American Family Insurance: What You Should Know

One of the nation’s largest insurance providers, American Family Insurance originated more than 80 years ago as an auto insurance provider for farmers in rural Wisconsin.

Today, American Family Insurance operates in 19 states: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and, of course, Wisconsin.

American Family Insurance: Company History

Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, American Family Insurance oversees a network of approximately 4,000 agents and offers a wide array of insurance products, including auto insurance, homeowners insurance and health insurance. It is ranked as the nation’s third-largest mutual property and casualty insurer and the 14th-largest property and casualty insurance company group.

However, American Family Insurance was not always this large. In fact, the company was started in 1927 by an insurance salesman named Herman Wittwer who opened Famers Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and began selling auto insurance to farmers in rural Wisconsin. After expanding locations and insurance products, the company changed its name to American Family Mutual Insurance Company in 1963 in order to better reflect its broader customer base.

American Family Insurance: A Mutual Company

American Family Insurance boasts that it is a mutual company versus a publicly traded company, which can be tied to the whims of the stock market. In essence, a mutual company is “owned” by its customers versus shareholders.

According to American Family Insurance, its status as a mutual company ensures that the company remains financially strong and stable over the long-term. In addition, the company contends that its mutual status allows it to measure its performance based on the value provided to policyholders versus the rate of return generated for shareholders.

American Family Insurance: Its Products

American Family Insurance offers a wide range of insurance products:

American Family Insurance offers auto insurance coverage for basic vehicles – cars, trucks and SUVs – as well as motor homes, boats, motorcycles and snowmobiles. Policyholders can purchase auto insurance for privately used vehicles as well as those used for business purposes.

American Family Insurance offers insurance coverage for homeowners, condominium owners, mobile/manufactured homeowners and renters. In addition, American Family Insurance is among the network of insurance companies that offer flood insurance through the federal National Flood Insurance Program.

Keeping true to its roots, American Family Insurance offers special insurance coverage for the unique needs of farms and ranches.

American Family Insurance offers several business insurance packages, including business owners insurance, apartment building insurance, restaurant insurance and office insurance. The insurance company also offers insurance options for those who are self-employed.

American Family Insurance offers umbrella insurance plans, which add extra liability coverage beyond a policyholder’s basic limits. The insurance company provides personal liability umbrella insurance, commercial liability insurance and farm and ranch umbrella insurance.

American Family Insurance offers a variety of health insurance options, including high-deductible health plans, short-term health coverage and Medicare supplement coverage.

American Family Insurance offers a range of life insurance and annuity products, including term life insurance, universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance and whole life insurance.

For those who travel, American Family Insurance offers travel insurance plans that provide global medical insurance and trip cancellation coverage.