Farmers Insurance

[FFA]

It depends on what state you are in. Seems like they want to lose the captive agents in some states but not in others. Check competitivness of rates in your state. Talkto some vets in your area outside your district.

Best thing going with Farmes is their commercial products. Fastest growing division in Farmers. Strong coverage packages. Great rates. Easy sell. This is not to say the rest are bad, but only one can be the best, like the Bears.

[sacman]

Bennett,

NOTHING has changed. Even though many of the posts are old, there are as accurate now as they were then.

Be VERY careful. The fact that you refer to their subsidy program as "base pay" is evidence that you either do not understand their compensation plan or , more likely, that your DM did not explain it thoroughly to you.
Farmers DM's and recruiters are responding to just about every application on hotjobs, monster and all the other online employment services. They will accept almost anybody, regardless of their liklihood of succeeding in the insurance industry. They job depends of new blood.

2 major points, among many, that you need to be aware of.

1) The base pay is a subsidy program. Meaning that it is dependent on you hitting your quotas on a monthly/quarterly basis. Miss your quotas and not only will you probably be let go, you will also need to repay at least a portion of the payments that you received. This is will go on for 2 years. If you do not meet those requirements you will be required to pay back 50% of all subsidy payments received in the first 12 months, and 100% of those received in the second 12 months. It is not uncommon for a new agent to miss the quota, be terminated and owe Farmers thousands and thousands of dollars in subsidy re-payment.
Here is a link to the contract and subsidy agreement that you will be required to sign.
http://www.ufaa.com/page/PDFS/New-Agent ... eement.pdf

2) Regardless of what you are being told. YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS. You only own the debt associated with the agency. Rent, phone, utilities, insurance, advertising, payroll are all YOUR obligations. However, Farmers can cancel your contract at any time, WITHOUT CAUSE, with a 90 day notice( Section C (1) of the contract ) and you are still responsible for those financial obligations. If you think they won't do that, ask agents in the Houston area. Farmers just cancelled amost 500 agent contracts there a few months ago. It should be apparent that when another entity can demand production quotas from you with the power to close your business if not met, or put you out of business for any other reason with 90 day notice, you do NOT own the business.

Can an individual still make a carreer with Farmers? Absolutely, but the game has changed substantially and is stacked against the agent. In many of its operating territories, Farmers is grossly uncompetitive, making meeting even minimum production quotas difficult, if not impossible.

For more information go to http://www.ufaa.com

Best of luck

[justthere]

It is hard to argue with Sacman. Farmers can take you down anytime they want to. And your DM/DMM is not communicating clearly with you about the subsidy. It is a loan that can be nullified by production but it is still a loan. That being said, it is still a numbers game no matter if you are with Farmers or anyplace else. If you do not see enough people, you will not succeed. Right now, Farmers' strongest area is in Commercial but that will not help you with the numbers you need to keep your contract. Getting 30-40 autos and homes a month is not easy with Farmers - I don't care where you are located. You will have to have a strong marketing program in place and you had better be organized. It can be done but you will need to be completely focused. Your DM will only back you as long as you make him or her look good. They are front-runners because they have to be. If you are going to do it, jump in with both feet and work your butt off. If you succeed, the rewards in this business are great.

[gregcw]

Hello guys...!
Is farmers insurance a good company to work for?
I just got my license and am going to start with the company, but their are lots of negative reviews on working for this company, at the same time those reviews are old. I was told I can get a base pay after meeting expectations in three months. Which is 30 to 40 car insurance policies, which they have said is easy to do, but I am new to insurance, but am motivated and can sell. You think I will survive with this company? thanks in advance.

This thread only started a year ago in 2009. These reviews are NOT all old.If you read my review on page one I think that you will see that most of the comments illustrate a L-O-N-G history of agent abuse that I have observed to be continuing up to today.

One thing that I have to comment on is your comment that I was told I can get a base pay after three months. Were you told that this should be enough for you to LIVE ON? My District Mangler did. Or that it should be just enough too offset your operating expenses because that is what the subsidy is intended to do. Depending on your answer to this you should be able to determine if or that you have been lied to. This is another ongoing factor with FIG that is still continuing.

[lonestar]

Bennet, do yourself a favor: Run away from this DM and Farmers as fast as you can. I recently left after 11 years. It will not get better, and will only get worse being an agent for Farmers. As others have said, you DO NOT own your business. All you own is the debt. The policies(and your agency) can be taken away at any time. How would you like to be one of the 450+ agents in the Houston, Texas area who had their agencies stolen by Farmers this year? How would you like to spend thousands of dollars over a 10, 20 or 30 year period, just to have the product of your blood, sweat and tears taken away for no reason? If you read the Farmers Appointment Agreement, Farmers can do this at any time, without cause, with only 90 days notice. Because THEY OWN the policies, not the agent. And not only CAN they do it, they ARE doing it. You seem like a smart guy. Think about this: If a Farmers agency was such a great deal, why are tenured, long term agents leaving on their own to become independent agents? If it were such a great deal, why are there so many district managers scrambling to recruit the next batch of suckers that comes along?(I don't think you are a sucker, but you know what I mean.) Also, remember that Farmers touts a "family rights" provision. If you die, your spouse will not get your entire agency. At most, your spouse would only get no more than 500 policies, and at 40% of the normal commission. Is that such a good deal?

