SIMI FACILITY A TEXTBOOK HOUSE OF HORRORS; INSURANCE COMPANY OPENS ADJUSTERS TRAINING CENTER.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

Crushed fenders and twisted car frames, grease fires and faulty wiring are just routine at Farmers Insurance's new training center for claims adjusters, exposing students to almost anything they'll encounter in the field.

The 21,000-square-foot Farmers Claims Training and Development Center offers a dozen cars in an amazing array of demolition. It also contains a one-bedroom house that was built, then set aflame, to give trainees an idea of what to look for when they visit a real fire scene.

``We don't have to pretend anymore,'' said Nancy Brown, assistant administrator and property instructor.

Before now, training was conducted in rented hotel banquet rooms and consisted of photographs, video, books and creating scenarios out of whole cloth to approximate real-life situations. But the training was subjective and the scenarios varied between sessions.

Now, the Cochran Street facility can provide a uniform and controlled environment for the estimated 1,500 trainees to arrive each year from 28 western states. It is the only one of its kind for the company, although there are similar centers throughout the industry.

The center's main warehouse has a dozen wrecked automobiles - cars borrowed for six months to a year before they are sold for parts. And the house contains different building materials and construction styles found throughout the country to illustrate how to look for damage that goes beyond the cosmetic.

Using the models, trainers show new adjusters how to anticipate, recognize and estimate monetary values for all kinds of damage.

``Once they get out of this class, they're still going to learn,'' said Carl Nelson, a training instructor who works in the auto section. ``But if we can give them the basics here, we can get them off to a better start.''

Before new adjusters take the class, they follow experienced claims adjusters through the process to learn field techniques. The idea behind the center is to expose trainees to as many different experiences as possible, before they begin to deal with customers.

``How can you go ahead and adjust claims for them if you don't know anything about construction, about cars?'' said Andy Zagrzejewski, director of claims and training and development. ``To me, it's very important that you can actually touch the stuff.''

Martin Feinstein, the company's president and CEO, said the Simi Valley regional offices also will become the central training facility for the company's sales associates in the coming months.

The company is expected to consolidate its three training centers - in Los Angeles, Pleasanton and Carlsbad - into Simi.

``By centralizing it we can not only be efficient, but we can have the best in the classes working on it,'' he said Feinstein, who began his career in claims.

Simi Valley Mayor Bill Davis and several City Council members were on-hand to watch the dedication, attended by about 300 employees.

The mayor said the new facility is a welcome addition to the city because it will bring out-of-towners for two or three weeks at a time - who will stay at local hotels and eat in local restaurants.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color in Simi Edition only) (Ran in Simi and Conejo Editions only) Farmers Insurance officials give visitors a tour of the company's new claims adjuster training facility in Simi Valley on Tuesday.

(2--Color in Simi Edition only) (Ran in Simi and Conejo Editions only) Cars in various states of disrepair are gathered to give trainees hands-on experience.

Phil McCarten/Daily News