Special Report

Farmers Insurance Is the Most Hated Insurance Company in America

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: January 16, 2023 11:07 am

Last Updated: January 17, 2023 10:33 am

Farmers Insurance is well known for its TV commercials that feature widely acclaimed actor J.K. Simmons. He appears as a kindly insurance company executive who wants people to have better insurance for less money. If the reason for the marketing is to get people to think better of Farmers, it has not worked.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s Insurance and Health Care Study 2021-2022, Farmers got the lowest score in the industry in 2022, as it did in 2021, and its score has not improved. (Also see, 21 states where the most people don’t have health insurance.)

Farmers Insurance was indeed founded to help farmers. Founders John C. Tyler and Thomas E. Leavey, who came from rural areas, started the company in 1928, believing farmers experienced fewer risks with their vehicle and therefore deserved better rates. The company, which currently sells home, life, and car insurance, has settled at least five lawsuits that range from discrimination to acting in bad faith since 2005.

Farmers was acquired by Swiss-based Zurich Insurance in 1998. Zurich is a financial behemoth with 56,000 employees. It does business across 210 countries and territories. (These are America’s most hated industries.)

To come to the conclusion that Farmers is so poorly regarded, the ACSI surveyed 12,841 people between October 2021 and September 2022. Customers were asked about different aspects of their experience with their insurance companies.

The categories with the lowest rate of customer satisfaction were availability and range of policy discounts and rewards, ease of understanding billing statements, speed of most recent claim processing and completion, and courtesy and helpfulness of representatives and agents. For these categories, around 75% to 78% of customers were satisfied.

Here is 24/7 Wall St.’s list of the most hated insurance companies in America.