OPINION: State Farm Commercial Is A Pack of Lies

[Skunky Bus]

Everyone has a list of TV commercials they love, and a list of those they love to hate.

One that has me lunging for the remote control is anything for State Funny Farm Insurance, especially this one: A guy named Jerry calls his former State Farm agent, wishing he hadn't switched, because he backed his Ford Taurus up a phone pole, and his new agency was giving him grief. Before he could tell her what happened, she said, "Did you get your car up a pole again?" The point of the ad, of course, is that State Farm will be there for you even when you do something stupid.

Bullshit.

Here's the exact text my girlfriend got from State Farm after filing a claim for a busted side window on her mundane (read: cheap to fix) sedan:

Thank you for insuring your automobile(s) with State Farm. We apreciate your business and value our relationship with you.

State Farm's mission is to help you recover from the unexpected. As part of our effort to keep insurance affordable for our policyholders, we periodically review the number and cost of our policyholders' claims. We have reviewed your file and noticed a rise in the frequency of claims. Since the level of claim activity can affect your insurability with State Farm, it is important to reduce the potential for future losses.

Our files show the following claims: Comprehensive claims [date] 2008, [date], [date], [date], [date], [date], and [date] 2001.

We're here to help you with some suggested steps to reduce your chance of loss. Perhaps you have already discussed this with your agent, [name]. If not, we encourage you to do so.

Our hope in informing you of our concern is that together we can work to improve your record, reducing the likelihood of future claims and helping to keep your insurance costs down.

Thank you for your cooperation and allowing us to meet your insurance needs.

Sincerely,
Heather Miller
Underwriting
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
222 S. 84th Street, PO Box 82542
Lincoln, NE 68501-2542

Vandalism like this occurs in what statisticians know as a random cluster, meaning that one person could experience a spate of such incidents and then go unscathed for years. Notice above, though, that her claims were over what amounted to over eight years.

My GF could have "reduce[d] the potential for future losses" by one or more of the following:

• Move to a house with a garage (uh, those are too expensive)
  Park in the back yard (this would involve a hole...um, whole lot of digging as well as paving, as the photo below of a similar house illustrates)
  Get bulletproof glass
  Shoot the bastards before they shoot out the windows

My mission is that enough people will avoid State Farm that the above threat will cost them more money that it could possibly save them in claims. (Unfortunately, I don't know of other companies that are better in this regard, but if we found one and all did this...)

It's too bad that she couldn't have responded by switching to a company we knew wouldn't retaliate like this. I would have loved the opportunity to send the letter back to Heather Miller in a tube mailer with a dowel rod and some tape and the following instructions:

• Use the enclosed tape to attach one side of your threat letter to the enclosed dowel.
  Roll letter completely around dowel.
  Shove it up your ass.

[lornaschinske]

State Farm cancelled us. The reason... we hadn't had a claim and we were "due" for one. we ended up with Allstate. We filed a claim with Nationwide once while we still lived in SC. One of their customers hit my Cadillac Coupe De vile in the front on the drivers side. It was the night before we were to leave for FL (took the kids to Sea World for their Christmas present). David pulled the fender off the tire and we left the next AM. Nationwide decided to total my car to the tune of $900. AFTER having me run allover town getting estimates on repairs. Said my car was worth only $900. I told them to find me a car, same make, year, and pre-accident condition for $900 and we would have a deal. They had one of those "dumb looks" you hear about. They ended up taking (I call it stealing) my paid for car and giving me a check for $900 and I bought a Lincoln Town Car with payments (a Town car is NOT a Cadillac). Last vehicle I had payments on. I will NEVER get insurance from Nationwide. The accident was the other person fault, not mine and we paid for it. I still LOATHE Nationwide and I still think they can do the stick thingy, but with a red hot poker. My cousin's hubby was an insurance adjuster for Nationwide and he said that was standard procedure. He also told us that when his vehicles get below a certain value, he drops his insurance down to the state required minimums because no insurance company will pay out on them with full coverage. The insurance companies have an "out" clause written into the policy someplace. This is why I find it silly the amount of skoolie folks who "think" they have full-coverage on their conversions. When it comes time to collect, I am pretty sure they will find that only the shell is covered and they will depreciate the shell because it has been "damaged".

We also had a house burn down. It was depreciated. The reason... It was burned and no one could live in it.

