Farmers Insurance Group

Farmers Insurance Group is an American insurance brand and operating group best known for automobile, homeowners, renters, life, and commercial insurance. Its principal business is conducted through the Farmers Exchanges, a group of reciprocal insurance exchanges whose policyholders are members, while Farmers Group, Inc. provides management and administrative services. The brand is associated with a broader family of insurance businesses that has included Farmers, 21st Century, Bristol West, Foremost, and other specialty operations. The organization traces its origins to 1928, when John C. Tyler and Thomas E. Leavey established an insurer intended to serve rural customers and farmers who they believed were being charged disproportionately high automobile-insurance rates. The company initially emphasized automobile coverage and developed a reputation for serving drivers and households through agents. Over time, it expanded into homeowners, renters, life, business, recreational-vehicle, motorcycle, umbrella, and specialty insurance. Farmers built its distribution model around independent and exclusive agents, claims services, underwriting, and a recognizable consumer brand. The company became especially visible in the United States through its long-running “We Are Farmers” advertising campaign, which used humorous depictions of unusual losses to explain the breadth of insurance coverage. Advertising helped turn Farmers from a primarily regional insurer into a nationally recognized consumer brand. The group expanded through acquisitions and affiliated businesses. Its portfolio has included Foremost, a specialist in manufactured homes, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and other specialty risks, and Bristol West, which focuses heavily on personal automobile insurance. In 2009, Zurich acquired the renewal rights and related assets of AIG’s personal automobile insurance business, which operated under the 21st Century brand; 21st Century subsequently became part of Farmers’ U.S. personal-lines platform. Zurich’s ownership gave Farmers access to a global insurance parent while Farmers continued to operate primarily as a United States-facing brand. Farmers serves individual consumers, small businesses, commercial customers, and specialty-risk policyholders. Its offerings commonly include auto, home, renters, condominium, landlord, life, umbrella, business owners, workers’ compensation, commercial auto, and specialty vehicle insurance. Availability, underwriting appetite, claims arrangements, and legal entities vary by state and product. Farmers also distributes insurance through digital channels and agent networks, while maintaining a significant focus on claims response and local customer service. The company operates in a market exposed to severe weather, wildfire, hurricanes, inflation in repair and construction costs, litigation, changing regulation, and fluctuations in reinsurance and investment conditions. These pressures have led Farmers and other insurers to adjust pricing, underwriting, geographic exposure, and product availability. In 2023, Farmers announced restrictions on new homeowners business in Florida and California, and California-related nonrenewal actions drew regulatory and public attention. Such changes reflected the difficult property-insurance environment rather than a withdrawal from the United States market as a whole. Today, Farmers remains an active U.S. insurance brand within Zurich Insurance Group. It is not a separately listed public company, and public information about its financial performance is generally reported through Zurich or through regulatory filings for the relevant insurance entities rather than through a standalone Farmers stock listing.

Farmers Insurance originated in Los Angeles in 1928. John C. Tyler and Thomas E. Leavey established the business after observing that farmers and other rural customers could face unfavorable automobile-insurance pricing. The founders sought to create an insurer with a more direct relationship to policyholders and initially concentrated on automobile coverage. The organization’s early identity was therefore tied both to agricultural customers and to the rapidly expanding market for privately owned cars. During the twentieth century, Farmers expanded beyond its original automobile focus. It added homeowners and other personal-lines products, developed agency and claims networks, and became an increasingly national insurer. Its business structure came to include reciprocal exchanges, in which policyholders are members, alongside corporate entities that manage operations and provide services. This structure distinguishes Farmers from a conventional single-stock-company insurer and means that the brand encompasses several related legal entities. Farmers broadened its reach through affiliated companies and acquisitions. Foremost became associated with specialty property and vehicle risks, including manufactured homes, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and seasonal or unusual properties. Bristol West added a significant personal-auto platform, particularly for customers who may not fit the underwriting profile of standard preferred-auto carriers. The company also developed commercial and life-insurance capabilities, allowing the brand to serve households and businesses across multiple stages of ownership and risk. In 1998, Zurich Insurance acquired Farmers Group from BATUS. Farmers consequently became part of a global insurance group while continuing to operate as a U.S.-oriented business. In 2009, Zurich acquired the renewal rights and related assets of AIG’s personal automobile business, which used the 21st Century brand. That transaction expanded Zurich’s U.S. personal-auto presence and brought 21st Century into the wider Farmers platform. The 21st Century name continued to be used in portions of the business while its operations were integrated with Farmers’ broader capabilities. Brand building became an important part of Farmers’ growth. The company’s “We Are Farmers” campaign, introduced in the 2000s, used comic stories about improbable accidents and losses to communicate that insurance could respond to a wide range of situations. The campaign’s recurring music and humor gave Farmers a distinctive identity in a crowded insurance-advertising market. Its agent network, claims organization, and consumer-facing digital tools complemented that mass-market brand presence. Farmers’ recent history has been shaped by the economics of property insurance. Wildfires, hurricanes, severe convective storms, supply-chain disruption, labor shortages, construction inflation, litigation costs, and changing catastrophe models have increased pressure on underwriting results. As a result, Farmers and other U.S. insurers have changed rates, limited new business, tightened eligibility, used reinsurance, and nonrenewed selected policies in exposed territories. In 2023, the company announced restrictions affecting new homeowners business in Florida and California, while California nonrenewal activity attracted regulatory and public attention. The modern Farmers organization remains a major United States insurance platform within Zurich Insurance Group. It offers auto, property, life, commercial, and specialty insurance through a mixture of agents and digital channels. Its exact product availability depends on state, entity, and underwriting rules. Farmers is not a separately traded public company; its ultimate parent, Zurich Insurance Group, is publicly listed in Switzerland.

