State Farm Insurance Complaints

by Brad Waller

I have some State Farm Insurance Complaints to share.


I had an absolutely horrible experience with State Farm back in 1996. I was driving my insured 1966 Corvette when a driver made a left turn in front of me.


The accident was not my fault, but the insurance companies worked together and assigned partial blame to both parties, with the majority on the other person.


My hassles came when I wanted them to fix the car. They estimated the repair cost and value of the car, and then chose to total the car out instead of fixing it because it was "an old car." If it was a new car of the same value with the same cost to repair it would have been fixed, but their corporate policy was to treat "old cars" differently. The costs to total the car were higher than to repair it.


My agent was an absentee, so I had to deal with State Farm directly. Of course, being an "old car" much of the repair cost was in replacement parts that are expensive because of the car, and the labor costs were not as large a piece.


I went back and forth with them for weeks with no results. They wanted to total the car and would not listen to any argument as to value of the car, collectability, parts costs, total outlay on their side, or their criteria to total the car out.


Exasperated, I resorted to a letter writing campaign where I wrote a long letter (still available) detailing my plight to the CEO of State Farm. Of course, I also sent copies to my local agency and every level of management between them and the CEO. Not being done, I also sent copies to every TV, radio, print, and internet media outlet that was either local or had something to do with cars.



For some reason I got a call from the regional office asking me how they could help get this all taken care of just a few days later...


I'm with Allstate now with an agent whose wife drives a Corvette. The moral is that you need to make sure your agent knows you and is also a car enthusiast who will be willing to go to bat for you.

---

Hi Brad,

Thanks for taking the time to share your State Farm insurance complaints. I'm glad to hear that everything worked out for you in the end.


You bring up a very important issue when it comes to people who drive "collector" cars. Insurance for collector cars is a bit different and drivers need to understand that.


Just as you learned the hard way, "regular auto insurance" only covers the accepted value of the vehicle based on the Kelley Blue Book valuation in most cases.


For a lovely old classic automobile like your 1966 Corvette (what a beaut!), you need to get collector car insurance or classic auto insurance to be sure that you don't have to "fight" to get your car repaired after a collision.


Other owners of classic cars need to take a lesson from your experience and be sure that they've got the right coverage on their own vehicles.


Thanks again for posting your State Farm insurance complaints. We don't get many of those here, but hopefully someone will come along later and benefit from your experience.


Safe Driving!
Angie