found that State Farm had been hacking into my computers since 2001 and I left employment in January of 2007. This family friend also saw that State Farm tried to send a virus package to my PC so he sent it back to them. State Farm has hired goons and threatened this family friend that if he didn’t kill me they were going to kill him.
State Farm, at last I knew, had well over 700 in-house attorneys and well over 700 on-retainer attorneys around the country. There are ties of State Farm and Enron - Wendy Gramm was on the board of directors of both companies at the same time and was cooking the books for both companies at the same time.
State Farm pays doctors under the table to write up reports on IMEs (independent medical exams) the way State Farm wants them written in order to avoid paying claims. They use delay tactics in every aspect of claim settlement (or non-settlement, as the case may be). They steer policyholders and cliamants to specific auto repair shops that do shoddy work in order to save a buck. They will stop at nothing to destroy a policyholder’s, claimant’s, agent’s, or employee’s life.
I could go on and on for days telling all I know about the underhanded, devious, and malicious ways they do business. LIKE A BAD NEIGHBOR - YOU DON’T WANT STATE FARM THERE.
I found this while searching on answers to Car accident questions. I have a State Farm Story!! I carried Farm Bureau insurance and the driver that hit me carried State Farm. I was stopped at a red light, and a lady driving a Yukon rearended me. At the accident, she kept saying she was sorry, and that her foot has slipped off the brake and hit the gas. She was not going particularly fast, and I thought it was not that bad, until a couple of days later when I noticed the headache that has not went away for 18 months now. Right after the accident, State Farm called and wanted to know how I was. They said in several conversations that they accepted FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY for the accident.
State Farm refuses to settle for my medical, but did half way fix my truck. The fender was replaced at a cost of $400, but they refused to do infrared to see if the frame was bent or cracked. They did not replace the 2 leaf springs that were twisted (I had just had 3 more leafs added each side about a year before).
I have been in and out of the hopital, had to have a spinal tap, my optic nerve has been compressed and affects my vision, and I can not turn my head from side to side without grinding and cripsy sounds.
State Farm offered to settle for less than half of my medical and time off work. My attorney does not want to go to trial because he says that juries are sympathetic to the insurance companies these days - because of the commercials about swoop and squat and so on.
I am the one who has lost a year and a half of my life because some idiot had to wear cute shoes to work!! I have head aches, and missed out on skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, and fishing this year with my family. I got so tired of being left out, that I dose up on pain killers just to enjoy the day, and wind up paying for it for several days after because I hurt so badly. There were days I was in so much pain, it affected my memory. I have something going on with my balance, and my holding on to objects. I trip a lot now, and drop things all the time.
State Farm is a rip off. They do not want to settle, and the adjuster told my lawyer that they can keep this tied up in court for years. Luckily, I am young enough, and I have a really awesome boss who understands the car accident thing, and did not lose my job.
I AM WITH YOU ON THIS ONE!! State Farm is ripping people off left and right, and making money off of people who can not afford to wait for a decent settlement. The authorized repair work is substandard at best. The attitude with which the Claim Teams handle calls is awful!!
Hi, My child and I were in an accident in 1986 and had a very similar experience with their lies. Fortunately the car was not totaled, but she and I were really hurt. We were covered by State Farm at the time. They pulled the we will pay all your bills and then get reimbursed and then called and said they wouldn’t be paying — after considerable medical debt had already added up. I was overwhelmed. My toddler and I were whiplashed and my leg was too injured for me think clearly.
Last year I was rear ended while stopped at a light. Hit by a driver going 45 miles per hour. Totaled my mini van and damaged me. I found out by doctors that State Farm is the last auto insurance they want to try to get paid from. I live in CA and they would not take me as a patient until I got a lawyer to fight State Farm. That is so sad.
I am really glad you have written your blog, people need to know the truth. I also tell as many people as I can. I am sorry this happened to you. I am sorry this happened to all the people it has happened to.
Take care.
I hope these cocksuckers burn in hell. State Farm Insurance has screwed soo many people including my wife and I out of $250,000.00 USD for a fire claim after a year waiting they refused to pay, this was 6 years or more ago. They paid the investigators and the D.A. in Ga, to turn the investigation toward us after a year of doing nothing. Funny thing on the back of our policy there is written in fine print in little gray letters that after a year they don’t have to pay. With NO evidence and a year past. They paid everyone to indite us. Our things were never recovered from the robbery, the house was lost after the fire that was set to cover it up and we lost everything, They are still not happy.
