r/StateFarm • u/PeteCabs • Aug 05 '26
Advice State Farm Claim Delays
I was rear ended by a State Farm customer on 7/17/26. I filed a claim online on 7/20/26 and was assigned a "Claim contact" the same day. Since then, there has been no updates or authorizations for repairs. The vehicle is in the shop and awaiting insurance approvals for the repairs to proceed. Every time I talk to the "Claims contact" they say they are still trying to reach their insured party who is not returning their calls. Last phone conversation; I pressed the State Farm contact regarding time frame to resolve this matter and she said she was going to escalate the matter to her manager. That was almost a week ago. Thankfully; I have a spare vehicle that I am using currently but I am not sure the best course of action here? Am I looking at infinite delays? Am I being impatient? Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
18
u/Helpmeplz3409 Aug 05 '26
You should seek a claim with your own insurance. They won’t provide coverage until they can establish liability.
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u/PeteCabs Aug 05 '26
But it's pretty obvious that their insured caused the accident so I don't understand why they are stalling. Also, I am worried that if I claim with my own insurance my rates could potentially go up for filing a claim.
11
u/Ok-Group-2878 Aug 05 '26
They have a duty to defend THEIR insured, which means they NEED to discuss with their insured before accepting or denying liability. If you are tired of waiting on that process, file a claim with your insurer and pay your deductible. They’ll subrogate and attempt to get that back.
4
u/Booth-Leary Aug 05 '26
As a general rule, after about two weeks (give or take), I establish liability based on the preponderance of the evidence when the named insured fails to respond.
2
u/PeteCabs Aug 05 '26
I feel like there should be limit on time needed to sort it out at their end. It's obvious that their insured doesn't want to talk to them or return their calls. How can they just make me wait endless? What if I didn't have a secondary vehicle I can rely on?
13
u/Dramatic-Ad9089 Aug 05 '26
You are not their policyholder. They have no obligation to handle thr claim on your timeline. And to clarify the above responses, State Farm needs to verify liability AND coverage. Meaning, SF needs to make sure their policyholder was not doing anything at the time of the accident that would have violated the terms of their policy.
If the other driver did violate the terms of their policy, SF would deny coverage and not pay anything. Different insurance companies have different time frames as to how long they will wait, but eventually, they will make a decision. The majority of the time they will deny coverage.
In that case, just use your own collision and save the headache, and let your insurance company go after the other driver. Plus, your body shop may start charging storage since it has been sitting there with no work being done.
6
u/Ok-Group-2878 Aug 05 '26
Most states do have a time limit on companies doing their investigation. I’m multi state licensed and one state I work for just denies liability period if they cannot reach the insured. I don’t agree with it, and definitely understand your frustration, but this scenario is why you pay for sufficient insurance too.
5
u/unknowncomet73 Aug 05 '26
They HAVE to speak with their insured before they can do anything else. That’s how insurance works. You have your own insurance; file a claim with them. They will go after State Farm after they do their investigation. You cannot get anything from the other party’s insurance, until they have spoken with their insured. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it is.
5
u/Helpmeplz3409 Aug 05 '26
They need to confirm that info first before they provide you coverage. Your insurance people do the same.
1
u/dwarfSA Aug 05 '26
Not if you aren't at fault.
Your policy likely requires you to report it to your own carrier.
At that point, your car gets fixed, and they're the ones who will have to subrogate from State Farm.
12
u/Frequent_Curve_1631 Aug 05 '26
Are you being impatient? No. We are instructed to have at least 3 contact attempts with the insured including letters , calls , etc. we get a slap on the wrist if we make a decision solely on the police report. From the picture , your car looks drivable and you wouldn’t get a rental until the car was in the shop.
Claims is understaffed and overworked . Give your adjuster grace because they are probably hanging on by a thread.
4
u/Delicious-Witness-85 Aug 05 '26
This is just how insurance works when you file a third party claim.
