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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: FU to State Farm Insurance | ||||
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| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 06-13-2001 @ 6:53 AM |    | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00  | Because of these fucks, my wife just found out yesterday that she will lose her job in about a year. Like a good neighbor, State farm fucks you in the ass. Fuck you and good riddance. State Farm looks to drop N.J. drivers 06/13/01 BY DAVID RESS AND JOE DONOHUE STAR-LEDGER STAFF State Farm Indemnity, the biggest auto insurer in New Jersey, wants to stop covering drivers here. The company, which covers about one of every six cars in New Jersey, yesterday told the state Department of Banking and Insurance that it intends to pull out of the market, saying it is bleeding red ink because there is too much politicking over insurance. The move means State Farm's customers eventually would end up with a new insurer -- but it could be years before they have to start looking. Any claims made while their State Farm policies are in effect would be paid. And State Farm wants to stay in the homeowner insurance business, where it also ranks No. 1 in New Jersey. "We're leaving primarily because of the highly politicized insurance regulatory environment in New Jersey," said Brian Boyden, president of State Farm Indemnity. "We can't be in a business where in the long run we can't operate profitably." In the two years since the state ordered all insurers to cut rates 15 percent, State Farm said, it lost $275 million on its New Jersey auto business. To stop the losses, it asked the state to approve a rate increase. "What's clear to us is that State Farm thinks that auto insurance rates are too low in New Jersey, and that's a belief that the department does not share," said Peter Hartt, spokesman for the Department of Banking and Insurance. "What State Farm is complaining about is that we didn't grant them a rate increase and that's the bottom line." The insurance giant's withdrawal plans mean big changes for the owners of the 820,000 cars covered by State Farm, and the 209 agents who sell the company's policies in New Jersey. "It's always a concern when a big company pulls out," said Jill Rhode, a Bergen County policyholder who has been with State Farm for 35 years. "You just wonder if others will follow suit and we'll be left with fewer choices, poorer coverage and outrageous cost to consumers." John Dyke, chairman of the New Jersey Auto Agents Alliance, an insurance agents' trade association, is worried, too. "It's a disaster," he said. "Nobody else can handle that many customers." State Farm's move will hit Tom Tobin, an insurance agent in Nutley, especially hard. "I'm feeling, I guess shock, shocked by finally hearing the decision," he said. "I have to look at all of my options for my family, and I have staff and they have families and I'm concerned about the policyholders who have been with me for so long. I hope I do what's right for everybody." But State Farm, a subsidiary of the giant Illinois-based State Farm Mutual insurance group, is worried that more losses will make it hard to meet a promise to pay future claims. "We've lost a quarter-billion dollars . . . I don't want to have to look my policyholders in the eye a couple of years from now and say, 'Gee, I wish we'd done something sooner,' " State Farm's Boyden said. The insurer's losses led Illinois state regulators to examine State Farm's books and warn it to do something to end the drain. In April, New Jersey's insurance regulators said State Farm no longer had to issue new policies -- an exemption from the state's take- all-comers law. State Farm, meanwhile, has asked the state to let it raise its rates by 17 percent. A hearing is set for this summer. But State Farm spokesman Chris Neal said yesterday the rate increase would be just a short-term fix and will not change the insurer's decision to withdraw from New Jersey. The state cannot force State Farm to stay. But regulators can impose tough conditions to make sure customers are not left dangling. They could even use State Farm's profitable homeowner business as a bargaining chip. State Farm said it will file its withdrawal plan soon. Once regulators get the plan, they will have 30 days to decide if it is complete. Then they will have another 120 days -- with the possibility of a 40-day extension on top of that -- to consider it and set any terms or conditions. At that point, State Farm would have up to five years to find another insurer to take over its customers. If there are not enough takers, New Jersey then could require State Farm to take up to another five years to stop renewing its current customers' policies. It is not a quick or easy process, and insurance experts said other major carriers are not likely to follow State Farm's lead. "Withdrawing from the market is very serious; it is the ultimate decision," said John Tiene, chief administrative officer of the Insurance Council of New Jersey. Meanwhile, as State Farm blamed the politics of insurance in New Jersey for its move, politicians blasted back. "New Jersey's motorists will not be forced to pay for bad business decisions by insurance company executives," said acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco. "State Farm's business strategy was to increase their customer base without regard to their bottom line . . . If the alternative to State Farm leaving is socking motorists with a 17 percent rate increase, then I say, 'Farewell.'" Democratic legislators were quick to blast the 1998 auto insurance reform that DiFrancesco helped put together. "So much for a good neighborly approach to auto insurance coverage," said Senate Minority Leader Richard Codey (D-Essex). "State Farm and the Republican administration are engaged in a shameless posture of gamesmanship, and hundreds of thousands of innocent New Jersey policyholders have become the pawns." But State Farm spokesman Neal brushed off speculation that State Farm was trying to pressure state regulators for concessions. State Farm employs about 1,000 people in its New Jersey auto insurance business, and has a total of 2,800 people working in New Jersey, which is a regional headquarters for the company. In addition, it has 209 agents in the state.  | ||||
| hornygoatweed23 I've Got A Vagina With Teeth. G.O.O.F.B.A.H.G.S. Dragoon Battalion My friends call me Weed | posted on 06-13-2001 @ 12:10 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | Fuck State Farm Auto Insurance! I had a policy with these pricks a few years ago, and it only lasted ONE year. Why? Well, they got me to sign up initially by offering me a low premium for the first year. Then when it came time to renew for year two, they decided to jack up the amount by more than 20%! NO reason as to why, and NOTHING on my part (speeding ticket, accident) to trigger the rate increase. I call them up, and not only to I get put on hold forever, but I get some Latino woman with a thick attitude-laced voice telling me over and over that theres nothing they can do, blah blah blah. Suffice it to say, I called Geico the very same night, got a hell of a cheaper rate, and have been with them ever since (I'm in Staten Island, I don't think Geico insures Jersey drivers right now).  | ||||
| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 06-13-2001 @ 12:57 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | Geico is not in New Jersey. Not all of the people who work there are miserable fuckheads. My wife works there and she has great customer service skills. We have State Farm now for auto insurance. Not any more. Canceling it as soon as we can. | ||||
| Reign | posted on 06-13-2001 @ 2:48 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Oct. 00 | State Farm blows! If they do indeed leave there will be another ripoff company right behind it to take over. NJ drivers get screwed again as always. O&A TRIBE | ||||
| Brittney | posted on 06-13-2001 @ 5:06 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | State Farm is my insurance company...and the cheapest one for me at that! It's hard enough to get insurance in this state, then, the ones that WILL give it to you bend you over and fuck you in the ass | ||||
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