Country Financial Auto Insurance Review

Pros Explained

• Strong ratings for financial strength: Country Financial boasts an A+ (Superior) rating for its financial strength from AM Best, which bodes well for the company's ability to pay claims.
• Solid customer satisfaction ratings: Country Financial secured the third-ranking in the North Central region in J.D. Power's 2021 U.S. Auto Insurance Study with 850 points out of 1,000. By comparison, the average industry score in that region was 839.
• Access to a local agent: Country Financial still relies on local agents to sell and service policies, although you can also get a free quote online. 
• Numerous customer service options available: This company is easy to get ahold of due to their agent access and contact options, including phone, email, and online portal.

Cons Explained

• Only available in 19 states: Country Financial does not offer auto insurance nationwide. They are not an option in a large part of the United States.
• No rideshare insurance offered: Country Financial does not offer rideshare coverage for drivers who use their personal vehicle to drive for Uber or Lyft.
• No gap insurance offered: Customers cannot purchase gap insurance from Country Financial, either.

Introduction

Founded in 1925, Country Financial got its start selling fire and lightning insurance. The next year, the company added more coverage options to suit customers’ needs, including crop-hail insurance and farm equipment coverage. In 1927, the company began offering auto insurance as well.

Today, Country Financial offers a range of insurance options for consumers, businesses, and farms. For example, consumers can use this provider to bundle their auto and homeowners insurance, but they can also purchase renters and life insurance. Farm owners also rely on Country Financial for insurance products like crop coverage, livestock coverage, and country estate or farm insurance coverage.

Regarding its auto insurance, Country Financial offers the most important types of coverage you would expect, including liability coverage, collision, comprehensive coverage, and more. They also offer add-ons you can use to boost the protection your policy offers, such as roadside assistance and new car replacement coverage.

Also, note that Country Financial had lower median annual premiums than other top car insurance companies we profiled. This makes them a smart option to consider if you live in their coverage area. 

Company Overview

Country Financial has been in business since 1925, and they offer affordable car insurance and homeowners insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, and various farm insurance coverage options. While Country Financial does make it possible to get a free quote for car insurance online, they still use a network of agents that work within offices in 19 different states.

Currently, Country Financial is headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois. 

Types of Coverage

Country Financial offers a plethora of car insurance coverage options, including optional coverage you can use to customize your policy to your needs. Coverage options are as follows:

Standard Coverage Includes:

• Bodily injury liability coverage: Protects you financially if you hurt someone in an accident
• Collision coverage: Pays for car repairs when you're in an accident
• Comprehensive coverage: Helps pay for damages if your car is stolen, vandalized, or damaged from an occurrence other than an accident with another car
• Medical payments coverage: Covers medical bills that result from an accident
• Property damage liability: Pays for damages if you cause damage to someone else's property with your car
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage: Protects you financially when you're in an accident with someone who has no insurance or insufficient coverage

Additional Coverage Includes:

• Emergency road service coverage: Provides assistance when you run out of gas, lock your keys in your car, and more
• Personal effects coverage: Can reimburse you up to $800 when high-value items are stolen from your car
• Safety glass coverage: Can kick in to pay for glass repair or replacement
• The Keeper® new car replacement coverage: Replaces your newer car with a brand new car of the same make and model after a total loss
• Vehicle rental and trip interruption coverage: Can reimburse you for up to $800 in rental car costs, travel expenses, and other incidental costs when you're stranded away from home

Discounts

If you want to save money on car insurance, you should know about Country Financial’s auto insurance discounts.

Driver Discounts

• College graduate discounts: Can help you pay lower premiums if you graduated from college
• Engaged couple discounts: Can help you save money when you become engaged to be married in the next year
• Good driver discounts: Can apply when you are accident and violation-free for at least three years
• Good student discounts: For students with at least a B grade point average
• Occupation discounts: For full-time K-12 teachers, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and paramedics

Loyalty Discounts

• Legacy discounts: May be available to drivers under the age of 25 when their parents qualify for a multi-car and multi-policy discount
• Multi-policy discounts: Lets you pay lower premiums when you bundle your auto insurance with homeowners insurance or renters insurance
• Multi-car discounts: Can apply if you insure more than one vehicle with Country Financial

Other Discounts

• Advanced quote discounts: Can come into play when you get a quote for auto insurance before your current policy expires
• Anti-theft discounts: Can apply when you have eligible anti-theft devices installed on your vehicle

