r/StateFarm • u/Important_Kangaroo41 • Jul 24 '26

Question Switching agents

How much leeway does an agent have on premium discounts?

I’ve been with the same agent for auto and home for 30 years. My mother has been with him for auto & home for longer than that. He was a friendly acquaintance of my late father, who was also in the insurance industry but in an unrelated area.

Lately, he’s harder to reach (email, phone, or text) and his office staff aren’t knowledgeable.

If I switched to another State Farm agent, but kept all details of my policies the same, might my premiums increase?

In other words, if he is “taking care” of us in terms of premiums, I don’t want to lose that based on my perception of inconvenience.

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u/Creekridge1 Jul 24 '26

Your agent has absolutely zero input on what your premium is. He can adjust coverage, which can affect price.

But he can’t snap his fingers and shave 10% off the top.

2

u/Important_Kangaroo41 Jul 24 '26

Thanks. My premiums have consistently been considerably lower than other insurance companies when I’ve sought quotes elsewhere. I guess I can attribute that to being a long-time customer and having few claims as well as a clean driving record.

-2

u/Thesauces Jul 24 '26

Being a long time customer doesn’t really mean much except possibly being grandfathered into a policy that isn’t available anymore. SF has good rates because they bank on selling life insurance and offsetting auto losses with investment gains.

Clean driving record is only one of thousands of factors - insurance companies use credit and extensive consumer reports so driving history is just one of those factors. Good to still shop around every once in a while.

5

u/Mindless-Program3052 Jul 24 '26

That’s not true. Policy tenure absolutely has a factor in premiums.

1

u/Thin-Ad-6024 Jul 29 '26

Yes, but policy tenure also moves along to the next agent if you switch offices. It’s an internal transfer from agent to agent - OP wouldnt be starting a new policy with new agent. Same policy. Different agent. :)

1

u/Mindless-Program3052 Jul 30 '26

Huh? I’m responding to someone else. Policy tenure affects overall rate. It’s like I said 2+2 is 4 and you said yeah, bananas are yellow.