Vickie Martin Garrard – State Farm Insurance Agent

This office has been a staple in Fayetteville for as long as I can remember, and even though I no longer live there, I still use them for my insurance. I can’t stress how much I appreciate being able to call my agent and get an actual human being on the phone. Recently, I was stuck in California trying to rent a car. I wanted to waive the insurance from the car rental company, but California law requires physical proof of insurance in order to do so. I don’t carry my insurance card in my wallet and the car rental company didn’t have a fax machine, so I was hoping my insurance agent could help. I called, someone answered right away and within 5 minutes, I had a copy of my insurance card in my email inbox. They saved me a fair amount of money that day and were wonderful to help me out so quickly.

Stay away from the Garrard Agency. They are paper pushers. They will not save you any money. They talk a good game but essentially paper pushers.
I have had several policies ranging from business liability to auto insurance on three vehicles. I have had no claims yet my rates go up every six months. When I complain, they say that they have not control. If they have no control, then why do I need them. A web-​based insurance agent could do the same. I am going to transfer my accounts to an independent agent who does have some control.
I asked for them to give me the difference of the increase but they said that they would not do that. I guess more profit is more important than keeping a good customer.
Find yourself someone else and not this agent and not this company.

A three star might be a bit generous, but two might be too harsh. I have been with this agency for about 3 years now and they have been acceptable at best. My rates constantly change, my line item discounts always get dropped, and when I question things I usually get attitude. I feel it’s partly the fault of State Farm’s systems which seem antiquated to me, based on what they tell me, but I think the major problem is a lack of passion about going the extra mile for their customers. Also, they lack attention to detail. I have experienced several mistakes with this agency and I have caught them all. They have caught none proactively.
Maybe I expect too much from a small town insurance group, but then again I feel I should. The only reason I didn’t give them a two star was their claims group (note: not this office) did a great job on a claim I had. I’ll probably begin searching for a new agency in the next few weeks.