Complaint Review: State Farm Insurance - Internet

I worked for this State Farm Agent for a number of years and I remember this client.  I can tell you that this State Farm Agent is extremely professional in the West Los Angeles area.  In addition, I can tell you that the staff person for this Agent that sold that policy is a top notch staff person.  While the office was known as a professional office in that area, that staff person was hired to helped the office become even more professional.  And he succeeded by integrated multiple business strategies from his years of experience in the insurance industry.  Lastly, I can tell you that the client's side of the story is not exactly true.

While it's true that the rate went up, it's not true why.  Basically, what had happened is that the prospect never revealed the fact that they had a ticket.  When the application was complete, it went to our underwriting department (as do all applications).  At that time in history, the underwriting department had the ability to run a more thorough motor vehicle report than the agency.  That's when the ticket was found.  I know because at that time it was my job to monitor insurance policies in the agency for these sort of increases.  I called our underwriting department when I saw that the rate went up.  That's when they told me that they found a ticket.  I then called the client to give them a heads up so that they wouldn’t feel caught off guard when they got the billing paperwork. 

As a side note, I can tell you that when people shop their car insurance the reasons why generally fall into 2 categories; the first is when they get a moving violation, or an at fault accident.  Their insurance carrier at that time ran a motor vehicle report and found out about the incident (it’s normal procedure for a company to run an mvr periodically).  Since this indicates an increase in risk, the company raises the rate to collect for the fact that they are insuring a person that is a higher risk than they thought (to match pricing to the risk).  The 2nd reason has to do with a bad customer service or claim experience.

So then what happens is people start shopping for insurance with different carriers.  Some will test the quoting system and not report the fact that they had a violation or an at fault accident.  Some will practice dishonestly and not report it in hopes that the insurance carrier doesn't find out about it.  And some just forgot about a ticket or an accident. 

I can't tell you anything of a personal nature about the client, but I can tell you that they never reported the ticket. 

These guys quoted me $180 less per month when I first contacted them. They even had the nerve to wait until the day before my 2nd payment to let me know that my 3rd payment would be $80 more and some how I owe them the money for the mistake on the previous two payments? As a former debt collector I can assure you that what they do is far more shady then what I did. Hopefully I never become like these people in life. Good people trying to stay loyal to a company that has taken care of their people should not be treated like this. Get your facts straight or get out of buisness.

If this "sales person" was doing it for commission, he would have included your ticket because he would get a bigger commision if you had a higher premium. All applications immediately go to underwriting, so if your ticket wasn't showing to the underwriting team we aren't going to tell them because we are saving you money.

At your renewal our underwriting department saw your ticket and started rating you for it.