Dear Farmers Insurance Group:
This note is to inform you that I will not be renewing my auto insurance policy with you, effective February 7, 2012.
The bill I recently received, for my six-month renewal, is $649.70. As I spent some time trying to wrap my head around this number, I did the math and discovered this is exactly 25% more than my previous bill. I did not understand at all how this could possibly be correct, so I called, and you indicated the rate increase was due to the fact that I had had a claim in 2010 and it (the consequences of the accident) had finally caught up with me. (Or words to that effect...)Now, the claim I had in early 2010 (almost two full years ago!) was for a small fender-bender in my parking lot at work, and, yes, it was entirely my fault. However, my recollection is that this is the first claim I have ever had as a Farmers customer where the fault was mine. Yes, I have had comprehensive-coverage claims for cracked windshields and vandalized tires. And, yes, I once had a car totaled out, back in the 1980s, in the middle of the night (while I was upstairs in my house, sleeping) by a hit-and-run driver. BUT: I have not had an accident that was my fault since I’ve been insured by Farmers … and I started with you back in 1978.
Further, in all that time, I believe I have had only one moving violation: a speeding ticket in Lane County, Oregon, sometime in the late 1990s.
During our initial phone conversation about this rate increase, you offered to reduce my coverage limits so we could bring my premium payment into line with what it had been (up until now). At first, that seemed to be the way to go … but, really, I don’t WANT reduced coverage. I really desire some consideration as a long-standing Farmers customer, and to be assessed no penalty for having had one, yes one, accident in 34 years of continuous coverage (in Corvallis, Oregon; Bloomington, Indiana; Eugene, Oregon; Portland, Oregon; Roseburg, Oregon; and now, Larkspur, California).
But, after yet another consultation with you, Famers doesn’t seem to be able to offer me such consideration. I have now shopped around and AAA has written me a policy for the level of coverage I currently have with Farmers, for slightly less than I had paying with you. My new AAA policy is effective February 7 so you will not be receiving another premium payment from me for auto insurance. (My renter’s insurance will remain with Farmers, though I will be looking for other companies to ultimately fulfill that need as well.)
The question I leave you with is: am I not the kind of responsible person you WANT to be insuring?
Most respectfully yours,
TechnoMonk