The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is a personal lines property and casualty insurance group providing homeowners insurance, auto insurance, life insurance, and financial services in the United States. It is the third largest insurance group in the US servicing over 10 million households in 41 states. While Farmers Group Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services, it is locally headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Structure
Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is composed of a holding company and the various underwriters, reciprocal inter-insurance exchanges, and smaller companies associated with it.
- Farmers Group, Inc. is the holding company and provides insurance management services. It acts under the dba Farmers Underwriters Association. Together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, Truck Underwriters Association and Fire Underwriters Association, they act as the attorneys-in-fact for three reciprocal inter-insurance exchanges — Farmers Insurance Exchange, Truck Insurance Exchange, and Fire Insurance Exchange. However, the Farmers Group, Inc. management company is not an owner of these reciprocal inter-insurance exchanges. The exchanges own several other insurance companies and insurance holding companies, including Mid-Century Insurance Company, Foremost Insurance Company, and Bristol West Insurance Group, as well as Farmers Financial Solutions, LLC, a registered broker-dealer. In this structure, the exchanges hold the insurance risk, while Farmers Group, Inc. earns management fees by running the exchanges' affairs. The only exception is Farmers New World Life Insurance Company, a life insurer owned directly by Farmers Group, Inc.
- Farmers New World Life Insurance Company started as New World Life Insurance Company in 1910. It was acquired by Farmers in 1953 and provides insurance products including flexible universal life insurance, traditional term life insurance, whole life insurance, and annuities.
- Farmers Financial Solutions, LLC. was created by Farmers in 2000 to provide financial products to customers.
- Foremost Insurance Company was acquired in March 2000 and provides specialty insurance including mobile homes, motor homes, travel trailers and specialty dwellings.
- Bristol West Insurance Group , based in Davie, Florida, was acquired in July 2007. In 1973, it began providing private passenger auto insurance to residents in Florida and now provides liability and physical damage insurance - focusing exclusively on private passenger vehicles across the United States.
- 21st Century Insurance , based in Woodland Hills, California, was acquired on July 1, 2009.
Products
- Auto insurance - Farmers provides auto insurance coverage for autos and collective automobiles.
- Motorcycle insurance - Farmers provides motorcycle insurance coverage through their Foremost Insurance Group.
- Home insurance - Farmers provides insurance for homes, condominiums, and mobile/manufactured homes. Farmers also provides special coverage for renters, earthquakes, floods, and identity theft.
- Life insurance - Farmers provides term, whole, and universal life insurance. Life annuities are also issued by their Farmers New World Life Insurance Company.
- Recreational insurance - Farmers provides insurance coverage for boats, ATVs, RVs, and travel trailers.
- Financial services - Farmers provides mutual funds, variable annuities, and variable universal life insurance through Farmers Financial Solutions, LLC.
- Business insurance - Farmers provides business insurance coverage for landlords and commercial property owners, contractors, condominium homeowner associations, and businesses in the manufacturing, service, restaurant, retail, wholesale, and auto service & repair industry.
History
1922
Future Farmers co-founders John C. Tyler and Thomas E. Leavey first meet when Tyler moves to California.
1927
Tyler and Leavey had both grown up with rural backgrounds and believed that farmers and ranchers, who had better driving rates than urbanites, deserved lower insurance premiums. During the 1920s, farmers across the United States were establishing their own mutual insurance firms and cooperatives in order to have less expensive policies. Tyler, the son of South Dakotan insurance salesman, and Leavey, who had formerly worked for the Federal Farm Loan Bureau and the National Farm Loan Association, recognized that these farmers, ranchers, and other rural drivers were an overlooked market and wished to create their own auto insurance firm. After receiving a loan from the founder of Bank of America, they were able to start their company.
1928
Tyler and Leavey open the doors to their newly founded company, Farmers Automobile Inter-Insurance Exchange, in downtown Los Angeles, California. Tyler served as president with Leavey as vice president. A sales manager and secretary completed the four employee team.
March 28, 1928 the first meeting of the board of governors is convened. Two days later, Charles Brisco insures his 1925 Cadillac Phaeton and becomes the first Farmers customer.
1935
Truck Insurance Exchange, a new reciprocal insurance company, is launched to specialize in truck insurance.
1936
Farmers is "named the leading reciprocal in earned premiums for auto insurance by National Underwriter."
1942
Fire Insurance Exchange, the third reciprocal company launches.
1950
Mid-Century Insurance Company becomes a subsidiary of the Farmers Insurance Exchange. Aside from the insurance coverage provided by the original three exchanges, Mid-Century offers insurance coverage for Inland Marine, robbery, felony, burglary, personal lines, plate glass, selected bonds, and floaters.
1953
Seattle-based New World Life Insurance Company is acquired by Farmers.
1959
Farmers begins annual participation in the Pasadena Rose Parade, launching its involvement in parades and community events nationwide.
1973
John C. Tyler, Farmers co-founder and CEO, dies at the age of 86. Thomas E. Leavey, the remaining co-founder, takes the CEO position.
1978
Thomas E. Leavey, Farmers co-founder and CEO, retires.
1988
After an eight-month takeover battle, BATUS Inc., the American subsidiary of British conglomerate B.A.T. Industries Plc, acquires Farmers Group, Inc. for $5.2 billion and becomes the sole stockholder of the company's 68 million shares of common stock. At this time, Farmers is the seventh-largest property insurance and third-largest auto insurer in the US.
1989, 1991, and 1994
Multiple, large-scale disasters pose financial challenges to Farmers Insurance. The 1989 San Francisco earthquake, 1991 Oakland fire, and 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake were the three most significant disasters. It was estimated that the losses from the Northridge earthquake alone were estimated at $1.3 billion.
1995
Farmers reorganizes its core business operations into three separate units for personal lines insurance, commercial insurance, and life insurance amid a toughening insurance market and recovery from the San Francisco, Oakland, and Northridge disasters.
1998
September 1998, the Zurich Financial Services Group is created from the merger with the financial services business of B.A.T. Industries through a dual holding structure.
2000
March 2000, the Farmers Insurance exchanges acquire Foremost Corporation of America (Foremost Insurance Company), a leading writer of manufactured homes and a prominent insurer of recreational vehicles, boats and other specialty lines.
August 2000, Farmers Financial Solutions registers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker-dealer. Through it, Farmers begins offering mutual fund and variable insurance products.
October 2000, the Zurich structure is simplified and unified under a single Swiss holding company. Allied Zurich and Zurich Allied shares are replaced by shares of the newly incorporated Zurich Financial Services with a primary listing on SWX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: ZURN) and a secondary listing in London (LSE: ZURN). Zurich Financial Services American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are traded on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX: ZFSVY).
2007
July 2007, the Farmers Insurance exchanges acquire Bristol West Holdings, Inc., an insurance holding company specializing in non-standard auto insurance, which provides insurance coverage for drivers whose driving records or other problems make obtaining insurance difficult.
2009
April 2009, the Farmers Insurance Group announced that it will acquire the AIG Auto Insurance company, including 21st Century Insurance, for 1.9 billion dollars. This put Farmers in a dead heat for third largest personal lines insurer in the US .
Accolades
Natural Disasters
- In 2005, after Hurricane Rita hit Beaumont, TX leaving it w
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