Amica Life Insurance Company Review

Pros Explained

• Discounts when bundled with car insurance: If you have an auto insurance policy with Amica, you may qualify for a discount if you bundle it with a new life insurance policy. 
• In-person assistance available: Amica doesn’t work with independent insurance agents. Instead, you can contact Amica company representatives over the phone or in person at office locations throughout the country. 
• Terminal illness riders included: Terminal illness riders are included with your whole life insurance policy. The rider allows you to receive a portion of your benefits while you’re living if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and have a life expectancy of 12 months or less. 

Cons Explained

• Limited riders: Many life insurance companies have lengthy lists of optional riders you can use to customize your policy. However, Amica is much more limited, so there are fewer ways to adjust your coverage. 
• Quotes for whole life coverage not offered online: While you can get quotes online for term life coverage, Amica does not offer online quotes for whole life plans. To get a quote, you must call customer service or visit an Amica office location. 
• Medical exams are required for some customers: Only customers that meet Amica’s criteria on the simplified application will get coverage without a medical exam. All other customers will have to go through the full underwriting process, including a medical exam and bloodwork.

Available Plans

The Amica Life Insurance Company sells just two types of life insurance: term and whole life coverage. Most people will have to get medical exams to purchase insurance from Amica. However, some customers that meet the company’s criteria for its best insurance classes will be able to skip the exam. 

Amica offers the following insurance options: 

Term

When you purchase term life insurance, you get coverage for a specific period of time, and your beneficiaries only receive a death benefit if you pass away during that covered period. With Amica, you can choose a term of 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years and get up to $1 million in coverage. 

Amica’s term life policies have level premiums, so you don’t have to worry about rate increases during your policy’s term. Your policy’s death benefit will also stay the same throughout your term; your coverage amount won’t decrease as you age. 

At certain times throughout your term, you can convert your term policy to a whole life plan without going through the underwriting process again. 

You can get a quote for an Amica term life policy online. If you’re satisfied with your quote, you can even complete your application online. 

Whole Life

If you’re looking for permanent coverage, a whole life policy may be a better choice for you than term life insurance. With whole life insurance, your coverage never expires; it lasts for your entire life. 

Whole life policies are often more expensive than term life insurance because they have a savings component and can build cash value. When you pay your premiums, the insurance company deposits a portion of the money into a cash value account. The cash value earns a modest rate of interest which allows it to grow over time, and you can borrow against your policy’s cash value. 

With a whole life policy from Amica, you can choose a coverage amount between $25,000 and $1 million. Policies include a terminal illness rider and have guaranteed level premiums that will never increase. 

Available Riders

When you buy life insurance, you can usually add optional insurance endorsements, also known as riders, to your policy to get additional coverage or tap into your benefits in special circumstances. 

However, Amica is much more limited and only has one rider. If you choose to purchase a policy from Amica, you won’t have the same level of customization that other companies offer. 

Amica includes the following rider on all life insurance policies: 

Terminal Illness Rider

The terminal illness rider is added to your policy at no additional cost. With this accelerated benefit rider, you can receive a portion of your policy’s death benefit if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and given a life expectancy of 12 months or less. 

Customer Service

Unlike other companies that use independent agents, Amica uses its own customer service representatives to answer questions and sell policies. 

You can reach customer support by calling 800-234-5433. Its customer service line is available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. until midnight EST and on Saturdays from 7 a.m. until midnight p.m. EST. 

You can also get help by visiting a local Amica office near you. You can get in-person assistance with choosing a policy, making changes to an existing policy, updating your beneficiaries, or starting a claim. 

Amica recently launched the Amica Virtual Assistant, a digital tool that provides customers with product information and answers to common questions. It also can route customers to support representatives, if needed. 

Complaint Index

When you’re shopping for life insurance, you want peace of mind. You want to know that if the worst should happen and you’re no longer around, your beneficiaries can quickly and easily submit a claim and receive the policy’s death benefit. 

A good resource is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The NAIC releases complaint ratios—numeric ratings that reflect the number of complaints customers submit relative to companies’ share of the insurance market—which you can use to gauge a company’s reliability and service. 

The industry standard for the NAIC complaint index is 1.0. Ideally, look for a company with a ratio below that number since that means they received fewer complaints than is typical for a company of its size. 

Only two complaints were submitted about Amica Life Insurance Company in 2021. In fact, only two complaint has been submitted about Amica in the past three years. 

Third-Party Ratings

Amica has a strong reputation among industry experts, including AM Best, a credit rating agency focused on insurance. 

Amica Life Insurance Company has an A+ (Superior) rating from AM Best, indicating that they believes the company is financially stable and can afford to pay out its future policy and contractual obligations. 

However, Amica was not included in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study. The study evaluated and ranked top life insurers based on their available policies, costs, and customer service.  

Cancellation Policy

When you buy life insurance from Amica or any other company, you’re entitled to a "free look" period. In most cases, the free look period lasts for 10 days after your policy is issued, but it can be longer in some states. 

The free look period gives you time to review your policy documents. During that time, you can decide to cancel your policy for any reason and get a full refund of all premiums you paid. 

After the free look period, how cancellations are handled is dependent on the type of life insurance you purchased. You can cancel term life insurance at any point, but you aren’t entitled to a refund of the premiums you paid. 

If you have whole life insurance, you may receive a surrender cash value for the policy. However, you may have to pay fees that are deducted from your cash value. 

Price

Amica allows you to get quotes for term life insurance online, but you must contact Amica to get a quote for whole life coverage. 

To get an idea of Amica’s pricing, we got quotes for a $250,000 term life policy for two 30-year-old individuals in excellent health. In general, Amica’s rates for term life insurance were in line with industry averages.

Like other life insurance companies, Amica does require you to choose either “male” or “female” when getting a quote or submitting a life insurance application; there isn’t an option if you identify as nonbinary. While being nonbinary doesn’t disqualify you from getting life insurance, you should be aware that most insurance companies haven’t updated their underwriting processes to reflect an awareness of gender issues.

Competition

Amica offers basic life insurance plans, and some customers can purchase policies without medical exams. However, Amica only sells two types of insurance, and it doesn’t have optional riders. If you’re looking for more customization options, consider State Farm, one of our selections for the best life insurance companies.

State Farm offers more life insurance plans than Amica. You can choose from 10 different plans, and State Farm sells term, whole, universal, variable universal, and final expense policies. The company also has a lengthy list of optional riders you can use to adjust your coverage, such as children’s term, guaranteed insurability option, and waiver of monthly deduction for disability riders. 

While Amica is a relatively small company, State Farm is a large insurer with a national presence. It’s the sixth-largest life insurance company based on direct premiums written, and it was the highest-ranked company in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.

Methodology: How We Review Life Insurance Companies

Our reviews of life insurance companies are based on a quantitative methodology that analyzes each insurer on their stability and reliability, customer service, claims experience, diversity of product lines, and cost. We compare the terms of each type of policy offered—including available coverage amounts, optional riders, and premium payment options—with those of other major life insurance companies. Lastly, we look at how the company is rated by third-party organizations to determine its reliability and overall reputation.