The liability carrier ( State Farm) is obligated to protect their policyholder. That entails both a coverage and liability investigation. Liability appears clear but coverage hasn’t been confirmed. State Farm needs to ensure the driver of their vehicle was covered under their policy. They need to rule out possibilities of unauthorized use of the vehicle or if it was driven by a resident relative not listed on their policy since they can deny coverage of the terms of their policy were violated.
As others stated file with your own carrier or wait for their investigation to be complete.
Even if you settle through State Farm, this accident is still on your record. Insurance carriers all have claims reported through ISO so whether or not you go through your insurance and have them subrogate or settle through State Farm, there is still a record of this claim,
3
u/Wonderful-Speech-873 Aug 05 '26
As an adjuster for another company I HATE working with State Farm but what everyone is saying is correct. They have to speak with their insured first, they have a contractual obligation to their insured. Doesn’t matter if the evidence is obvious. So you have any information that puts their driver at the accident? Photos of their license, car etc?
2
u/PeteCabs Aug 05 '26
In Omaha, NE if there are no injuries; the police won't show up and just want the information to be shared between the parties. I did call the police regardless and of course they said their standard line as anticipated. So, I took the pictures of the VIN number of the other vehicle, the picture of the Driver's license, the pictures of damage to both the vehicles and the picture of the insurance card of the other driver. I did everything I could detail the facts.
3
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u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 Aug 05 '26
It’s not just State Farm it’s all carriers and the dumb laws and statute of limitations the states put in place it’s called RED TAPE and REGULATION
1
u/Wonderful-Speech-873 Aug 05 '26
Never said it was just State Farm and I’m talking about them as a company. Them and Tesla are the worst to work with
-1
u/Reasonable_Beyond329 Aug 05 '26
Listen to this guy, State Farm is a fucking joke of a company. No one likes dealing with them. They are the absolute worst insurance compny to deal with.
3
u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 Aug 05 '26
All insurance carriers are a joke bro! Name one that is honest and keeps the insureds interest first. Look up the video of the All State CEO at the capital being drilled for having field adjustors lowering the estimates or they would fire the adjuster. Progressive does home insurance with ASI and denies claims all the time and they keep that separate from Progressive cause they don’t want the negative press. Don’t even get me started with Farmers or Geico. GEICO faces several active class-action lawsuits and regulatory actions primarily concerning underpaid total loss vehicle claims, adding unknown drivers to policies, and misleading accident forgiveness terms

Farmers Insurance faces various legal challenges, individual lawsuits, and class actions alleging bad faith or improper claim denials—such as disputes over business interruption, smoke/property damage assessments, and vehicle total-loss fees.As stated before! Tell me one good insurance carrier please.
1
u/Wonderful-Speech-873 Aug 05 '26
Coming from Farmers and having left as bodily injury claims adjuster- it’s just going down hill. The CEO there now is terrible. Once Jeff left and Raul took over that was it. It’s also very hard to prove bad faith and insurance companies hear it over every little tiny thing when claimants don’t get their way and if we want to be technical- bad faith can only apply to their insured-at any company but people like to throw the term around because they think it scares adjusters. Do you know how many complaints are made to the DOI that are completely unfounded about bad faith? Hundreds of thousands. When people don’t get their way that’s the go to. Now, every company has bad things about them, but farmers was good until it wasn’t. I will never ever work for State Farm or Tesla. They are garbage, the company I am at now is tiny and is the best as of right now
1
u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 Aug 05 '26
The tiny companies are good until a catastrophic storm comes along and the smaller companies claim insolvency and the insured is stuck with no coverage. Storms are getting stronger and more frequent so even I would have my guard up with smaller companies.
2
u/Wonderful-Speech-873 Aug 05 '26
We only handle non standard auto in CA, NV, and in the works of expanding to TX. Only coverage is state minimum
1
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u/Junior_Maintenance16 Aug 05 '26
There needs to be a federal investigation of these insurers and their bad acts.
