Farmers Home Insurance Review 2024

Farmers home insurance rates are high compared to top competitors. You may find better rates if you shop around and get home insurance quotes from multiple companies.

Home insurance company	Annual average cost for $350,000 coverage	Dollar difference from national average of $1,678
Progressive	$729	-$949
Nationwide	$1,157	-$521
Erie	$1,256	-$422
USAA*	$1,270	-$408
State Farm	$1,298	-$380
Allstate	$1,395	-$283
Auto-Owners	$1,525	-$153
Farmers	$2,035	+$357

Source: Quadrant Information Services. *USAA home insurance is open only to members of the military, veterans and their families.

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Farmers Insurance was started in 1928 and today serves more than 19 million individual insurance policies for 10 million households. Farmers is the No. 9 largest home insurance company in the country.

Home insurance policies from Farmers come with these standard types of coverage:

• Dwelling coverage: Dwelling coverage pays for damage to your home and its attached structures, for example a deck.
• Other structures coverage: This pays for damage to unattached structures on your property, such as sheds and fences.
• Personal property coverage: Personal property coverage pays for damages or theft of personal items, including clothes, furniture and electronics.
• Liability insurance: Liability home insurance pays for accidental injuries and property damage you cause to others. For example, if a guest slipped on your sidewalk. It also pays for a legal defense if you are sued due to an accident.
• Additional living expenses: Loss of use, or additional living expense coverage, pays extra costs such as restaurant meals and hotel bills if you cannot live in your home due to a problem covered by your policy, such as a tornado or fire.
• Medical payments coverage: Medical payments coverage pays the medical bills of people who blame you for accidental injuries, without regard to fault. Coverage is typically in small amounts such as  $1,000 to $5,000.

In addition to home insurance, Farmers sells umbrella insurance and also condo, renters, mobile and manufactured homes, vacation homes, vacant homes and landlord insurance policies.

Options for home insurance add-ons from Farmers include:

• Earthquake insurance: Earthquake insurance covers structural damage and your personal property if your home is damaged by an earthquake.
• Extended replacement cost coverage: This coverage provides 125% of your dwelling coverage if repair costs to your house are higher than your insured amount.
• Flood insurance: Flood insurance covers damage to your home and/or personal belongings due to a flood.
• Guaranteed replacement cost coverage:  Guaranteed replacement cost coverage is a gold standard for home insurance, giving you unlimited coverage for the necessary costs to repair or rebuild your house. This level of coverage is valuable when there’s a widespread disaster in your area that causes local construction costs to balloon.
• Identity shield: This coverage provides both credit monitoring services and ID theft protection services.

Here are some ways to save money on your home insurance premium with Farmers through home insurance discounts:

• Make your home safe and secure. If your home has secure locks and windows, fire alarms that alerts the fire department, and a security alarm that alerts the policy, you may qualify for a discount.
• Don’t smoke. In most states, Farmers offers discounts to non-smokers and those who have kicked the habit for at least two years.
• Multi-policy. If you buy another type of insurance with Farmers, like an umbrella policy or car insurance, you could get a discount.
• Ask about professional discounts. Your career choice may earn you a discount from Farmers. For example, teachers, police officers and firefighters can receive discounts.
• Home protection and loss prevention discount. You can save if your home has specific energy and safety measures like water leak detection and be certified as an LEED certified home.
• Paying promptly. Farmers offers a discount if you pay your insurance bills on time.
• Early home insurance quotes. If you shop around for a policy at least seven days before your next policy data, you can save money off your Farmers policy.
• Claim free discount. You may pay less if you haven’t filed a claim in the past three years.
• Rent to own discount. Recent renters who bought a home can save by having a Farmers policy.
• Updated HVAC, plumbing or electricity. You can save if you’ve recently renovated your electrical, HVAC or plumbing system.

Farmers’ home insurance has a better-than-average complaint level. Complaints to state departments of insurance are collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Low complaint ratios can indicate high customer satisfaction.

To find the best home insurance we scored companies based on these factors:

• Home insurance rates (50% of score): Based on average rates for each insurance company for homes with dwelling coverage of $200,000, $350,000, $500,000 and $750,000.
• Complaints (20% weight): Based on complaints about home insurance that were upheld by state insurance departments. Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
• Availability of extended and/or guaranteed replacement cost coverage (20% of score): Extra dwelling coverage is valuable in the event of large disasters, when construction materials and labor costs tend to spike. We gave points to companies that offer either extended or guaranteed replacement cost coverage. Source: Forbes Advisor research.
• Banned dog lists (10% of score): Banned dog breed lists can make homeowners ineligible for coverage. (A company’s banned dog list might not be applicable in all states.) While any homeowners insurance company could potentially ban any dog with a biting history, not all put a ban on specific breeds. Source: Forbes Advisor research.