Cynthia Blumgart – State Farm Insurance Agent

My family has been working with Cynthia and her team for many years and have consistently received friendly and professional service. Cynthia is knowledgeable about the complexities of auto, home, and life insurance, providing helpful information without any pressure. On the occasions we have had to file claims, she and her staff have walked us through the process so that we understand and feel confident in the outcome. She has a great team and provides excellent service all around.

I’ve had car insurance on my families cars with triple a for about 10+ years but, our rates would just keep going up and up so I decided it was time to change. After going to two different insurance agencies I stumbled upon Cynthia’s State Farm office close to where I live. All the other agencies were quoting me for a lot more than what I was already paying for triple a. Over here however I was able to get a much lower rate than anywhere else with all the same coverages that I had with my old policy. The customer service at this office was very helpful, nice, and informative. And the whole process was very speedy as well. I am very happy with my change going to State Farm not only for the discounts I am recieving but also with how friendly the staff was with helping me out. I would highly recommend this State Farm office to anyone. Thanks!!!

Cynthia has been our insurance agent for many years. I can’t remember how we found her, but I’m so glad we did! She’s been extremely helpful to us through the years with sound advice, no pushing, and being there when we need her. When we had auto accidents, she handled them so seamlessly I barely knew there had been any repercussions. When we’ve noted errors that affected our rate, we were given retroactive credits.
Good luck with your new digs, Cynthia … I’m so glad you’re still in Berkeley!

I went into this office today and actually dealt with Miriam Fox.
She was awesome!
I had moved out of state so I needed to transfer my State Farm policy to California. I got there thirty minutes early accidentally but she had no problem with letting me in and getting right down to business. Everything was super simple and all laid out in plain English. She even gave me great advice on what she thought was the best DMV to deal with (El Cerrito, for you readers) and followed through later that day with a phone call just to make sure everything went well.
I recommend her to anyone in the area!

Cynthia and her staff have provided me with the best possible service for the last 24 years… WOW…has it really been that long??? I typically drive older, well seasoned cars, and she has alway made sure I had the proper level of coverage… not too much… not too little. My daughter is also a satisfied customer.

Cynthia has been our agent for about 6 years now. Slowly we have moved over almost all of our business and personal insurance to her. She cares and explains what is going on, and what and why we need what we need. Staff in her office are always responsive and helpful.
When someone crashed their car into my house, we called Cynthia and she and State Farm handled everything for us.
I highly recommend calling her for your insurance needs

Cynthia Blumgart knows her stuff. As a long time resident of one of the most amazing and eclectic cities on Earth, she’s seen it all. She both cordial and knowledgeable when it came time for me to insure my new home. In every step of the way, I felt well informed and taken care of. Thank you Cynthia!

Cynthia Blumgart, is my dream insurance agent. She is knowledgeable, timely and a protection expert. She and her staff deliver every time on all commitments.
She should be featured on a State Farm Commercial. Cynthia Blumgart is there for my business and personal insurance needs.

Wow, I probably would have never written a negative review had I just not been treated so poorly by phone by Cythia herself.
I recently bought a house and I previously had renter’s insurance and a personal articles policy through her agency. When I went to get insured for the house, I went through StateFarm and was referred to another agent. When I spoke to the agent, she said it would be best to stay with Cynthia for the PIP due to the examining of items I have. My mortgage company setup the insurance through the other agent.
Anyhow, I went ahead and paid for my personal articles policy and insurance over the phone today. I get an extremely passive agressive message back on my voicemail, which put me in a weird defensive mode, so I call to explain how there was potentially some confusion about how things were setup.
She was irritated from the beginning, despite me explaining how it happened and then she said, «I’m sorry you didn’t think more of us to stay with our business».
I told her that her comment was extremely passive aggressive, not to mention, unprofessional. And she replied that Miriam (her assistant) had spent a bunch of time working with me.
I told her this this was the first time she had ever spoken to me, which was true and I had to constantly email her team for updates on my policy. There was no customer directed service, I had to constantly follow up with Miriam. The worst part, I personally emailed 3 super expensive camera item receipts to her LAST YEAR to be included with my personal articles policy. Her assistant told me that Cynthia would update the policy with the receipts. These emails were sent direct to Cynthia. No reply. When I went back this year to renew, I decided to ensure that they had in fact been added. To my dismay, they had not. We’re talking about upwards of $ 3−4k worth of camera equipment. Uninsured. FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. Wow, fantastic customer service.
Previous interactions (last year’s renewal time) include, «Hi, are you going to pay?». Seriously, that was the question asked as soon as her representative got on the phone. This was AFTER I was trying to adjust my policy with the aforementioned items, and I didn’t get a reply, so of course I wasn’t going to blindly pay.
Ugh, so frustrating.
Avoid at all costs. Only wants your money. Super unprofessional. Passive aggressive.
With that being said, Miriam *was* nice and so was Linda, but the well is poisoned.

