Is Main Street America Good for Auto Insurance?
Last Updated on May 12, 2023
Founded almost a century ago in Florida, Main Street America provides business and individual insurance solution services for its clients. Independent agents work in 37 states and can help clients find surety bond solutions in forty-seven. The goal of Main Street America is to work with these independent agents to find affordable insurance for businesses and individuals. Along with home insurance, renters insurance, contractors’ insurance, and flood insurance, Main Street America also helps its clients shop around for the best deals on personal and commercial car insurance.
Key Takeaways:
- Main Street America is an independent agency that offers various insurance products, including auto insurance, to customers in 37 states.
- Main Street America works with different insurance companies to find the best coverage and discounts for its customers, depending on their needs and preferences.
- Main Street America has a high rating from A.M. Best and a stable outlook, indicating its financial strength and stability.
- Main Street America has mixed customer reviews, with some praising its affordability and ease of purchase, and others complaining about its poor customer service and claims handling.
- Insurance Panda rates Main Street America 3.6/5
- Main Street America Car Insurance Coverage Offerings
- Main Street America Auto Insurance Discounts
- Main Street American Financial Stability
- What Do Customers Have to Say About Main Street America?
- Main Street America Pros and Cons
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Our Rating of Main Street America
- Final Word on Main Street America's Auto Insurance
Main Street America Car Insurance Coverage Offerings
Main Street America offers the usual coverage types you would expect an American auto insurance provider to sell. Here is an overview of their current coverage offerings.
Comprehensive coverage
If your vehicle is damaged by a non-collision event, you’re covered with comprehensive coverage. Events covered by comprehensive coverage include damage from natural disasters or inclement weather. It can also cover theft and vandalism.
Collision coverage
With collision coverage, you’re protected against damages to your own vehicle. It will cover damage caused by a collision or rollover, even if you caused the accident.
Medical payments coverage (MedPay)
If you’re hurt in an accident, your medical expenses and your passenger’s medical expenses will be covered with medical payments coverage (MedPay). MedPay will pay for damages regardless of who caused the collision.
Body injury liability (BIL)
If you cause an accident and hurt someone, your BIL coverage will pay for the other person’s medical expenses. It will also cover damages awarded to the other person if there is a lawsuit.
Property damage liability (PDL)
If you’re responsible for an accident and damage someone else’s property, you’re covered through PDL.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists
If you are hurt in an accident that was not your fault and the other driver has no insurance or is underinsured, your coverage will take care of your losses, damages, pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical expenses.
Other offerings
Main Street America can further customize automobile insurance policies to suit your needs. Other offerings include, but are not limited to new vehicle replacement, diminishing deductible rewards, full safety glass, roadside assistance, loan-lease protection, accident forgiveness, and original equipment manufactured parts replacement. The website states that more offerings are available, but you’ll need to contact an agent for information.
Main Street America Auto Insurance Discounts
While everyone wants to get as much coverage as they can when it comes to insuring their vehicles, most people also want to do this in the most cost-effective manner. In other words, they don’t want to break the bank to get their cars on the road.
So what discounts can Main Street America offer their individual car insurance clients? Well, because they are independent agents, they’ll see which insurance company offers the best discounts and whether you qualify for the discounts. However, with that being said, they will search for a minimum of 17 discounts, which can be grouped into three different categories: general, safety, and payment method.
General discounts
- Multi-policy (you can bundle your home insurance with your car insurance)
- New customer
- Multi-vehicle
- Mature operator (for those over 65 years of age)
- Coverage level (basic coverage will cost less than standard coverage)
- Loyalty
- Good student (an agent will tell you what GPA you’ll need to qualify)
- Student away from school
Safety discounts
- New vehicle (new vehicles are generally safer and have more safety features)
- Driver training
- Accident and violation-free
- Accident prevention course
- Anti-theft
- Vehicle safety
Payment method discounts
- Paid in full
- Electronic funds transfer
As mentioned earlier, there may be other discounts you qualify for because the Main Street America agent will compare dozens of offers. The list above is just to give you an idea of what is available.
Main Street American Financial Stability
Main Street America’s financial stability is rated as “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best, the insurance industry’s premier rating organization. This rating indicates that Main St America has a strong ability to meet its ongoing obligations to policyholders. Main Street America also has a stable outlook, which means that its rating is unlikely to change in the near future.
Main Street America writes more than $1.1 billion in annual premiums and has a network of over 3,000 independent agents across 37 states. Main Street America is also part of American Family Insurance, the nation’s 13th-largest property/casualty insurance group.
What Do Customers Have to Say About Main Street America?
Customer reviews can make or break a company, and it’s no different when it comes to automobile insurance companies or even individual insurance agents who compare the different offers on the market. One thing that Main Street America has going for it in this department is the fact that it’s been in business for almost a century: bad businesses usually don’t stick around for even a quarter of that time.
However, most independent review websites give Main Street America an average rating of 2 out of five stars. High ratings appear to come from people who have not needed to make claims; they are happy with their inexpensive insurance and attentive insurance agents.
The reviews go from one extreme to the other; there are five-star reviews or one-star reviews, and the bad reviews far outnumber the good ones. After reading the comments, it’s obvious that the one-star reviews are written by people who have had to make claims. Among the harsher comments are words such as “incompetent”, “unresponsive,” “uncaring,” and “awful”. Clients have a hard time contacting their agent or anyone in customer service when they’ve been in an accident. Finally, even though e-transfers are accepted as a payment method, correspondence appears to be done only by mail.
Generally, customers say they like Main Street America’s discount offerings, but the customer service is not very good when it’s time to make a claim.
Main Street America Pros and Cons
Overall, there are some pros and cons that must be considered when you think about buying insurance for your car with Main Street America. On the pro side, you have independent agents who search dozens of insurance providers to get you the best deal. This means that you can get the coverage you need at a price you can more than afford. There are agents in 37 states, so finding an agent near you shouldn’t be too difficult. The business has also been around for over 95 years, so you’re not dealing with a fly-by-night agency that will take your money and run.
The cons are numerous when you look at what actual customers have to say. Google reviews feature a few five-star ratings, but there are many one-star ratings over time that make the five-star ratings look suspicious. Buying the insurance is easy, but making a claim is exceptionally difficult, with agents being hard to reach and unhelpful, according to the reviews.
The pros and cons can be summed up as: “Buying is easy and cheap, but making a claim is hard.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Word on Main Street America’s Auto Insurance
If affordability and ease of purchase is the most important aspect of car insurance for you, then Main Street America might be a good choice. But keep in mind that if you get into an accident, filing a claim might be a big headache.
It’s important to remember that Main Street America agents are independent insurance agents. The negative reviews may simply be reviews of bad individual agents, not the entire company. You might want to look up reviews of the agent you’re dealing with instead of the company to get a better idea of how you’ll be treated as a customer.
Most importantly, as always, when buying insurance, do a bit of the legwork yourself, read reviews, and then get in touch with an agent. An informed consumer is a smart consumer.
Main Street America Company Information | |
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Mailing Address | P.O. Box 2300 Keene, NH 03431 |
General Information Phone Number | (800) 258-5310 |
Customer Support Phone Number | (866) 265-7908 |
Website URL | https://www.msainsurance.com/ |