1. 2023Farmers adjusts property exposure in Florida and California

   Farmers announces restrictions on new homeowners business and other portfolio actions in states facing severe catastrophe exposure and difficult property-insurance conditions.

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2. 2009Zurich acquires AIG personal-auto renewal rights

   Zurich acquires renewal rights and related assets for AIG’s personal automobile business, which operated under the 21st Century brand, expanding the group’s U.S. auto platform.

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3. 2007The “We Are Farmers” campaign launches

   Farmers introduces the advertising platform that becomes its best-known consumer-brand campaign, using humorous claims scenarios and the “We Are Farmers” mnemonic.

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4. 1998Zurich acquires Farmers Group

   Zurich Insurance acquires Farmers Group from BATUS, making Farmers part of a global insurance group.

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5. 1928Farmers Insurance is founded

   John C. Tyler and Thomas E. Leavey establish the organization in Los Angeles to provide automobile insurance, initially with a focus on farmers and rural customers.

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A broad, agent-led U.S. insurer positioned around personal protection, claims service, flexible coverage, and coverage for unusual or specialty risks.

• Farmers Auto InsurancePersonal automobile insurance1928

  The core Farmers personal-lines offering covers privately owned automobiles and commonly provides liability, collision, comprehensive, uninsured or underinsured motorist, medical-payment, and related optional protections. Coverage terms, discounts, eligibility, and availability vary by state and underwriting entity. Farmers distributes auto insurance through agents and digital channels and has supplemented its standard personal-auto business with affiliated brands such as Bristol West and the 21st Century platform.

• Farmers Home InsuranceHomeowners and property insurance

  Farmers homeowners insurance is designed to protect the dwelling, other structures, personal property, and the policyholder’s liability, subject to policy terms, deductibles, exclusions, and state-specific rules. Related property products include condominium, renters, landlord, and seasonal-property coverage. Catastrophe exposure, especially wildfire and severe weather, has made property underwriting and availability an important strategic issue for the brand.

• Farmers Business InsuranceCommercial insurance

  The commercial platform serves small businesses and selected commercial customers with products such as business owners policies, commercial property, general liability, commercial auto, workers’ compensation, and related coverages. Offerings are typically distributed through agents and are tailored to business type, location, payroll, vehicles, property, and operational risks.

• ForemostSpecialty insurance

  Foremost is the Farmers-affiliated specialty platform associated with manufactured homes, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, boats, seasonal properties, and other nonstandard or specialty risks. It extends the group beyond conventional auto and homeowners products and serves customers whose property or vehicle characteristics may require specialized underwriting.

• Bristol WestPersonal automobile insurance

  Bristol West is an affiliated automobile insurer within the Farmers family of businesses. It has historically focused on personal-auto customers, including segments that may be served through nonstandard or specialty underwriting. The brand operates within the broader Farmers and Zurich U.S. insurance structure, with products and availability varying by jurisdiction.

• 2007We Are Farmers

  United States

  Farmers launched a national advertising platform built around humorous stories of improbable accidents and losses. The campaign used recurring music, visual comedy, and a memorable tagline to suggest that Farmers understood unusual claims situations while maintaining a broad consumer-insurance offering.

  Outcome. The campaign became the brand’s signature advertising identity and substantially increased its general-public recognition.

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• 2023Property-insurance underwriting restrictions in Florida and CaliforniaStrategy

  Wildfire, hurricanes, catastrophe losses, construction-cost inflation, reinsurance costs, and regulatory constraints increased pressure on property-insurance profitability and capacity.

  What changed. Farmers restricted new homeowners business in Florida and California and pursued selected nonrenewals or portfolio adjustments in California.

  Aftermath. The actions intensified public and regulatory discussion about homeowners-insurance availability, catastrophe risk, pricing, and the sustainability of the California and Florida property markets.

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• 2009Acquisition of AIG personal-auto renewal rightsM&A

  Zurich sought to expand its U.S. personal automobile business during a period when AIG was restructuring and disposing of selected assets and operations.

  What changed. Zurich acquired renewal rights and related assets for AIG’s personal automobile business, which operated under the 21st Century brand.

  Aftermath. The transaction expanded the group’s U.S. auto customer and policy platform and contributed to the later integration of 21st Century into the Farmers family of businesses.

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• 1998Zurich acquisition of Farmers GroupM&A

  Farmers was a substantial U.S. property-and-casualty insurance business, while Zurich sought to expand its presence in the American insurance market.

  What changed. Zurich acquired Farmers Group from BATUS and incorporated the business into its global insurance organization.

  Aftermath. Farmers continued operating as a U.S.-focused insurance platform under Zurich ownership and was no longer an independent corporate group controlled by BATUS.

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• 2023Farmers limits new homeowners business in Florida

  Farmers announced that it would stop writing new homeowners policies in Florida, citing market conditions and catastrophe exposure. The move affected new business rather than representing a complete exit from all Florida insurance activity.

  RegulationOther
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• 2023Farmers announces California homeowners nonrenewals and new-business restrictions

  Farmers restricted new homeowners business and pursued nonrenewals for some California property policies amid wildfire risk, rising construction costs, and broader property-insurance market pressure. The actions prompted scrutiny from customers, officials, and consumer advocates.

  RegulationOther
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• 1998Zurich completes acquisition of Farmers Group from BATUS

  Zurich Insurance acquired Farmers Group, strengthening its position in the U.S. property-and-casualty insurance market while retaining the Farmers operating identity.

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1. Farmers Insurance official company information
2. Zurich Insurance Group history
3. Zurich announcement concerning the 21st Century transaction
4. California Department of Insurance 2023 press release
5. Farmers Insurance official news page
6. Farmers limits new homeowners business in Florida