Thank you State Farm

Thank you for being so large and mostly doing things so good that you force the entire industry of personal insurance to raise their collective “game.” Of course the larger you are the more chance you have to make mistakes so I do not give a whole lot of thought to the usual complaints.

Now I have spoken previously about your awful use of marketing so will not be walking that road today.  I did want to imagine something though.  What if you spent a small portion of your money actually helping create better customers?  Well you have the most customers, by some estimates 1 of every 5 cars, so in theory you can have the biggest impact.

How about instead of letting 5 agents in Poughkeepsie send out the same stupid letter about multi-policy discounts and “saving” $825 you include some education.  Here are some thoughts;

  • You use credit as a part of your rate.  How about some basic tips on improving your credit
  • How about telling people taking a defensive driving course will help?  You can probably drive down the price of the course and maybe make it better?
  • How about pushing the annual review?  You know you have plenty of claims where a home was not properly insured.  Maybe you can get Accucoverage to release a wide scale version of their site.  Heck maybe you can make your own?
  • How about coordinating your marketing?  Maybe then you can print on 100% recycled paper or even use postcards.  Lot of waste here
  • How about you be the first company to institute rate reductions instead of rate increases?  My goodness this would be fascinating to see.  Don’t be like Allstate and charge people for the “privilege” of being rewarded for good behavior

Just some thoughts.  Your HUGE use your size to the advantage of an entire industry.