www.farmers-online.com - The Comprehensive Resource Site for Agents

George Writes:

"I, too, am an ex-Farmers agent.

I spent 15 years as a Farmers agent, and I am now an independent, which has turned out to be a great move. I have met many ex Farmers agents over the last two years, all of them are quality individuals.....hard working, honest men and women. I have not met one ex Farmers agent who isn't thrilled to be gone from Farmers. It is quite a shame that a once great company's reputation is being trashed, but they have brought it down themselves by keeping self serving district managers and brown-nosing agents. I cannot deny that I received excellent training, most of which came from other agents who were willing to share their knowledge with me. The district manager position is an outdated and worn out idea. It seems as though they have become hit men of sorts for the company.

Perhaps it was always that way. I just didn't pay attention, as all I wanted to do was write business and grow my agency. I tried not to create any waves and tried to comply with most requests from the dm and company. After a while, I totally began disbelieving everything the dm and state manager was saying. I believe that none of us left the company-----the company left us. I didn't know who to trust anymore. I was accused of stealing business shortly after I resigned. I have come to find out that it is a fairly common practice to accuse all of us of that. I was personally offended, due to my years of service of always trying to do the right thing. Had I been in a better financial situation, I would have left Farmers two years earlier than I did. I can probably relate a whole book full of stories, and maybe I will some day. Another ex told me about this site yesterday, so I of course had to take a look.

Thanks-----and very best wishes to you all."

Thanks George,

Thats the same situation I think we all ended up in. We keep thinking our dream will come true, we get promised its just around the corner by our DM's. So we wait. We take abuse and we write lots of Life Insurance to make the machine happy. Because someday we will be living the dream!

If you are an Agent right now, just take note of the things they've done to you or do to you in the future. If you think that you're happy right now, that could all change in a single instant. As all these other agents have, something like a rate change or like in Texas, when Farmers Insurance quit writing home policies all together. You are one decision away from ruin.

Look at your security and think about what it is. The only security you have is money that you've stashed away in your bank account. Its well known on the UFAA forums that Farmers often fails to redeem your book or agency for the Contract Value that you were promised.

The only thing you have is what you do for yourself. Why do you think they make you a 1099 contractor? Farmers has the worst Agent Contract in the business as far as agency and book ownership. You dont have to take our word for this either. Every other company that we've looked at so far has a better deal.