State Farm Claim Experience?

**capt_canuck** · 03-30-2009, 02:12 PM

Hello all!

My wife and I are new to riding (taking the M1->M2 course in 2 weeks) and have been shopping around for insurance for our new (to us) '82 Yamaha SR250. Our findings really have been the same as most other people on this forum: State Farm is by far the cheapest. Meloche Monnex, my auto & home insurer for many years, came in $200 more than SF.

So, I'm ready to sign on to State Farm but I wanted to see if anyone had any experience making a claim with SF and how it went. I'm happy to save the money over Meloche so long as I can get reasonable service if I need it in the future (knock on wood). I've been with Meloche Monnex for years and have been really satisfied any time I've ever had to make a claim or ask them questions - everything has been resolved quickly and generally left me with a feeling that I was being well served. Have people here had similar experiences with State Farm or am I risking being left with a bad taste in my mouth?

Vifferfun mentioned the FSCO Claims Satisfaction Survey in another thread... which sounds like it would have exactly the information that I'm looking for, but for the life of me I can't find any sign of it on the FSCO website. Has FSCO been removing past surveys or am I blind? If anyone has a link to any recent survey I'd appreciate it!

**Lightcycle** · 03-30-2009, 02:27 PM

We thought our truck got stolen so we started the claims process with SF. The process was very quick and easy, and the settlement was more than fair. They basically looked through Autotrader, took the median retail price of your exact vehicle (year, mileage, options) at a dealership, added in all the sales tax to make you whole and cut you a check for that amount. Our premiums covered a rental vehicle, and they told us to get the same type of vehicle, so if you lost an SUV, they wouldn't make you rent a Smart Car. Not sure if that covers motorcycles though...

The only thing was in the event of a theft, the cheque is withheld for 7 days in case your stolen vehicle was recovered, which in our case it was. Turns out a towing company recorded our license plate # wrong, so it was sitting in the impound lot without it being on record.

**jforzag** · 03-30-2009, 02:29 PM

i have had to make several claims over the years, because of idiot drivers, deciding not to stop at red lights and so i have been rear ended 3 times(i sold that particular car after the last one), every time i had a problem it was always an easy fix, call up my agent they start the claim, advise which shops are in the area but you can use any, take the car in the shop, pick up rental and thats it

**VifferFun** · 03-30-2009, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by capt_canuck

Vifferfun mentioned the FSCO Claims Satisfaction Survey in another thread... which sounds like it would have exactly the information that I'm looking for, but for the life of me I can't find any sign of it on the FSCO website. Has FSCO been removing past surveys or am I blind? If anyone has a link to any recent survey I'd appreciate it!

I can't seem to find it on FSCO website anymore either; they likely removed it because it is dated. I think I found a link to the survey on another website though, which might be linked to in my sticky.

Anyways, State Farm did VERY well on the survey . . . I would say they are in a much better league than Meloche when it comes to customer service. State Farm ranked in the Top 3 . . . they are one of the best. I know of people who have had to make claims with State Farm and they were not only satisfied, but extremely impressed.

**VifferFun** · 03-30-2009, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by Lightcycle

Our premiums covered a rental vehicle, and they told us to get the same type of vehicle, so if you lost an SUV, they wouldn't make you rent a Smart Car. Not sure if that covers motorcycles though...

I don't think that many people purchase the optional Replacement Vehicle coverage for their motorcycles. Most people who own a bike also own a car, so the Replacement Vehicle coverage isn't really necessary.

**Brian P** · 03-30-2009, 05:48 PM

I had to file a claim using State Farm when someone turned left in front of me in Tennessee. I had to go through a bit of a process because (A) it happened in USA and (B) it's an older bike and going the "normal" route (them paying the dealer full shop rate to fix it) would have written it off, and I didn't want that, but I worked with the adjuster on how to deal with it, and they did. I'm still riding that bike ... and I'm still paying State Farm to insure it.