Laura Longero is a content strategist and communications leader with more than 15 years of experience in content development in journalism, marketing and communications for start-ups to global companies. She started her career as a reporter and editor and honed her journalistic skills at the USA Today Network, working in several roles, as well as managing content and writing at MoneyGeek and XYZ Media.
John is the editorial director for CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, John was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and had been an editor and reporter at a number of other media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance, and technology.
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Farmers is ranked No. 8 among national carriers in Insure.com’s Best car insurance companies of 2024 with 3.69 stars out of 5. Although Farmers has the third-most expensive premiums on our list, it is highly rated for trustworthiness and a strong renewal rate. High rates can bring down an insurer’s star ranking as price is a major part of the score.
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
AM Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
Farmers has an average monthly premium of $199 per month, the third-highest rate among Insure’s top auto insurers for 2024 behind CSAA Insurance Group ($217) and Allstate ($209).
The company’s customers give it high marks when it comes to customer satisfaction. Eighty-four percent of Farmers’ customers said they were satisfied with the company’s customer service. Only Erie and American Family did better than Farmers in this category.
Farmers received average marks from its customers in our survey for ease of service – accessing policy documents and services. Of the customers surveyed, 78% said they were satisfied with the company’s ease of service. Erie led this category, with 90% of its customers giving it high marks.
When it comes to policy offerings, 79% of Farmers’ customers said they’re satisfied with the companies’ policy offerings like rideshare coverage, umbrella insurance and homeowners/condo/rental policies. Erie scored the highest in this category with 88% of its customers grading it highly followed by American Family.
Farmers insurance comes highly recommended by customers – 90% said they would recommend the company to others. Most companies had percentages in the upper eighties and nineties in this category. Erie led this category with a 100% recommendation rate.
Farmers earned high marks for trustworthiness with a score of 79%, the fourth-highest score in our survey. Farmers tied with Auto-Owners in this category but ranked behind only Erie (86%), State Farm (82%) and American Family (81%).
Regarding renewals, 90% of customers surveyed said they planned to renew their policies. Most companies earned scores in the 80th and 90th percentile for renewals with Erie taking the top spot with a 100% renewal rate.
For claims handling, three-quarters of Farmers’ customers said they approved of how the company handles claims. Allstate led this category followed by State Farm.
Farmers had a lower survey score for digital experience, with 46% of customers saying it’s the best in this category. But no insurers in our survey did particularly well here. The top scorer was Geico with 64%.
Despite a long list of available discounts, respondents rated Farmers in the lower half of our survey for discounts. But this is another category where insurers in our survey didn’t do particularly well. The best in this category was Auto Club of Southern California – 70% of its customers gave it high marks for discounts.
When it comes to discounts and bundling home and auto policies, Farmers was ranked in the top half of companies by survey respondents. Almost 70% of Erie customers rated it well for bundling. Farmers came in with 57% of respondents saying it was best for bundling.
Farmers was launched from a one-room office in downtown Los Angeles in 1928. Farmers expanded to acquire New World Life Company of Seattle and became the first major insurance organization to offer a monthly payment plan that didn’t charge customers any interest. In 2021, Farmers completed an acquisition of MetLife’s home and auto business.
Farmers was the first U.S.-based insurance carrier to sign the Principles for Sustainable Insurance pledge, a collaboration between the United Nations and global insurance companies to advance sustainable practices across the industry. The UN called this pledge “a landmark step in advancing sustainable insurance thinking and practices across a range of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues such as climate change, nature and biodiversity loss.”
Sources:
Farmers Insurance. “ Available Insurance Discounts.” Accessed February 2024.
Insure.com in the fall of 2023 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (1,459 people with auto insurance). Online market research company Slice MR conducted the survey. Respondents were asked to name their auto insurer and then grade it in the following categories – customer satisfaction, ease of service and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
Respondents were then asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – trustworthiness, claims satisfaction, digital experience, discounts and best for auto/home bundling. The responses for each attribute were totaled and then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage.
Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their auto insurer to someone else and whether they would renew with their company. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.
Finally, respondents were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.
They then collected AM Best data, which measures financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC company code or codes that were the primary underwriting companies for each carrier and line of business using total annual premiums. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations. If more than one underwriting company was identified for a line, the editors used a weighted average of the NAIC complaint index scores.
In addition, we also created star rankings for each company. Respondents were asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of the more than the dozen presented, again including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. The number of responses for each attribute was totaled and then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create the star ranking.
The editors also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services.
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For auto insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.
Each insurer was awarded from half a star to 5 stars. No insurer in our star ranking received less than half a star and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.