[bus-bro]

Wasn't there a guy once on this board that went by the handle smitty? He had an opinion about State Farm, called them, Snake Farm, as I recall.

[Jarlaxle]

He had an opinion on pretty much everything.

[lornaschinske]

Most everyone does. Even no opinion is an opinion. Just like no choice is a choice.

[Skunky Bus]

"Hobson's choice" is how I describe my GF's experience with State Farm. Since reducing the risk of vandalism at this address is like choosing a horse at the back of Hobson's barn, the only other choice is to refrain from filing claims, thus defeating the purpose of insurance.

Originally Posted by gravygrabber

I have State Farm and I've never had an issue. Of course I haven't had that many claims either. At a certain point if you have more claims then the average you have to ask yourself is it bad luck or??

Your experience is like mine thus far with Allstate. Somewhere (link from Skoolie.net, I can't remember which one) gave both Allstate and SF its worst ratings. Something like "badfaithinsurance.org." I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I never have a last-straw claim with them - especially since I had to move into the same house. A vandal decided to play baseball with the rearview mirrors of several cars on the block, including my Olds. It only suffered a glancing blow so I was able to fix it with plastic tape. It's just as usable as before except I have to replace the tape now and then.

Allstate, SF, and Nationwide among others bombard the airwaves (satellite waves? cable data?) with expensive commercials. And don't get me started on that obnoxious twit on those Nationwide spots. I've heard strong criticisms about most of the heavily advertised companies. It makes me wonder if the best service comes from the providers that don't divert so much premium revenue to advertising.

[lornaschinske]

I prefer to buy state minimums and I can put the difference between the full coverage premiums and the minimum coverage premiums in a mason jar if I choose. But none of my vehicles have had payments and been co-owned with a bank or finance company in many years. I can buy a nice used car for $6K or there abouts. I view a car as a tool to be used up, trashed and replaced with another used tool. I've had new and I've had used. Used was less trouble and less costly.

[Bullwhacker007]

I agree with many of the posts here.
When I insure with a company I look at the vehicle vs insurance premiums.
I look at the cost of "average" items that face breakage; mirrors and glass as well as removable body panels and the ability of obtaining them..
I have a 1993 BC4 Police interceptor Camaro; cherry condition.
It was parked at the curb until the whole left side of the car was caved in by three pinheads driving mommies Honda playing fast and screwed up.
The crash was so bad my neighbors thought someone died; they ran out of their houses while these pinheads were ripping down the street running away. The neighbors were yelling at them to stop and they did. Not because of that; but because one of my neighbors picked up their front fender with the license plate still on it. They backed up and tried to take the fender. As I said these guys weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Their insurance company tried to play games. They even brought up the question was this guy in fact the driver; looked them and asked did you really say that? six people and two cops plus me put your client in the drivers seat..
First they tried to claim my car was a little old base z-28 Camaro; I pointed out they knew it was not by the VIN.
After getting run around for a few weeks the offer was $2,000.00 then I squeezed them and in the end the settlement was $8,000.00 they totaled the car. I bought the car back from them for $225.00 and spent $4,000.00 rebuilding it.
I am sorry to hear about the stupid $900.00 settlement one poster got.
Me I had information and knew my rights. I showed them the blue book value of the car and pictures before it was smashed.
The point is take ALLOT of clear and detailed pictures of your vehicle before anything happens to it and keep records on your vehicle.
Know your rights in regards to insurance laws in your state.
Completely read you insurance policy and if you don't understand it take it to a lawyer for them to read it and tell you what it means.
Also do not scream at the insurance company reps that you are suing them.. All that does is bring everything to a screeching stop. Same if you do sue them and now you are on the legal merry go round.
Don't hint that you are suing them unless you have no choice and you do it on your terms NOT THEIRS.
After this insurance company kept running me around I informed them according to my state laws here where I live insurance companies are required to settle the claim with in 30 days. I told them that after my fifth meeting with them. I politely ended the meeting and informed them they have left me no choice but to seek legal advice. They called me back three hours later to pickup the check and bring a certified check for $225.00 for the car.
No matter what you see in an insurance Companies TV or written ads; THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS; they are bastards and their sole motive is profit period.
Think for a moment? Do Banks have all the money? Nope it is the insurance companies that have all the money.