The General Insurance Reviews
The General is technically a very large insurance agency, not an insurance company.
They are a subsidiary of PGC Holdings, which is owned by American Family Mutual Insurance Company. Their auto insurance is provided through the following “official” insurance companies that their clients will see on their insurance documents:
- Permanent General Assurance Corporation
- Permanent General Assurance Corporation of Ohio
- The General Automobile Insurance Company, Inc.
The General is known for its low down payments and low monthly payment plans for auto insurance. Their sales focus is solely auto insurance and no other insurance product.
To see reviews for a different company, checkout these auto insurance reviews.
| Overall Rating |   |
| Price |  |
| Service | |
| Claims | |
Reviews (8)
Jaimee
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I went to change our insurance from our separate policies into a combined policy with my husband and our old carrier ended up giving us a better deal than the one we just got from The General so we cancelled the policy three days in, after paying $90 to sign up. Called to see if there would be a refund and was told NO!! Apparently in their fine print they keep 10% of your original premium which was $67 then charged us another $15 to process that and the remaining $7 was applied to the three days we actually had a policy! We basically paid $90 for three days worth of insurance, complete scam.
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F. Preater
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Nice cheap insurance. Wouldnt have been able to get coverage without them. I havent had to file a claim yet, but am pretty happy with them so far..
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Kukreja
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I am quite satisfied with The General Auto Insurance. They are very good at the service they provide including after accident assistance in claim. Once a car hit me from behind and after my claim within 15 days they approved it. They even called several times to not fee bad about the accident and the claim will be approved promptly. The only thing they can improve is time they take to answer a query on telephone, and their aggressive sales team, The way they try to convince you is not appreciable.
Once I hit a pole and the Bonnet broke badly. I hardly got frustrated as they sent recovery vehicle quickly and dropped me at home also. Apart from that my claim took just around a month to be settled. Their onsite support is almost perfect. They treat their customers like kings. I was quite impressed when I visited them for a query regarding my claim. They assigned me a representative right away to help me. Offered me a cup of coffee while she was busy finding documents and resolved my matter in no time.
Their telephone support also becomes similar so they The General Insurance can be perfect. Although I did not go in details regarding their comparative cost of insurance but I believe I got a nice deal, not the cheapest in the market but of good value. Both times my cheque for claim was delivered on my door. I couldn’t believe the prompt service. I will alway deal with them and recommend them heavily.
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Ashley H
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While many of us have seen the television commericals advertising The General auto insurance, most don’t realize that the company isn’t offering the same comprehensive, personal service that companies like All-State and Erie Insurance offer. While you may only pay very little for basic liability insurance, what the company isn’t telling you may cost you in the long run.
I was insured with The General (also known as Permanent General Assurance Co.) for a car I made payments on, and was fairly happy with the low monthly rate. However, my satisfaction with this insurance changed for the worst when I was in a car accident that resulted in over $5,000 worth of damage to my car.
After calling the insurance company, I was informed that my comprehensive total coverage had been cancelled (without my notice, I might add) so I was only covered for liability. And after several days of giving me the run-around, the insurance adjuster refused to even LOOK at the damage to my car, explaining that The General would absolutely not pay for the repairs to my vehicle because of my type of coverage. I was furious, because I had not willingly changed my coverage in any way.
Apparently, as I later discovered, this insurance company reserves the right to change your insurance coverage at will following any sort of late payment or lapse. In short, I suffered a lot financially following this situation, and I will NEVER insure my future vehicles with this or any other cut-rate insurance company EVER again.
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Johnny
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The General offers low cost auto insurance for high risk drivers who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg for auto insurance.The General tailors towards people who may not have the best driving record,People with accidents and tickets like me end up paying a ton of money for auto insurance at the major companies such as GEICO and State farm.So The General offers a cheap alternative which is what I found attractive about it.