Absolutely awful experience with Cynthia and her team. I should have known better when I was charged an extra $ 150 when I first initiated my renters insurance policy.
My fiancé and I have been working with Cynthia and her team for our renters insurance for the past 6 months, and I recently wanted to insure my engagement ring. I emailed Cynthia, and 3 weeks later, I had to email her again asking her about a policy. She said she was out of the country, which is fine, but redirect your customers to someone else to help if you are out of the office for that long. Someone finally contacted me after 24 hours, and she told me what I needed to submit and told me how much it would cost. Great. My fiancé submitted the appraisal of the ring and never heard back. I contacted the agency once again after never hearing back, and I was told to submit payment and that they received the appraisal. I was also told that someone DID get back to my fiancé, but an email never showed up in his inbox or his spam box. Mysterious…
I emailed back, stating that before I submit payment it’s only right that I see the policy. I think any level-​headed person would want to do this. 5 days have gone by and I have not heard back from anyone. I not only told Cynthia and her team that I don’t want my ring insured by them, but I also am not renewing my renters insurance policy.
Policy buyers, beware of the lack of professionalism and communication skills.

Cynthia Blumgart is just what you want in an insurance agent: smart, trustworthy, frugal and forward thinking. I was in a rush to find health insurance and I’m self-​employed. Cynthia returned my call within the hour. By the end of the day, I had excellent options. I felt I got personal attention, and I’m sure she had other clients that day!

Cynthia Blumgart is fantastic! I switched to Cynthia’s agency from another State Farm agency and was immediately impressed by her customer service and knowledge about insurance. She explained all of the options to me so that I could make the best choice for my situation. She even showed me ways that I could save money and get the coverage that I wanted. Every time I have called, the staff has been friendly, gone above the call of duty to get my questions answered, and convinced me that they really do care. I have every confidence in this agency!

I’ve been with State Farm Insurance for over ten years and my wife has been insured with them for almost 20. We have had great service from two other agents in other cities during that time. Two cars were totaled during that time, and the two other agents were in constant contact making sure everything was taken care of and that the claim departments were treating us well and giving us the best help possible. We were not at fault so perhaps that’s why it was such stellar service.
Upon moving to Berkeley, we looked up this new SFI agent on Unilocal and thought Unilocalers would never lead us wrong. However, in less than two years they canceled our renter’s insurance because the underwriters decided they couldn’t insure our apartment building any more. This happened shortly after the Telegraph & Haste fire. No apology nor explanation were ever given nor help to offer other solutions. We had 0 claims and there was no reason given other than «the underwriters said so.» No longer having renter’s insurance, of course raised our auto rates by almost 200 a year. Lucky us!
A few months later and our car was vandalized while parked on the street overnight were it is always parked. Upon reporting it, I said it looked like maybe a bicycle «hit the side door» because there was a big dent there along with a rubber mark. A warning to everyone reporting a claim to SFI, never say «hit» because theyll decide that counts as collision. Who would’ve guessed people normally have a higher deductibles for collision than comprehensive claims. Lucky us again!
After waiting for almost a week for an appointment for a SFI appraiser to look at our car, they decided not to cover all the damage and offered a super low amount of money to get it fixed. Our chosen independent car repair shop noted all the damage and asked why it wasn’t being covered. All we could do was shake our head in disgust and say we don’t know. Another SFI appraiser came out to their shop and haggled with the independent car shop but they still wouldn’t cover all the repairs. They said we’d have to file separate claims for anything else. They would help us out and cover those damages under the comprehensive deductible though. Lucky us!
At that point I’d had it and started calling other insurance companies for new quotes. Every single rate given to me from all the major insurance companies were $ 2 – 300 dollars cheaper on the auto (even before getting renters insurance added into the mix). How could we be long time customers of SF, receive the highest customer loyalty discount and still get charged more than other companies? In Berkeley, Cynthia et al did nothing to help us out or make us feel like we were getting their best effort on our behalf when help was needed. This company has completely let us down.

