Los Angeles, California, November 16, 2008 – State Farm, California's leading insurer of homes and vehicles, continues its build up of claim handling resources in the southern part of the state devastated by multiple wildfires. Hundreds of State Farm agents, agents’ staff members, local claim representatives and members of the State Farm Catastrophe Team® are already assisting policyholders.
In addition to resources based in Southern California, State Farm has also deployed two Mobile Catastrophe Command Centers from its Illinois home office. Each command center is a self-contained, claim handling office housing twelve independent workstations that expedite the claim filing process through links to policyholder data via satellite.
At this time, evacuees and fire-threatened residents have begun reporting their claims with over 100 received as of mid-day, Sunday. Many of those claims filings are initiated through phone contact with State Farm’s catastrophe claim centers in Dallas and Jacksonville.
“Our first priority is the safety and well-being of those impacted by this tragedy,” said Vice President – Agency Ken Heidrich. “Once it is safe do so, customers should inspect their homes or businesses and work with their agent and claim representative to help them through the claims process,” said Heidrich.
To report a claim, policyholders should call their agent or, 1-800-SFCLAIM (1-800-732-5246).
State Farm representatives are also staffing most established evacuations centers. It should be noted; evacuation centers are occasionally being shut down or moved because of fire movement and a fluctuating need for housing.
For questions or more information, contact Jeff McCollum, Public Affairs, at (309) 766-0307.
About State Farm
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serve about 80 million policies and accounts: more than 78 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 32 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.