The General Insurance Review 2026

The General is best for someone with an SR-22, FR-44, at-fault accident, DUI, or speeding ticket on their record. It’s also a good choice for someone with poor credit, as some companies don’t accept drivers whose scores fall below a certain threshold.

However, if you have a stellar driving record and great credit, you’ll find more affordable car insurance elsewhere. Our data confirms that Erie and GEICO, for example, offer significantly lower rates for standard drivers.

When analyzing annual averages for full coverage car insurance, The General sits right near the national average at $2,385 per year, compared to the national benchmark of $2,356. However, it becomes expensive for minimum coverage, costing $1,231 annually versus the national average of $722. For drivers with an at-fault accident, The General averages $4,332 annually, which is notably higher than the national average of $3,156 for similar drivers.

The General’s pricing reflects its specialty in the high-risk market. If you have a DUI, need an SR-22, or fall into another category, you may find The General’s prices competitive compared to a standard provider’s.

The General can be a cost-effective option for drivers with a DUI conviction. While the national average for a driver with a DUI is $4,461 per year, The General comes in lower at $4,080.

If you’ve been convicted of a DUI and have an SR-22 or FR-44, proof of a certain amount of legally required coverage, consider The General, as you may find surprisingly affordable prices.

Compare Rates From The General

That being said, these are just average prices. Your actual premium will depend on your zip code, driving history, vehicle type, and a slew of other factors. Don’t forget to consider car insurance discounts.

Safe Driving Discount

When I got a quote, I got a discount because my driving record has been clean for the past five years.

Good Student Discount

Additionally, I’m a full-time student with a 4.0 GPA, so The General rewarded me with a discount. This discount appears to be available for all full-time students, regardless of age.

Homeowner’s Discount

Unfortunately, I’m a renter, so I couldn’t get the homeowner’s discount, but if you’re lucky enough to own a home, you can save money. This discount applies even if another insurer covers your home, not just The General.

Here is a list of all the discounts The General offered me:

• Multi-car
• Homeowner’s
• Good grades for full-time students
• Cars with factory-installed passive restraints
• Defensive driving course
• Clean driving record for the past three to five years
• Double your deductible for the first 45 days of your policy
• Pay in full

Curious about The General’s reputation for high-risk coverage, I decided to test its quoting process myself. While I could have called to speak to someone directly, I prefer dealing with computers, not humans, so I typed in my ZIP code and clicked “Start a Quote.”

The General allows users to start a quote directly from their homepage.

From there, the website asked me for a lot of information, like my insurance history, residence type, and email address, as well as who drives the vehicle. I had to fill out my name, birth date, gender, and marital status, as well as if I’ve completed a DMV-approved accident prevention course, for discount purposes. The system also required me to disclose any violations or accidents from the last three years to accurately assess my risk.

When it comes to car insurance coverage, The General offers the standards: liability insurance, which includes bodily injury and property damage coverage; comprehensive and collision coverage; uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage; and medical payments coverage.

These are the basics that every provider I’ve looked at has, but in addition, The General offers rental car coverage, gap insurance, and roadside assistance, as I found out when I requested a quote. Here’s some information about these services:

• Rental coverage: Rental car coverage means that if my car were getting repaired or replaced under a covered claim, like someone rear-ended me, The General would reimburse me for a rental car to use in the meantime.
• Gap insurance: Gap insurance is a requirement for people who lease their vehicles or purchase them with a loan. Essentially, if you total your car, meaning its repairs cost more than its actual cash value (ACV), the amount you’d get if you totaled it tomorrow, gap insurance covers the difference between the ACV and what you still owe on the lease/loan. This ensures that you won’t have to pay for a totaled car.
• Roadside assistance: Last but not least, The General outsources roadside assistance to Nation Safe Drivers. I would’ve definitely chosen this feature, as it offers towing of up to 15 miles, mechanical first aid, and battery, tire, and lockout services. That means if I need a jump-start, tire change, new battery, or even fuel, I could get it delivered straight to my car, 24/7.

Since The General is not one of the larger auto insurance companies in the U.S., I couldn’t find any ratings for it on financial strength websites like Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, or AM Best. It also wasn’t included on J.D. Power’s recent auto insurance customer satisfaction survey.

