Not a singular company in the traditional sense but rather a group of insurance and financial service providers throughout the US, State Farm Insurance is one of the largest insurance providers in the world, ranked 34th on the 2010 Fortune 500 list with an estimated $61.6 billion in revenue. State Farm Insurance are the world’s largest mutual property and casualty insurance firm.

The company have also earned top awards for more than just earnings, having been ranked among Greater Toronto’s Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc. as announced by the Toronto Star in 2008.

The Humble Beginnings of State Farm Auto Insurance
State Farm insurance began modestly enough when George J. Mecherle, a retired farmer, sparked upon the idea of a mutual automobile insurance company owned by its policyholders. The firm, like so many insurance providers at the time, specialized in providing auto insurance to farmers who were less likely to get into accidents and were safer bets to insure.

And, like so many insurance providers, the company eventually found it wise to expand beyond their narrow scope to offer insurance policies to a wide range of customers, even offering banking and financial services as State Farm Auto Insurance expanded to homeowner and life insurance policies.

In 1971 State Farm finally developed its current corporate identity with a jingle written by Barry Manilow and still used to this day: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

With 67,000 employees and 17,000 agents, the March 2009 figures showed State Farm servicing over 77 million policies throughout the US and Canada with more than half of these belonging to automobile policy holders.

State Farm Insurance is still headquartered in the famous “Fire Building” in Downtown Bloomington, Illinois.

Policies and Discounts Available from State Farm Auto Insurance
While State Farm Car Insurance do specialize in private passenger vehicle insurance, covering motorcycles, cars, trucks and RVs, they do offer other insurance products as well. Nevertheless, it is in auto insurance where they draw the majority of their business and where they point the majority of their marketing and insurance products.

In terms of discounts, State Farm Car Insurance are more than competitive, offering all of the discounts you would expect from safe car and driver discounts to driving course discounts, but they also offer Driver Training discounts for student drivers and discounts to reward long term customers for staying accident free. Their marketing often boasts that discounts of “up to 40 percent are just a phone call away,” and while 40 percent is rare, State Farm do offer some very heavy discounts.

Coverage Area
State Farm Car Insurance, while located primarily throughout the US, offer some coverage in Canada in addition to all 50 states. This means that, while not all insurance products are available in all states, you are almost guaranteed to find coverage for your driving needs provided by the company in your own area.

State Farm have dealt with controversy in Florida following Hurricane Katrina, but these issues have since been dealt with and were related to home insurance, not State Farm Car Insurance. State Farm Auto Insurance have a nearly spotless record in many states for their top notch customer service, wide range of products and generous discounts on car insurance policies of all types.