They want us in jail because I am writting things like this.
( The TRUTH ) Well State Farm, you didn’t pay the claim like a real company, you paid officials like the mafia, you have a long history of fucking people. Your investigators didn’t find a real suspect ever, you didn’t recover our things ever, your investigators are liars and cheats always, you didn’t repair our home ever. You are trying to blame innocent people to keep from paying. Are you happy now? This is your way of doing business. How in the hell can you sleep at night knowing that you are the most hated company in the world? Was it all worth it? I will cost you a hell of alot more than $250,000.00 in business by telling the truth before I am through and probably have already. You people are not aware of the word TRUTH in your company. We would have settled for less, but now I want it all and ten times more. One way or the other you are going to pay our claim, from lost business or cash in my hand..
SCREW FARM INSURANCE
State Farm Ins. is the worst excuse for a company in the world. They are liarsm cheats, rip-off artist. The pay officals to lie for them to acuse innocent people of crimes. BURN IN HELL STATE FARM
State Farm Ins. is the worst excuse for a company in the world. They are liarsm cheats, rip-off artist. The pay officals to lie for them to acuse innocent people of crimes. BURN IN HELL STATE FARM ROTTEN BASTARDS http://www.ventibate.com/4332/Screw_You,_State_Farm.html
Dear State Farm Insurance.
I am writing you this because I think you people are RATS. You screwed my wife and I, 7 years ago in Newton County Georgia when our home was robbed and burned. After a year the officals in the County turned the investigation to us. Because you didn’t want to pay and the case was unsolved. The county told us that your company pushed them toward us to avoid paying and bribes were paid to them by State Farm Ins. They said that they know we are innocent.You ruined our lives and reputations. We want JUSTICE. I will tell everyone everywhere about your BAD Company until the day I die. I will win in court and you will now pay DAMAGES to us.
You need to open this case and settle with us NOW. I will not stop these post or the other things I am doing to cost you business until you do the right thing. You picked the wrong people to play with. I will tell the world. I am not threatening harm to anyone, only a financial impact on your company by telling the truth, til you do the right thing. Person by person I will tell them our story. They are listening and I am being heard. You know who I am and you know the truth. Are you honest enough to call my lawyer and settle like you should have done 7 years ago. I am man enough to do this forever. Newton County Georgia.
These people would screw a snake if someone would hold its head. State Farm Ins is going down the drain treating people soo badly. I am suprised they have lasted this long with the lies and deception that they are guilty of.
I would reccomend running from this bunch as fast as you can. We did, as well as my friends and family..
These “claim adjusters” get commissions on how many people that they can screw & reject claims on. They have certain quotas to hit and receive money based on how many people they turn down & much money they save their employeer. They are a bunch of cheap ass lying cheating bastards ! I know your blog is about car ins. but I was screwed by them with my home insurrance. I will never use them or tell anyone to.
Insurance is a crooks business. They can charge you more based on your credit history………….. I was a pedestrian hit by an automobile, “The party driving that hit me did not see me, ( I was in the cross walk with a bright red sweater) he was found to be at fault and cited”. His insurance paid, however my insurance the green gecco (the sign the company of slimeballs) Are fighting and playing games, they assure me my rate won;t go up, but since the claim was turned over to them they sat on it for over a year and now expect me to jump through hoops. I have been in severe pain mentally and physically. Just as you said the insurance is mandatory in most all states….. However it does not mean they will pay out on a claim. The are a bunch of crooks. I have learned what hatred is through this experience. I lost my job, medical insurance for my family, my husband is disabled we have three kids, are home is close to being in foreclosure, my credit is ruined. I am sure when my policy renews they will stick it to me. Welcome to the real world.
Not bad as nationwide
Nationwide is a horrible insurance to deal with if your their client.Dont buy it.
I was involved in a auto accident on January 21 2007. No fault was found
by the investigating officer due to the weather/ or the othe guy drinking.
Four months after the accident the other driver was finally issued a
ticket for driving with no insurance. Many witnesses also report open
beer cans and half drank ones which disappeared quickly. The police
officers state they cant check the guy’s Blood Alcohol Content without
sworn witnesses. I had a BAC at the hospital which was negative for
drugs and alcohol. Now I’m wondering if he even had one done.
