State Farm: America’s Number One Insurer

State Farm is the nations largest insurer, but are they really one of the best? How stable are they financially? How are they ranked by consumer products rating companies? What are their customers reporting as far as satisfaction?

State Farm Ranking and Solvency

State Farm is a well ranked and financially stable company with more than 6 billion dollars in managed assets, so consumers can feel safe that they will have they will be around and have the ability to pay out claims should any damage occur to their person or vehicle. J.D. Powers and Associates, a leading consumer products rating firm offers reports about auto insurance companies. Their 2008 National Insurance Study, rates insurance companies on a scale of 1 to 5 in five different categories, with 1 being poor and 5 being Among the Best. State Farm is among the auto insurance providers that are rated in this report. Their score is summarized as follows:

In comparison to others in the study, this is overall a good rating from J.D. Powers and Associates. The lowest of State Farm’s ratings in the Pricing category translates to Avergage. The overall rating seems to place State Farm in the above average rating. This along with their status at the largest provider of insurance seems to illuminate them as a quality insurance provider.

Customer Ratings and Complaints

While J.D. Powers and Associates and other official consumer product rating companies show State Farm Auto Insurance in a fairly positive light, a quick search for customer reviews reveals that not everyone has had a positive experience with State Farm. Sites that allow consumers to post their own opinions are full with complaints about having their claims handled by State Farm. According to an unofficial poll of reader responses on the website, freeadvice.com 35% of State Farm’s customers are unsatisfied. Of course, this could be true of almost any insurance company, of almost any product or service provider in general. If you are trying to choose an insurance provider, you might do well to look for some these complaints and read them yourself, but be sure to compare them to similar complaints about other companies.

Disputes with customers have led to civil lawsuits including Class Action lawsuits in Florida, Michigan and California. This may be something to consider when thinking about State Farm as your auto insurance provider. These may be isolated incidents where there is a simple dispute of the facts, or they could be revealing of the way in which a company treats customers.

Featured Articles

Review of AAA Auto Insurance

AAA auto insurance policies are offered by the auto clubs of individual states. Although AAA is a fairly small carrier, its subsidiaries usually perform well on surveys of customer satisfaction. Read on for a review of AAA car insurance and its product offerings.

Review of American Family Insurance

American Family Insurance is a fairly small provider of auto insurance, but the company continues to deliver quality customer satisfaction and a solid financial performance. Read on for an overview of American Family’s financial health, customer ratings, and future outlook.

Car Insurance and Arbitration Clauses

Chances are, your auto insurance policy contains a mandatory arbitration clause. This clause requires you to try to resolve your dispute with the insurer before an arbitrator instead of a jury. We’ll explain more about arbitration clauses and how they relate to car insurance in this post.