The General Insurance Review 2024

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. I got much lower quotes from Erie and GEICO, for example.

Compared to the annual averages for full coverage car insurance, The General is the most expensive, with an average annual cost of $3,069. It’s also the most expensive for minimum coverage at $1,606 annually. Compared to the national averages of $1,924 and $547, respectively, these are high prices. It’s also the most expensive for those with an at-fault accident at $4,221, compared to an average of $2,809.

That being said, as I played around on the request-a-quote website, I found that The General is actually fairly average when it came to rates for people with a DUI. While the national average is $3,328 per year, The General costs only slightly more at $3,440.

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. Prices will vary by state, customer, 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

I was wondering exactly how much The General would charge me for car insurance, so I went on its website. 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.”

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. Finally, it asked if I’ve had any violations or accidents in the past three years; I’ll get a lower quote due to my lack of accidents.

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 2023 auto insurance customer satisfaction survey.²

The good news is that The General has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) since 2005 and has an overall A+ rating.³ Additionally, The General has an average of 3.9 stars (out of 5) stars from 421 customer reviews. Many people said they got reasonable prices and it was easy to get covered, and I loved 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 American Family, which holds an A rating for financial strength from AM Best. This means that The General can reliably pay claims.

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 2024 Insurer Report Card from CRASH Network,⁴ an independent publication that covers the collision industry. I’ll be blunt: The General ranks 85th out of 88 companies, beating only Trexis Insurance, American Access, and Loya. It received a grade of D and a score of 222, well below the national average of 657. 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 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 4.8-star rating. I found the app super easy to use. 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.

When I’m reviewing auto insurance companies, here is what I’m paying attention to:

Claims

Because the entire point of a car insurance company is to cover claims, I take a look at how the company accepts claims, as well as customer feedback from third parties like J.D. Power.

Coverages

Of course, every insurance company will have the basic coverages, but I’m looking for companies with the broadest coverages, from rental car coverage to commercial auto insurance.

Customer Experience

Aside from my own customer experience requesting a quote and using the website and app, I also consider third-party customer ratings from sites like the BBB.

Premiums

The most recent national data shows that the average annual auto insurance premium in the U.S. is $1,924 for full coverage or $547 for minimum coverage. Ideally, I look for companies with average rates below those numbers, while acknowledging that premiums will always be higher for someone with a DUI, bad credit, or an at-fault accident on their record.

Third-Party Ratings

Aside from J.D. Power and the BBB, I consider financial strength ratings from third parties like AM Best, the National Association of Insurance Commissions, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s. A company’s financial strength indicates its ability to pay claims, so I look for companies with a high level of creditworthiness.

Websites and Apps

Finally, I test the insurer’s website and apps to make sure they’re easy to use and useful in terms of getting quotes, filing claims, and finding policy information.