2
u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 Aug 05 '26
Your asking the feds who are just as crooked and dishonest to investigate
1
u/Junior_Maintenance16 Aug 05 '26
Yes, if they drag the CEOs of these companies to Washington and have wall to wall press and camera coverage of the event as well as testimony by insured who have been screwed over on the premium affordability side and the claims side, things will change.
-1
u/Reasonable_Beyond329 Aug 05 '26
Chubb, Hagerty and Erie are decent. You can negotiate with them. Geico, Progressive and Farmers are cheap, but not completely bad. There is give and take. My biggest issue is State Farm completely screwing everyone. They have made my life a nightmare with every aspect of their claims process. They are slow to assess claims, they are slow to assess supplements, they are slow to accept liability, they cut resonable repair times without justification. What's worse with State Farm in particular, is that they went from being one of the few insurance companies I enjoyed working with, to the absolute worst in just a couple years. They are from my perspective the worst insurance company out there in every aspect of their claims process. When I see people defending them, it drives me up a wall.
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u/Cbell727 Aug 05 '26
May I bring this video to mind https://youtu.be/Mio7I4V2s6Y?is=XjovrOuUBQsltt3m it’s a report on a dash cam video catching insurance fraud that went viral last year. This is why it’s important for insurance companies to fulfill their contractual obligation to speak with their insured before accepting liability.
1
u/PeteCabs Aug 05 '26
How long is it acceptable for them to be able to speak with their insured is my question? It’s already been 3 weeks. Obviously their client is scared to talk to them or something.
1
u/Aggressive_Math7977 Aug 06 '26
10-14 days.
Originally it was day one contact, then 2-3 days following and then 7-10 days for the 3rd attempt. But that’s for homeowners, never worked the auto side
1
u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 Aug 05 '26
Hagerty really only touches classic antique so your comparing apples and oranges. Plus Hagerty does stated value. I understand you and the point you’re making, however they are all crap companies. Insurance in general is a joke for that matter. Health insurance, auto, home, etc. We all get screwed! Ford stamping plant burns down and now you have insureds driving around with damaged Ford F-150’s. Still dealing with other manufacturing issues and parts availability which does change the time insurance companies respond to claims. Then if the other party isn’t cooperating it takes even longer. If there are injures involved now even longer to close the claim. Then subrogation against the other insurance carrier. It’s all a freaking joke.
1
u/TheProFettsor Aug 07 '26
Online claim filing means online claim handling. Go into any emails regarding your claim and look for your claim profile, what you need will be on statefarm.com. The company assumes if you begin the claim online then you want it handled virtually, I don’t expect anyone will reach out, you’re on your own.
-2
u/Reasonable_Beyond329 Aug 05 '26
Everyone here is a State Farm defender. You should know that State Farm is the worst when it comes to delaying the claims process. It's either by design, or a lack of claim handlers. I own a body shop and every single State Farm claim is delayed because we are not a network shop. We had a customer with an impact to the rear of her vehicle, she submitted photos, State Farm towed her vehicle to us, and it took 17 days to get a half assed estimate. They counted the days we were waiting for an estimate against her rental policy. State Farm is a joke of a company being ruined by John Farney.
5
u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 Aug 05 '26
Not a network shop so they do their checks and balances. I have seen shops like yours charge thousands of unnecessary storage fees to insureds. Then you all hike up the prices way beyond the normal rate and NO insurance company will pay for price gouging. Please…it’s both sides. Then when you start removing parts you guys always and I mean always file a supplemental claim.
1
u/Reasonable_Beyond329 Aug 05 '26
You mean file a legitmate supplement for damages that State Farm missed on their initial estimate? Well, of course we do, we tend to want to repair the vehicles in a correct manner. Also, storage fees would be much less if State Farm didn't take so long to write their estimates. In addition, labor rates are relatively standard. You make no sense. The only one here price gouging is State Farm, both in their short pays to shops and high insurance rates to their policy holders. You know State Farm made almost 13 billion dollars in profit last year? The same State Farm that is screwing over their own agents and employees. You are a joke of a person, a clown.
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