[salescount]

The longer you stay the more reasons you have to leave, but unfortunately the more difficult the process becomes.

The opportunity the Ins industry provides is incredible, but you have to be in a position to fully participate. As has been stated here over and over, FIG is not it.(my experience)

If you want to grow and remain in this industry find an IA opportunity and get help transitioning.

If you did a good job servicing your clients and become an IA the solutions you will be able to offer will
make the win back process relatively simple.

Having all of ones eggs in one basket is a precarious proposition.
Happy New Year

[salescount]

It depends on what state you are in. Seems like they want to lose the captive agents in some states but not in others. Check competitivness of rates in your state. Talkto some vets in your area outside your district.

Best thing going with Farmes is their commercial products. Fastest growing division in Farmers. Strong coverage packages. Great rates. Easy sell. This is not to say the rest are bad, but only one can be the best, like the Bears.

Heard on the street that "Z" is going to open up a lot more of the FIG lines to IA's in 2011.
Stay tuned
salescount

[martplan]

If you are a Southern California Insurance Agent/Broker whether captive or independent The Smartplan from Martplan may be for you. Direct access to many excellent carriers, no minimum volume requirements, no fees except for the costs of a rating system and minimal cost for access to the management system. The business is owned by you. There is a commission split and shared bonus arrangement.

If interested contact me with full name and address at: mgalati@crownins.com

[SCFarmer]

Anyone in S Ca noticed a 17% rate increase in Next Gen home renewals for Feb 2011?? It must a NEW marketing campaign to increase market share on the way up to being #3 carrier in the USA ??

[FFA]

I dont get it. If they dont want an captive agency force any more, then why dont they just offer the IA to all their captives?
I would think that someone from Farmers Corporate / State Office or a DM is monitoring this. Why cause so much disruption to the very people that pound the pavement, the very people that generate the revenue used to cover your pay check? Someone? Anyone care to enlighten the crowd?

[justthere]

They do use Independent agents outside of the core 29 states. It would be a lot easier if it were an independent outfit. The problem that really comes up is that Zurich is Farmers' master. They are required to send a lot of money to Zurich each year that add to the premium. It comes out to over 10% of the GROSS premium collected. That doesn't count how much the exchanges make after those payments. Farmers could really be dangerous if they really knew what they were doing. And I am a "successful" Farmers agent.

[lonestar]

Zurich takes more like 15 to 18% off the top, even before Farmers' light bill is paid. There is a reason most Departments of Insurance no longer allow an insurance company to be formed as an insurance exchange, like Farmers is. As long as Zurich continues to milk Farmers dry, the Farmers agent will always be at a 15% to 18% rate disadvantage, if all else is equal. Farmers had to pay out over 2.3 Billion to Zurich during the first 9 months of 2010, so the year end number will likely be higher. http://www.ufaa.com/

I was an 11 year "successful" Farmers agent too, until last year when I could not take it any more. As in all companies, Farmers has some good people, it's just that the corporate entity that has become Farmers is not the company it once was, and is no longer agent friendly. Farmers strength is that most agents do not figure this part out until they are neck deep into this, and it is hard to start over again. Once I found out that the family rights provision is no longer being honored by FIG in the event of an agent's death, I had to do something better for my family.

[sundeviljeremy]

Of the people on here that posted back in 2009....who is still around as a Farmers Agent? 6 years later I am still standing proud and making a heck of a lot more money than I did back then

[d's insurance store]

Of the people on here that posted back in 2009....who is still around as a Farmers Agent? 6 years later I am still standing proud and making a heck of a lot more money than I did back then

The captive system, commonly thought of as Farmer's, State Farm, Allstate and a handful of others, still works for some agents. If you have a large enough market, not a whole lot of competition from agencies selling under the same brand, a competitive rate for the bread and butter personal and commercial lines and good work habits, there's no reason why you wouldn't thrive.

The biggest danger, spoken as a former captive, is that the only company you represent decides to become uncompetitive and hangs you out to dry. The second biggest danger is a clash from someone who is more entrepreneurial than the parent company allows and the relationship becomes abrasive. But if you mesh with the company culture and have the client base and meet whatever numbers are required, then succeed in peace.

[Roy99]

Sundeviljeremy

Very happy to hear of your success and hope you continue to excel.

However, let's not make the Farmers program out to be something it is not for a vast majority of agents and company employees.

Example- over 1200 agents left the company in 2013 alone- nearly 10% or the agency force. Not to mention the "downsizing" that took place with large swathes of company employees such as DMM's losing their jobs in 2013 & 2014. They are selling the Wilshire Blvd location after 50+ years and consolidating space. Easy to consolidate when cutting so many staff.

Things got so bad Farmers shut down the Community Forum on the Dashboard because they could not stem the tide of questions and negative comments about the downward spiral of the company.

How about the nearly 1.3 million policies Farmers lost in 2013- net-

How about going from the #3 auto insurer to the #9 insurer in just the last few years despite buying up companies such as Bristol West & 21st Century while expanding into other States. Even this could not save the net policy loss.

Much has happened in the last five years with Farmers. Little of it very good. Be proud of your success and hope for your future success. You are truly the exception.

Anyone looking into an "opportunity" with this company should look elsewhere-