My Personal Auto Claim

Recently, I personally, went through the Farmers claims process.  As an insurance consultant for Farmers I was very interested in the steps that my clients would go through.  This blog will talk about how easy the process was and what steps that I went through.

To start the blog I will tell you about my experience.  I had just left the bank in Gladstone, MO and was getting back on to US 169 highway headed north.  I got onto the highway with no issues but then all of a sudden traffic came to a stop.  I was struck from behind by a whit truck.  Everything in the car flew and even my CD player almost entirely slid out of the slot.  I was shook up and had some whiplash in my neck but I was okay.  I could still drive my car so I follow the MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) rule of thumb, "If you can steer it then clear it."  I did just that.  As I pulled over the car that hit me took off and left me as a "Hit and Run."  I was able to get his license plate.  I called the police to report the incident.  The police asked if I was okay and if I could drive to police station.  I told them yes, gave them all the information, then headed to the police station.  At the police station I filed the police report so that I would have it for insurance.

After all of those steps I headed home.  I was able to skip the step of calling my agent because of course I am the agent.  On my way home I called a body shop repairman to come give me a quote so that I could determine what my next course of action was.  The body shop was able to get me the quote by noon the next day.  The was about $4800 in damage to my little Ford Focus.  That was more than I could repair on my own so I called to file my claim.  Farmers was able to retrieve all the information and pictures from the body shop.  Since the value of my car was only about $4000 they sent a field adjuster out for a second opinion.  The field adjuster also applied all the necessary information to get the car value.  One thing that I did that is not a must is to find comparable cars online to get a price point.  I was looking for cars with same body styles, mileage and features.  This was to protect me so that I could see what a fair settlement would be.  Obviously the car was going to be a total loss.  Normally when the damage reaches over 80% of the car value is when they talk about totaling out the car.

The damage to my car

A couple days went by and Farmers apologized because things were backed up at this time on the claims department.  We reached a fair claim for both parties using the comparable cars they found and I found of around $4000.  After my deductible of $1000 the amount to be paid was $3000.  Since this was a hit and run which the other party didn't have insurance it was going to be a, "not at fault," collision claim.  It was unfortunate because I was legally stopped but that is the only way to cover that situation.  If Farmers can catch the other party I will receive my deductible back.

The final steps were extremely easy.  Farmers sent me an overnight shipping label to send in my signed title.  Once that was received they set up a date to pick up my car.  I had to go to the office so I set up a place where they could pick up the keys and they picked the car up from my home driveway.  The money was then directly deposited into my account and the claim was over.  Farmers was also able to send me a voucher for the sales tax of my car based on the $4000 value.

The guy that ran off.

This was not completely normal because of the circumstances of it being a, "hit and run," but that is just one of the curve balls that life throws us some times.  My claim was delayed but it was started and closed in 10 business days.  With the number of people that were involved and the set backs I was perfectly happy with how the claim turned out.  I just hope that Farmers can retrieve my money from the other party since I was not at fault.  If they are able to it would remove my claim, that since is not my fault doesn't hurt me, and get my deductible back to me.  Wish me luck.  I hope this blog simplifies how easy the claims process with Farmers is if you are a client.