The customer service is lacking however as most of the customer service is outsourced so expect long wait times and hard to understand service reps at The General.The quotes are generally lower than the other major auto insurance companies for high risk drivers.But if you have a good driving record you would be better off going with the major auto insurance companies.
The incentive program is lacking and the extra’s are usually not worth the cost as many of the services offered are more expensive than they would be elsewhere.I found The General to be a decent alternative to the other major auto insurance companies especially if you are a young, high risk driver.However older drivers and drivers with average or better driving records should look elsewhere in my opinion.
Overall my expierence with The General has been slightly above average.They keep my costs fairly low and I don’t need all the bells and whistles other companies offer.For cheap and afordable auto insurance The General gets it right.
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Travis
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Well with The General its not nearly as cheap and affordable as they advertise on the television and radio. The are more of a off brand version of a bigger named insurance company such as Geico, Progressive, or Farmers.Don’t get me wrong however it is advertised as one of the listed insurance agencies I mentioned, but it is not of the same quality or affordability of one of the three I have portrayed at this time.
Not to mention they are not nearly as friendly as any of the others on the phone either, not a pleasant conversation with them I’ll tell you that. Think of calling someone telling them you are young and need help getting a low quote, they say, ” K’ Um….. Yeah dude it’ll be $120.98″ of course at this moment my only response would be. Is that for full coverage, and of course no its not its only for state minimum coverage. Then I am convinced thoroughly that with my driving record and age that I will not find a better deal. (When I called Geico, Progressive, and Farmers they all told me other peoples offers to try to help me find the lowest deal possible) And I went with it. Never again. They do not cover anything and the price was way to high and I should have never gotten myself in that position with this highly unprofessional, over advertised, wanna be Americas best friend. Well let me tell you, every place I have called automatically adds glass coverage in Arizona because well we need it! The General, nope. They will lose a customer soon. And It is my fault for not getting into the nitty gritty details before I signed up.
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Hauer
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I moved to Indiana several years ago and really wasn’t sure what to do about automobile insurance, since in New Hampshire it’s a whole different ball of wax, as far as what has to be insured and what doesn’t have to be. So once I got settled in, I discovered a commercial on tv for The General. What appealed to me about this company was that they stated low monthly payments and the ability to just go ahead and print out the insurance card right from the website. So I was a little dubious about it, but after checking it out, and visiting their website, I was convinced. Almost! I started to enter my information and started to think better of it, after all, the commercial featured this cartoon looking mockery of a general in the United States Army. But the website seemed very professional and it also seemed very safe and secure, so I continued on. In fact, I even paid for the first 6 months and within just a few moments my truck was then properly insured for the state of Indiana and I was able to print out the documents that I needed to carry with along with the registration in the glove box.
A few months down the road I was stopped by a police officer and I gave him all my paperwork. He came back to the truck after checking it out and let me off with a warning, and he never said anything about the insurance, which led me to believe that everything was A OK with it.
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mike
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I purchased a policy from the General in order to drive the car I purchased off the dealer lot. I had already filled out tons of paper work for the car, so I was glad that the process of buying the coverage was quick. I selected the amount of coverage for the vehicle that was required for the bank that made the auto loan.
I was on a budget and had just saddled myself with a car payment. The monthly premium for my car insurance through The General was just over $50, which I found to be a big relief. In younger years I could have expected to pay more.
Through Allstate my premium on my previous vehicle was 3 times as much. Allstate claimed that they were worth the extra money because of their customer service. However I never needed any customer service. I never made a claim with either company. I just need a price that offers me savings!
Using The General as an insurance provider is simple. The ID card arrived in the mail in days, although it can be printed any time via their website. I find it easiest to pay with the automated system on their toll free line. It is straightforward and takes less than 3 minutes. I like to use the option of saving my credit card information in the payment system. By doing so, I just dial the 800 number, type in the policy number off my ID card, and select “pay with card on file” – then done! Covered for another month.
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