Farmers Insurance

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insureone
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by insureone »

Zurich has just been fined by the Connecticut Department of insurance for $235,000 due to different rating infractions and licensing issues with agents and claims representatives... This is not the first time that they were fined for similar errors and as long as the current management team is in charge, it will not be the last time. It doesn't surprise any of their agents who are becoming more aware of Zurich/Farmers/Foremost management's team inability to run a 1st class insurance organization.

The actions of the current management team at Zurich/Farmers/Foremost/Bristol West/21st Century is becoming the "laughing stock" of the insurance industry. It use to be a great company and it is sad to witness just how mismanaged this organization is becoming.
FFA
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by FFA »

insureone wrote:The actions of the current management team at Zurich/Farmers/Foremost/Bristol West/21st Century is becoming the "laughing stock" of the insurance industry. It use to be a great company and it is sad to witness just how mismanaged this organization is becoming.
Are you speaking of what other captive home office type people are saying? Is this an observation from the field?
gregcw
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by gregcw »

insureone wrote:Zurich has just been fined by the Connecticut Department of insurance for $235,000 due to different rating infractions and licensing issues with agents and claims representatives... This is not the first time that they were fined for similar errors and as long as the current management team is in charge, it will not be the last time. It doesn't surprise any of their agents who are becoming more aware of Zurich/Farmers/Foremost management's team inability to run a 1st class insurance organization.

The actions of the current management team at Zurich/Farmers/Foremost/Bristol West/21st Century is becoming the "laughing stock" of the insurance industry. It use to be a great company and it is sad to witness just how mismanaged this organization is becoming.
I don't think that Zurich is the one to blame for that. If Zurich made a mistake with Farmers, and I believe they did, it was in leaving the same management team in place with Farmers Insurance Exchange (FIE) the management company for Farmers Insurance Group. Farmers has been the laughing stock of the insurance industry since before Zurich purchased them from British AmericanTobacco US (BATUS-RJ Reynolds) and even before the hostile take over by BATUS of FIE in 1987-88. They still are managed by FIE with Foremost is now managing Foremost and the I/A side of the conglomerate.
Gregcw
rwhiddon
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by rwhiddon »

do we really know what the problem is with farmers insurance. Could it be that Zurich owns us and having farmers insurance purchase other companies such as 21st century, foremost,and other sub standard companies to reap profits from farmers insurance?
justthere
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by justthere »

I agree with the previous post - Farmers' biggest problem is that they are the cash cow for Zurich and that leads to decisions that make them uncompetitive in some situations. HOWEVER, those of you who continue to bash Farmers, I have a few questions:
1) Why were you unable to work within their system? Anybody who joined Farmers before last year could place business outside. Only 50% of my income comes from Farmers and I just do not have problems with them.
2) Why do you have to continue to complain about Farmers long after you have left? Is it because they actually are competitive in a lot of situations and take business, which just shocks the hell out of you?
3) Why do you bash the people who decide to stay with Farmers, work within their system, work their contract so that they have the best of both worlds. I get tired of being called stupid when I place around $2,000,000 of new business a year in and outside of Farmers, retain 90% of my clients even in this recession, offer a full-service agency and make more money than 95% of the Insurance brokers out there. Is it because you were not able to figure out how to use the system to your best advantage?
Believe it or not, Farmers is not the reason for the recession, bank failures, mad cow disease, the last election or your kid's problems. Try looking in the mirror and realize that maybe part of the problem stemmed from your inability to use their system to your best advantage. Farmers is not the Anti-Christ! They just have a business model that you could not conform to.
d's insurance store
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by d's insurance store »

I have some theories about the discontent within the captive environment, having spent 16 years with one of the national captive companies before launching my own IA over 10 years ago.

How a captive feels about representing the company they're attached to I believe is primarily dependent on personal lines competitiveness. After all, these captives spend boatloads of advertising dollars and have the name recognition to generate a fair number of quote inquiries into an office, and if the 'hit' ratio is 40% or more, the agency owner feels good about the product and the company represented.

If however, the competitive position erodes and less than 40% of the prospect quotes convert to sales, then blame and frustration manifest with the lack of sales. An agency owner looks to the other companies able to offer rates for the same risk at a lower premium level and transfers blame to the 'stupid idiot managers' who don't know how to run a company, deaf to competitive pressures and greedy SOB's caring only about their own bonus and putting undue pressure on the poor agency owner in the field for production that can't be attained. Add to this the often heard complaint of tolerating agent lies and non compliance issues for new biz production (how come he can cheat and lie on an application and I can't?) and the whole relationship seems unfair.

Plain and simple, the Farmer's, State Farm's, Allstate's and others do make money for the mothership. They just don't do it in an even handed manner, leaving pockets of unfairness throughout the country. Sometimes gross agent cheating can sour the actuarial pool in a certain territory, thereby rendering rates uncompetitive for all agents in that area.


Many times the agency owners have been around for long periods of time, when things 'were diferent', and when situations change for the worse, company managers get the brunt of blame.

Well, that's why God made IA's, allowing for different markets to be competitive at different times in various insurance cycles. None of us have any heavenly marching orders to guarantee success in our chosen line of retail insurance sales and service. Some of us will fail, either through our own faults, or outside market forces that we have very little influence over.

Farmer's is no more the 'laughing stock' of the industry, any more than Allstate or State Farm or SAFECO or Travelers or Fireman's Fund is. All offer products that work in some cases and not in others, or work with higher premiums that may be higher than other vendors for the same risk. That's life in the insurance biz.

Jeepers, we love to complain, don't we?
FFA
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by FFA »

I too took the same path as just there.