The General maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Although the General is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it holds an A+ rating, which the BBB states is “based on factors like customer complaints, transparency, and responsiveness.” That said, the company has an average of 2.42 stars (out of 5) stars from over 220 customer reviews.²

Many people said they got reasonable prices and it was easy to get covered, and I liked the fact that The General responded to most of the reviews personally. Most people just go on the BBB’s website to complain, so this is a good sign, in my eyes.

Finally, while it remains a separate brand, The General is owned by Sentry, which acquired The General from American Family in 2025. After the acquisition, AM Best upgraded The General’s financial strength rating from an A to an A+.³ holds an A rating for financial strength from AM Best. This indicates that The General can reliably pay claims.

In J.D. Power’s latest customer satisfaction survey, the only region in which The General is rated is Florida. It received 628 points out of 1,000, seven points below the Florida average.⁴

Claims can be filed 24/7 via the mobile app or phone.

There are a few ways to file a claim with The General. You can do it online, call its 24/7 claims number, or use the iOS or Android app, which I’ll discuss in more detail below. For existing claims, email, fax, and mail are options as well. I recommend the app so you can keep track of everything and upload photos from your phone easily.

The length of the claims process varies. For simple incidents, like a small fender-bender, it could take a few weeks, but for more complicated incidents, like a head-on collision with injuries or fatalities, it could take months.

I was curious how The General ranks nationally in terms of how well it handles claims, so I looked at the 2025 Insurer Report Card from CRASH Network,⁵ an independent publication that covers the collision industry. I’ll be blunt: The General ranks 95th out of 97 companies, beating only Trexis Insurance and Loya. It received a grade of D- and a score of 179, well below the national average of 663. So, it’s fair to say that you may be waiting closer to a few months rather than a few weeks for your claim to be processed. Learn more about how long auto insurance claims take.

The app offers direct access to policy documents and payments.

The General has an iOS and an Android app. As of this writing, the iOS app has a 4.7-star rating (out of 5), and the Android version has a 4.7-star rating. User experience is robust, allowing policyholders to complete most tasks without human intervention. I didn’t even have to log in to pay a bill, display my ID card, or enroll in paperless billing, and what’s even better is I could’ve signed in using my Facebook, Google, or Apple profile, not requiring me to make a separate account. Even looking at customer reviews on the iOS app, I noticed that most of the bad reviews weren’t about the app itself, but mostly billing issues, which The General responded to politely.

I found the website similarly easy to use. It took me only a few minutes to find the information I was looking for about car insurance coverages, and getting a car insurance quote was easy and frictionless. I also loved the fact that I could purchase the policy online; this is a rarity with auto insurance companies. Most of them still operate solely over the phone after you fill out an online quote, but The General makes it easy to be antisocial and get coverage.

At AutoInsurance.com, our reviews account for four main factors:

• Price (40%): We analyze average premiums for full and minimum coverage, including for high-risk drivers such as those with DUIs, multiple accidents, or low credit scores. We also consider available discounts that may apply to these drivers, and availability of SR-22 filing. Our full coverage averages use the following limits:
  • Bodily injury liability: $100,000 per person/$300,000 per accident
  • Property damage liability: $50,000 per accident
  • Uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury: $50,000 per person/$100,000 per accident
  • Comprehensive and collision: $500 deductible
• Claims Handling (25%): We evaluate insurers based on their ability to provide prompt, transparent, and efficient claims handling, with clear communication, fair evaluation of damages, and timely payment or resolution. Our assessments draw from sources like the CRASH Network Insurer Report Card and J.D. Power’s Claims Satisfaction Report, alongside financial strength ratings from AM Best and S&P. Real-life customer experiences are included whenever available.
• Customer Experience (25%): We assess the ease of obtaining quotes, purchasing policies, and making changes or accessing documents. The quality of both online and agent interactions, as well as the functionality of the company’s website and mobile app, are also considered. Our sources include J.D. Power studies, the NAIC complaint index, BBB ratings, and app store reviews.
• Coverage Options (10%): We review each provider’s coverage offerings that go beyond state-required minimums, such as accident forgiveness, gap coverage, and more.

Learn more about our ratings and methodology sources.