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I contacted Farmers Ins to get a quote for auto insurance when my teenage son got his drivers license. At the time, we were insured by State Farm. Once my son got his license the premiums went up by $300 per month so I decided to shop around. I contacted Allstate and Progressive along with Farmers for a quote. Allstate and Progressive were about the same cost as State Farm, but the quote I got from Farmers was same as it was before our son got his license. I even asked the agent, Steve Gawlik, why it was so much less than all the others and he stated that Farmers doesn’t penalize new drivers like the others do. I agreed to purchase the policy and after the initial payment was made I was sent a policy and the insurance cards listing myself, my wife and my son as drivers.

Because we were saving over $300 per month we had decided to lease a new car for our son rather than have him drive an old beat up car for obvious safety reasons. Even with the new car listed the premium didn’t really change. Everything was fine for the first year, but hen I got a notice from Farmers stating our premium was being raised by about $350 per month. When I questioned what the increase was for I was told that my son was never listed on the policy and now that he is a licensed driver we would have to pay the higher premium. I explained that he has been a licensed driver since before we purchased the policy a year ago. That’s when I found out about the agent that sold the policy…Steve Gawlik.

It appears the Mr. Gawlik in an effort to make a sale, sold me the policy under false pretenses. He falsified the documents he sent the home office stating that my son only had a learners permit but sent me documents stating he was one of the licensed drivers on the policy. That’s the reason the quote was so low and why. Then after a little research I found out the at the time Mr. Gawlik sold me the policy he was under federal indictment for fraud in a previous real estate scam.

I can only imagine what would have happened if my son had been involved in a serious accident while we were insured under this fraudulent policy. And to make matters worse Farmers didn’t think it was a big deal since we saved so much money for the last year.

First of all saving the money wasn’t the issue. We leased a new vehicle for my son based on fraudulent information we were given by A Farmers Insurance rep who they allowed to work while under federal indictment without any oversight. I also found out from the new agent the put me with that he was dealing with dozens of Mr. Gawlik's clients the he perpetrated the same fraud on.

The worst part of all this is that Farmers Ins never contacted me with any of this information until they sent me a rate increase and thought there was no problem with them employing someone like Mr. Gawlik.

To add insult to injury, after I canceled the policy and paid the final premium, I recently got a letter from a collection agency demanding an additional $64 Farmers claimed was still due to them based on when my son was actually listed. Something I was totally unaware of until the collection agency contacted me.

I hope all the other people that were cheated by Farmers Insurance and their agent Steve Gawlik speak up so everyone will know how Farmers treats their customers...BEWARE!

Note: You can read about Farmers agent Steve Gawlik and his crimes here: https://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2013/ten-defendants-indicted-in-alleged-14.5-million-mortgage-fraud-scheme-that-resulted-in-8-million-loss-to-lenders

Reason of review: Sold a policy by fraud.

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.

Farmers Insurance Group Cons: Liars and poor customer service.

Location: Lake Villa, Illinois

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