Cynthia spends time to get to know her clients and was impeccably professional when I needed to file a claim. I had my doubts about the entire insurance industry before meeting her. I have nothing but good things to say and recommend this particular insurance agency highly.

Cynthia and State Farm was really helpful when I got into a little fender bender last week. Whenever I call the office they are super helpful and efficient!

Cynthia and her staff are the best. I love calling and talking to a real person right away! I highly recommend her to handle all insurance needs!

5÷24÷2011
I first took out auto insurance with this office way back in 1984 or so, a few months before Cynthia Blumgart took over from the previous agent who passed away suddenly. So, I’ve got a perspective going back a quarter century! As soon as she took over the business, she contacted me to set up an in-​person appointment to assess my insurance needs (No, this was not a hard-​sell meeting to push unneeded coverage on me! In fact, that meeting may have resulted in my *reducing* coverage, I don’t remember … it was a genuine reaching out to develop a personal connection with her clients. Several times I’ve called the office to check on what coverage I have or don’t have. Instead of being told to look it up myself in the policy documents (that I’ve probably thrown away or would take me a long time to find) as would be the case with many agents, I’ve ALWAYS got a rapid, friendly and informative response to any inquiries.
Since then, I’ve had several auto policies, renter’s insurance policies, and homeowner’s policies, and an earthquake policy all with this office.
I’m NO fan of health insurers (they give insurers a bad name!) but I can’t speak too highly of this office. Over the years, I’ve had to make several claims (2 laptops stolen and a scrape in Berkeley Bowl parking lot, and just recently, for a hit-​and-​run rear bumper scrape). On each occasion, the staff have been courteous, efficient, friendly, & respectful. Instead of looking for ways to deny claims on technicalities (which is my experience with several health insurers over the years), Cynthia, Lenore, & Myriam have gone out of their way to let me know of coverage benefits that I’ve not even been aware that I was eligible for under my policy/​ies.
Although I’ve never asked them, it’s pretty clear that these staff love what they’re doing — Myriam and Lenore have both been there for years, which is clear evidence that Cynthia treats her staff as well as she (and they) treat customers. Upon returning to Berkeley last year after a 5-​year exile from the U.S., Lenore immediately remembered me when I called from a car dealership seeking coverage and faxed me coverage documents within 30 minutes over the phone with no office visit! Since I was in Concord and very busy that day, this was a huge plus. If you want the best insurance deal & service and want to support a 1^st-​rate local business, this is where you should come. This is insurance as it SHOULD be!

I spoke with Miriam today and she was very cool. Highest recommendation.
As bad as typical customer service experiences can be, you can sometimes have excellent customer service experiences, and Unilocal is useful for sorting through everything.
As I’ve said before in some of my other reviews, I VERY rarely give 5 star reviews, but this organization deserves it in my experience.

Could I find cheaper insurance elsewhere? Maybe. Insurance is one of those funny things, though. It seems like a waste of money, up till the moment you actually need it. Then that bargain-​basement price you were getting at NoName Insurance Co. means you’re getting bad customer service, confusing answers and added stress.
Cynthia’s office is an entirely different calibre. My parents have had State Farm for decades, so when my wife and I were in the market we looked around and settled on State Farm with Cynthia as our agent. I can honestly say that working with the staff at this office has been a dream. Miriam in particular has always been willing to answer my emails or sit down with me for 45 minutes to go over all the little details of my new auto policy so that I could actually understand what was going on. I’ve never felt pressured to spend more money or upgrade my coverage… I’ve been presented with the options and how much each cost, the pros and cons of each, and some great advice on what is really worth upgrading on and what you can probably do without (or with less). Even with all of this, the prices I’m getting here really aren’t much different from what I’d expect to get elsewhere – and any difference in price is more than made up for by the great staff and service.
Insurance is for when the unexpected happens… when your apartment burns down, do you really want to be dealing with a call center in the Philippines? I’d much rather have Cynthia and her staff helping me out, and you really can’t put a price on that.

After 5 years dealing with the «Southborough Policy Service Office» in MA, I’d forgotten how efficient a good State Farm agent can be.
Cynthia’s office has handled motorcycle policies, renter’s insurance in a fairly disaster-​prone neighborhood, and a fairly simple auto policy for me. Canceling a policy after selling the vehicle was surprisingly simple.
I’ve dealt with several people in Cynthia’s office — Miriam in particular has been outstanding, always approaching unusual policies with an open mind.