I would not have been able to make the jump as smooth as I did without the outside business.

What has happened is that I opened up more market possibilities to generate enough volume to cover everything I left behind. What did it for me was the contracts that I could not previously get. All of a sudden I have better commercial markets with out all the Farmers hassles. I have competitive Home & Auto markets.

With this state bleeding 3000 policies a month, I do think its an agent issue. Most agents would not pay their rates so how can I tell my (former) customers to?
suspiciousminds
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by suspiciousminds »

I think the reason that agents have such a lingering bad taste in their mouths about Farmers is that not only are they priced out of the market, but they are just so obnoxious about their lack of respect for the agents. It's one thing to suffer through losing clients, it's quite another to be conned into paying for impossible 'contests', being blamed for the declining numbers or having your time wasted as the company completely disrespects the agents by asking them to struggle through one faulty computer system after the other. It's truly horrible to be put in a position where you have to explain that a system error caused an additional $800 to be taken out of someone's account. At least in our state, the agents are so blatantly lied to and threatened that at some point, you just have no remaining respect for the company.

This new push for all agents to input 60 quotes a day is a prime example. I believe there is something VERY sinister going on with this, and I have a hard time believing that it's OK for the company to be running credit scores without gaining permission from unsuspecting people. What is this about anyway? Gaining leads for 21st Century? Why the busy work for agents? Worse than that, agents are being chastised if they refuse to give their passwords to DMs and staff so that data can be entered on their behalf. So what happens when something illegal happens under that ID? How is the agent supposed to protect him/herself? This company constantly does things that are morally wrong at best and probably illegal. They have absolutely no remorse if they ruin your life financially and they have no problem with financing themselves from your pocket when there is very little chance that it will benefit you in the end. The problem goes WAY beyond a simple issue of not being competitive.
kevinraz
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by kevinraz »

This is a dead horse.

How many times must we whack it with a stick to prove that it is indeed dead? This thread started in 2008 and still gets posts.

Bottom line: a significant number of ex-Farmers agents are unhappy about their time with FIG. Those who are thinking of joining Farmers should be cautious. Fishy stuff went on in the past and continues to this day but they are still a significant player in the insurance world.
Kevin Rasmussen AU, CIC
FFA
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by FFA »

My bad taste comes from working 15yrs + and getting to that level of lncome that I would be comfortable at. I put my feet up just to get them kicked off with a large rate hike that came with no warning. Then came the spin game from State office with all the gimick discounts.

Now they want 60 quotes a day???? Who can do that with their screwed up computer system???
insureone
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by insureone »

Farmers is now launching their new Automobile product in our state. Our agency has quoted several preferred automobile profiles and we find their "new automobile rates" much higher than every other competitor in our office. In many cases their 6 month quote is higher than other competitor's annual policy. When we discovered how uncompetitive their rates were for preferred customers, we decided to quote a customer with DWI conviction, older car with minimum limits, claims and liability only limits and found their rates were great... Are these the types of customers that they are targeting?

Their long awaited new automobile product offering is just another example of how out of touch they are with regards to what agents are targeting for new customers and what a joke they have become in the market.
insurancedonkey
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by insurancedonkey »

Have you heard about Farmers Insurance Group terminating over 300 agents in Texas? They started on 4/29/10 with 100 and each month for the next 7 months they will continue. We in the Gulf Coast are unsure if it is only us or the entire USA? All of the agents so far have the older contract that has no production quotas..most are over 50..most have been with the company for over 20yrs or more..most are low life insurance producers.

Farmers has raised rates in the Gulf Region by over 30 percent in the last three yrs..most agents have lost over half there PIF..as well as contract value..seems Farmers is wanting to put us all out of business!

First it was the DMs and now it will be the agents.

THey are taking office leases..phone numbers (without compensating the agents for yellow page ads and goodwill) as well as there files and client lists per paragraph c of he old contract.

Seems they wil not give you your contract value until you give them the files and your phone number. I am fighting Farmers now concerning the phone number. Seems I used my home phone in a Downey Directory ad and now Farmers claims they own this telephone number vs the one that appears on the dec pages.

Is anyone experiencing this? if so please write to me at rcmercier01@yahoo.com
randrew54
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by randrew54 »

The days are numbered for captive agents. Word is out to stay clear of captive companies. I used to be a captive agent but now I am an IA and what a difference. I love coming to work and helping my clients. I am no longer a company representive but rather an agent for my clients. If you plan on being in the insurance industry for 10 years + I would recommend transitioning as fast as possible to an IA. The captive system is too expensive to operate and the amount of business you get from the company name is little to none. Plus IA agents get paid much better than captive agents. I know some captive agents who are only receiving 7% commission!
d's insurance store
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by d's insurance store »

Captive's in recent years have taken the position that clients, policies, expirations and all phone numbers belong not to the producing agent, but to the company, putting the agent in the position of an employee without benefits.

This trend seems to be supported by the courts, leaving the agent who fend for themselves. Captive agency owners in areas that are competitive benefit from the name recognition and with a certain amout of effort probably thrive. Agents in rate adverse areas tend to be viewed by the parent company as slackers who are unable to make the prospect see the value proposition of overpaying in return for name brand policies.

It's a sad state of affairs, but probably not trend that is going to reverse anytime soon.
insureone
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Re: Farmers Insurance

Post by insureone »

There is nothing that surprises me about Farmers, Foremost, Bristol West or 21st Century or whatever name they use to distribute their products. The management group who are making the decisions for this organization during the last 7 years are completely CLUELESS. So no, it doesn't surprise me at all!

What does surprise me is that there are still agents who are willing to do business with them!
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