Farmers Review

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Suitable For?

Farmers stands for flexibility. Rather than slap homeowners with a one-size-fits-all policy, Farmers offers 3 different policies. This way, each homeowner gets to choose the level of coverage they want—and pays accordingly. Each package is customizable, meaning the homeowner can raise or lower limits on each type of coverage or add or change coverage. Of course, each change affects your premium.

What Coverage Includes

Farmers Smart Plan Home offers 3 customizable packages, each offering different levels of coverage for your home, personal belongings, personal liability, and loss of use. 

These are the 3 packages:

• Standard: Designed for homeowners who are just starting out, this is the equivalent of a basic policy from other insurers. With this package, homeowners can pay extra to increase coverage limits on valuable items.
• Enhanced: Offers higher policy limits from the get-go plus several extra features like no-deductible roof replacement. Again, policy holders may play around with the coverage limits. 
• Premier: Comes with the highest limits and coverage on personal property. Includes guaranteed replacement cost if certain conditions are met. What this means is Farmers will reimburse 100% of the cost of rebuilding after a covered loss, regardless of the policy’s limits.

All Farmers’ home insurance policies include the following:

• $50 off the deductible each year the policy remains in force.
• Discount for going claim-free for 3 years.
• Claim forgiveness on the first claim after going claim-free the first 5 years.
• When filing a claim for functional damage, Farmers will cover related cosmetic damage too.

Optional Add-Ons

Farmers has one of the broadest selections of optional add-ons in the home insurance industry.

• Earthquake insurance: In California, Farmers can help you purchase coverage from the California Earthquake Authority. In other states, a Farmers agent can walk you through your options.
• Farmers Insurance: Farmers offers both types of flood insurance—standard risk and preferred risk.
• Extra coverage: Homeowners policies cover valuable items like jewelry, artwork, and collectibles—but only up to a similar limit. Farmers lets policy holders pay extra to get a higher level of coverage on selected items.
• Eco-Rebuild coverage: This is for if you want to go eco-friendly after a fire. With this coverage, you receive up to $25,000 toward the extra cost of replacing materials with green alternatives.
• Contents Replacement Cost: Reimburses for the cost of buying a new television or electrical appliance of similar quality—instead of reimbursing for the appliance’s depreciated value.
• Farmers Identity Shield: Covers losses and expenses and provides professional assistance if your identity is stolen.
• Alternative properties: Coverage for specialty homes, mobile and manufactured homes, and other homes that don’t fit under the standard definition.

Discounts

Farmers doesn’t offer as much as its competitors in the way of discounts. The main type of discounts is multi-line, which includes bundling with auto, life, business, recreational, or umbrella insurance.

Application Process

It takes about 3-5 minutes to get a home insurance quote from Farmers. The application begins with information about you and any co-applicants, including home address and contact details. Next, you’ll be asked to provide details about your property, including dwelling style, square footage, when the home was built, and information about the plumbing and heating systems. A Farmers agent will be in touch with you shortly after you complete the form.

Here are a few things to know about applying: You may request a quote online or by phone. Farmers has insurance agents all over the United States. Farmers serves homeowners in all 50 states (and DC).

How Safe is It?

Farmers has been in the insurance business for more than 90 years. Based in California, it is a subsidiary of Swiss company Zurich Insurance Group. Farmers has an A rating from A.M. Best, attesting to its “excellent” financial stability.

Claims & Customer Support

When your home or belongings are damaged as a result of a covered incident, Farmers does more than just assess your claims. It also helps connect you with the right people to repair your home, replace personal property, or find emergency lodging. Farmers provides support online or by phone, 24/7. Its mobile app doesn’t yet provide support for filing claims.

One nice thing about Farmers is that it provides a detailed breakdown of the claims process on its website. 

These are the steps to a home insurance claim:

• After you contact Farmers, your claim is assigned to an agent. 
• The claims agent contacts you to gather information about your loss and explain how your claim will be handled.
• Your claims agent conducts a property inspection and puts together an evaluation of the losses.
• If it’s a simple claim, you get paid right away. If your claim is complex, it may take a bit longer and you may be contacted for additional information.

Summary

Big insurers often get stereotyped as rigid and inflexible, but Farmers is the opposite. With Farmers, homeowners get access to 3 types of policies—each of which can be customized further to suit the homeowner’s needs. Farmer offers transparent information about home insurance on its website, so you know exactly what you’re getting into when you sign up for coverage. Homeowners can earn discounts by bundling coverage for their home with other Farmers products like auto insurance and life insurance.