I’m going to pursue this farther until I get a honest answer. I should
not need to do the law enforcement officer’s job. Also I am going to
pursue Nationwide for failure to follow the law.The guy who hit me head
on also has frauded Medicare and has leins on him for that. What a job
by the county and the auto insurance.Nationwise even thinks they are
above t he investigating officer.I spend four months just to get a no isurance ticket issued
I can’t believe that I waited 5 years to do a google seach about being screwed over by State Farm Ins.
I am using the name Dogbones because I am still in the bent over stage, just waiting to finish doing me!
Don’t make the mistake of going with state farm insurance of any kind. I pay approx $12,000.00 / year in premiums for home, auto, boat, bike and business trucks. I was unfortunate to have several incidents in a row. Yes it cost the ins co. some money, but thats what they are there for, aren’t they? No they are not they want their premiums but don’t want any payouts. I have fought for every payment they have sent. They didnt want to total my vehicle until I wanted it fixed by my own body shop. I had to fight for every dime. Word to the wise “always buy GAP insurance on you new vehicles. They insurance co. will pay only what they want so you need the gap coverage to cover the difference. No reason to go into my stories you will cry. Stay away from state farm you will regret it.
I am a claims adjuster, so I am VERY sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with State Farm. You are absolutely right in the fact that while State Farm is a huge company and we have a VERY small % for complaint ratios compared to other companies; for you, those statistics didn’t matter because you feel that State Farm let you down. I really wish you were not made to feel that way as I know first hand, that is the farthest thing from State Farms goal. I’m behind the doors at State Farm so I can tell you first hand that we care about everyone and don’t want anyone to feel the way you feel. I don’t have all the details of your situation but I can tell you that I wish you had had a better experience with State Farm. We do have a very low % of complaints for the book of business that we have, but we also know that we still have a small % of reported complaints so there is room for improvement. We are continually pressured to up the notch for customer service and continue our education to be the best we can for the customer. I really hope you shared your disappointments with your representative as we are continually making adjustments and working to improve, even in areas where are statistics are strong. I can see by your posting that you have many emotions about your experience with State Farm and I know what is done is done, but I really hope at the least that you know there are people who do care that you had a bad experience and I personally am sorry that you had such an experience that has led you to feel how you feel. I too am a consumer and can choose who I want to be insured with. I get no special treatment or discount by choosing State Farm. I get the same rates and same consideration as anyone else who isn’t an employee of State Farm and I make the choice to be insured with State Farm. I have been fortunate enough to witness the wonderful things that State Farm does for their customers and while we don’t hit the mark in every case, we certainly do try our best and when our best falls short of the customers expectation, we continue to try and make improvements in that area. Again, I am genuinely sorry that you had a bad experience.
Just to add a counterweight to the comment by a State Farm adjuster, I will agree fully with all those who have spoken about State Farm as “those bastards”. I had my latest conversation with their adjuster this morning. This was a case where their policyholder rammed the back of my daughter’s car while she was waiting at a traffic light. The driver was so out of it that he got back in his car after getting out and hit her again. All in all totaled our car and possibly totaled his own car. The police wanted to send my daughter to the hospital but she declined. In the first few months after the accident she saw specialists a few times and had an MRI Did exercises with Pilates instructor for two years now. They paid for the car quick enough but the final settlement has been quite another thing. They decided to treat the case as if she had not been hurt although they know better. Brilliant people that they are, they think they don’t have to pay for any dr. visits after the first one and don’t have to pay for the MRI ordered by the Dr. In Maryland, their $1800 offer to settle this case should be a perfect example of what is illegal. No doubt, when we are finished in court, I’ll be filing a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner of Md.. By the way, I took them before the Insurance Commissioner 30 years ago on a failure to pay lost wages under PIP and won. They haven’t changed a bit in their attitude about treating people fairly. And when anybody working for their company tells you that their attitude is anything other than what it really is we should just call them liars. Our current case is not as a State Farm policyholder but I must comment that their behaviour toward policyholders is an example of why this State recently enacted new legislation to allow wider latitude for pursuing damages when policyholders get screwed by their own insurance company. I don’t expect these companies to give anything away but they do take advantage of those who don’t get a lawyer.