When we went looking for the best auto insurance quotes online, we realized that we needed to look not only at the newest auto insurance providers out there, but also some of the oldest and most well known. Our first and most natural choice when looking for tried and true insurance agencies was State Farm Insurance. If you're wondering how they measure up to the newer companies who are vying for your business in granting you auto insurance quotes, continue on below.
What’s New with State Farm?
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Online insurance quotes
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Online claims reporting
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Easy access to other State Farm Insurance services
StarReviews' Favorite State Farm Feature:
We really liked the fact that you could not only file a claim on the State Farm website, but you can actually track the progress of your claim as well. Forget about having to call your insurance agent for frequent status updates. It's all at your fingertips with the click of a mouse.
About State Farm Insurance:
Founded in 1922, State Farm Insurance was the brain child of George Jacob Mecherle. The former farmer and insurance salesman thought that farmers were overcharged for their insurance plans because they drove less than other people and he thought he should do something about it. Needless to say, he most definitely did. Today, State Farm Insurance insures more car insurance policies in the North America than any other provider and they are forerunners when it comes to home owners' policies as well.
What State Farm Insurance Offers:
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Auto Insurance
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Claims Center
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Find Agents
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Insurance Learning Center
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News and Events Center
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Auto Insurance Discounts
The State Farm Insurance Experience:
Where to begin? State Farm has made quite a name for themselves and their Web presence shows it. This site is straightforward and easily navigated. They also provide an option to increase the text size on their page. The auto insurance quote and claims options are openly displayed at the top of the page and are, for the most part, user-friendly. We really think it's one of the better sites for those who have trouble reading the small text on most of today's websites.
The actual quote process was, to say the least, in depth. We started with merely entering our zip code and clicking the “Begin” button. Once we did that we were brought to page that estimated the amount of time it would take to complete the quote process. So far, this has been the only site that gave us a time estimate, and we appreciated it.
The rest of the page is filled with general questions, such as number of drivers and vehicles, previous insurance coverage periods, the address that the vehicle is located at and a statement that we acknowledged that consumer reports will be pulled in order to facilitate our quote. Once we checked the “I Agree” box we had the option to forward our information to an agent or continue on. We chose to continue on.
The second page of the quote process asked us for a lot of driver information. In fact, we felt that it was almost too much, considering that all we wanted was a basic quote. However, we proceeded to give them our names, our birth dates, our marital status and our driver’s license numbers. We did finally balk at the idea of giving them our Social Security numbers, but fortunately that entry was optional.
We filled in all of the data, clicked continue and then….nothing. Instead of getting a quote like we had expected, we were redirected to the home page. Being good sports, we tried the process again and, wouldn’t you guess, the same thing happened two more times. Slightly discouraged we gave up on getting a quote and moved on. This was rather disappointing, to say the least.
State Farm Pricing:
State Farm auto insurance plans can be calculated on an individual plan basis-prices vary.
State Farm Insurance Customer Support:
After being discouraged about not being able to get our online quote, we thought customer service is the next logical step. The representative that we contacted via phone was pleasant and helpful, though we will say, however, that the answers in regards to our inability to complete the online quote process were not fully addressed. Other than that, their service level was more than acceptable. We would have liked to see a customer support email address (and not just a form to find and connect us with an insurance agent.)
Upside:
- Access to online claims, multiple insurance types available
Downside:
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Serious issues with the online quote function