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My agent is only available when I'm working. When I call "after hours", I always get in touch with another human who seems helpful, but won't make changes for me. She says I need to speak to the agent.

Is there any website I can use or telephone number I can call or perhaps an agent that has alternative contact methods I can use to make changes to my policy? I've been trying to change my policy for a month or two now.

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You should consider sending a letter to the writing agent letting them know you want to be transferred to a new agent or that you need to cancel your insurance. The very fact you had to write a letter to get a response from your agent should, itself, trigger a response since lost business is costly to an agent. If you do not get a response from a letter, write a letter to the company itself letting them know they have an agent that is not doing their job. State Farm agents are captive agents.

Because of state licensing laws, non-administrative changes will require the involvement of a licensed agent. You either need a new agent or you will need a new company.

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    "The very fact you had to write a letter to get a response from your agent should, itself, trigger a response since lost business is costly to an agent." OP didn't say that the desired change was one that would increase State Farm's revenue. If OP wanted to reduce coverage, then being unreachable was in the agent's and the company's favor (in the short term).
    – nanoman
    Dec 4 '19 at 4:01
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    @nanoman that is not at all in either the agent's or the company's favor in either the short or long term. Imagine the premium difference is $10 per month for two months, but the added irritation to the customer is enough to cause them to lose the customer. Churn is insanely costly. It takes auto insurers three years to break even from getting a new customer. Losing an existing customer to save $20 in the short run is very costly. If this is a new customer, it is a true loss.
    – Dave Harris
    Dec 4 '19 at 4:29
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    @nanoman Further, agent commission often consider churn. Not only would the agent lose the commission on the entire policy, but they could also see their overall compensation reduced. To make an extra $0.60 in commission, they could lose a sizeable percentage of the pay on both this policy and on all other policies if the churn became too large.
    – Dave Harris
    Dec 4 '19 at 4:31
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    @nanoman finally, the added profit may be small on the added money. However, if a claim that could be avoided happened, then it would also be a loss. While there may be an expected gain, keeping an undesirable feature does expose the company to higher risk. If you drop a glass breakage coverage and then glass is broken, you are out no money, but if you make it hard to drop and something that would not be covered is, then you lose. It does generate a higher level of expected profit but it also increases variance of outcomes by not reducing coverages.
    – Dave Harris
    Dec 4 '19 at 4:37
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State farm is a large company, they have 25 agents within 10 miles of my zip code. I just checked on their website, of course that might not be true for your zip code.

Your agent should be able to make those changes over the phone, or even though the website. I have added and dropped cars, and adjusted deductibles either by phone or by the website. If you do have things that only be done in person, many agents do have weekend hours and evening hours.

Pick an agent that meets your needs. Call one of the other local agents for assistance.

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  • Thanks for your response! But, how do I make a State Farm policy change without an agent?
    – lmat - Reinstate Monica
    Dec 5 '19 at 12:51

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