Safety Discounts

• Defensive driver discounts: Can apply when you complete a state-approved defensive driving course
• Simply Drive discounts: Can apply when you take an eligible safe driving course

Payment Options

When paying your auto premiums with Country Financial, you have several different options to choose from. You can make payments with a credit card, a debit card, a prepaid card, or your bank account:

• Online at CountryFinancial.com
• Via the Country Financial mobile app
• Over the phone at 1-866-COUNTRY 
• In your agent's office

You can make payments by check, cashier's check, or money order:

• In your agent's office
• By mailing your payment to COUNTRY Financial, PO Box 2100, Bloomington, IL 61702-2100

Country Financial also states that you can set up automatic payments with a debit card, prepaid card, credit card, or bank account online.

Loss Ratio

Country Financial features a loss ratio of 66.41%, which is better than most of the auto insurance companies we profiled. This loss ratio led Country Financial to receive a rating of 4 out of 5 in our internal study. Generally speaking, this means that Country Financial is being fair with its pricing when you look at the number of claims they pay out vs. the number of premiums being brought in.

Other Features

Country Financial prides itself on its claims process, including how easy it is to file a claim and see it through to the end. Customers can start a claim or monitor its progress online, using the Country Financial mobile app, or by calling in at 1-866-COUNTRY. You also get the option to select from four different repair options after an accident, including the Direct Repair Program (DRP) that pays repair shops directly once the work is done. 

Country Financial's Snap N Send feature also makes it easy to take a photo of damage after a minor accident to get the claims process starting quickly.

Customer Service

Country Financial offers quite a few contact options, including contacting them over the phone, online, or using the mobile app. They also have an email form to ask questions or inquire about a new policy. Country Financial also uses insurance agents with offices in the 19 states they service, so you can always reach out to your agent for assistance.

Unfortunately, Country Financial does not list any specific customer service hours or days on its website.

Ratings

First of all, it's important to know that Country Financial boasts strong ratings for financial strength. Specifically, the company has an A+ (Superior) rating from AM Best, which bodes well for its ability to pay claims.

Country Financial also has solid customer satisfaction ratings. Specifically, the company scored the third spot in the North Central region in J.D. Power's 2021 U.S. Auto Insurance Study. Country Financial scored 850 points out of 1,000 in this study, whereas the average industry score in that region was 839.

Complaint Index

Another major plus of Country Financial is its overall rating for customer complaints. 

Note that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks insurance company complaints from all the major providers and that each insurance company receives a complaint ratio every year. The complaint ratio represents the number of complaints a company received the previous year compared to its market share.

Scores of 1.0 are considered average. This means that companies with scores above 1.0 received more complaints than average, and companies with scores below 1.0 received fewer than average. 

Country Financial's complaint ratio was 0.58 in 2020 and its complaint ratio was 0.63 in 2021. This signals that the company has received fewer complaints than average for a company of its size.

Account Management

Country Financial has an online portal customers can use to oversee their policies, start a claim, monitor any claims in progress, and more. Not only that, but there’s a mobile app that offers similar features.

The Country Financial mobile app has decent reviews overall, with 4.1 out of 5 stars in the App Store and 3.4 out of 5 stars in Google Play.

How Country Financial Compares to Other Auto Insurance Companies

When shopping for car insurance, it's crucial to make sure you're getting all the coverage you need with limits that provide adequate financial protection. However, you should also make sure you're paying fair premiums for the types of amount of coverage you're getting in return. 

While you'll need to get quotes from at least three or four different insurance companies to know which one offers the best deal, Investopedia did an internal study that can provide you with basic information to help you start your search.

Ultimately, we compared all the top insurance companies based on their median annual premiums. When we compiled this information, we found that Country Financial featured some of the lowest median annual premiums of all companies we compared at $1,122.

Country Financial's median annual premiums compared favorably to most top insurers including State Farm ($1,251), Progressive ($1,544), Allstate ($1,674), and Nationwide ($1,511).

Methodology

Investopedia is committed to providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of auto insurance companies. All of our reviews are based on extensive research and analysis of each company’s coverage, customer service, pricing, years in business, accreditation, and more. To rate providers, we developed an auto insurance review methodology that compares the auto insurance coverage types, additional features, discounts, account management, and other features.

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