Western National Insurance Review & Complaints: Home & Auto Insurance

From humble beginnings insuring creamery and cheese factories, Western National Insurance has grown to become a regional insurer covering multiple states. With a focus on providing services in the car insurance and home insurance spaces, Western National has been a strong presence in the Midwest for more than a century. Today, they offer a wide range of products for both individuals and businesses.

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What is Western National Insurance?

The Western National Mutual Insurance Company was founded to serve a very specific market. Created as the Mutual Creamery and Cheese Factory Fire Insurance Company of Minnesota in St. Paul, the company originally offered property insurance for cooperative members. In 1915, they expanded into liability insurance for the same market and then added tornado insurance in 1925.

In 1953, the three companies offering different types of insurance were merged into one and, thanks to these acquisitions, became Mutual Creamery Insurance Company. Two years later they began expanding into other lines of insurance, including personal auto and home, making a name for itself in the insurance industry. The name was then changed to Western National Mutual Insurance Company. In the following decades, multiple mergers and acquisitions increased the companies reach to additional states under the new name of Western National Insurance Group. This is not the same company as the similarly named National Western Life Group, a different, unaffiliated life insurance company.

Today, the company serves personal and business customers across the Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest through independent agents. Most of their policy offerings are available in all coverage areas, with a few exceptions.

What insurance products are offered?

Western National Insurance offers a wide range of different insurance services for both individual and business insurance needs. They offer most of the basics of personal insurance, along with specialty policies. However, you cannot get a life annuity or another type of life insurance through the company.

Can I get auto insurance?

The insurer offers a fairly comprehensive auto insurance program. They include all the basics and a strong list of options such as pet injury coverage, car seat replacement, temporary transportation expense, and more, giving auto insurance policyholders the experience of full protection.

The auto insurance program also offers a list of auto insurance discounts, for instance, they offer good student and multi-vehicle discounts, company car discounts, defensive driving discounts, and more.

Can I get home insurance?

The company has a comprehensive home insurance program that includes coverage for single-family dwellings, condos, and renter’s insurance. The coverage includes standard structure, personal property, liability insurance, as well as additional options to choose from.

Among the options for a homeowner’s insurance policies are additional coverage for snowmobiles and boats, home office coverage, and more.

The company also writes dwelling property insurance policies to cover homes that do not qualify for a standard homeowner’s policy. This includes properties such as rental and seasonal homes.

Western National proudly offers its Penalty-Free Promise. This means that the company will not raise the policyholder’s rates because of a claim.

What additional products are offered?

Recreational Vehicle

The insurer writes specialty insurance policies designed to cover recreational vehicles of various types. They offer coverage for the following vehicles:

• Motorcycles
• ATVs
• Snowmobiles
• Boats and motors

Umbrella

Umbrella liability insurance policies are available to provide additional coverage above and beyond that which is included in an underlying auto or home insurance policy.

Business Insurance

The company started out insuring a particular type of business, and they continue to offer business insurance services to a much larger market today. Individual and package policy coverages are available, including:

• Businessowners Package Policy
• Commercial Auto
• Commercial Package Policy
• Employer’s Practices Liability
• Fire and Allied Lines
• General Liability
• Specialty
• Surety Bonds
• Commercial Umbrella
• Worker’s Compensation

Are the company’s rates competitive?

The company utilizes agents to sell their products, and offer no online quoting capabilities. This makes it difficult to obtain quick comparison quotes. However, those interested can use the website to find a local agent who can provide them with an insurance quote.

Due to the added costs of agent-based companies and commissions, the company is likely to have somewhat higher rates than direct-buy insurance companies. Without an insurance quote from Western National’s agents, however, we are unable to be sure how they compare with other companies.

How are claims filed?

The insurer offers 24/7 claims reporting by phone and email; here is the contact information:

• (855) 921-3164 – Auto, Property, Business, and Auto Glass Claims
• (855) 607-7548 – Workers Compensation
• Email – [email protected]
• (855) 921-5670 – Fax

Online claims reporting is also available for auto and property insurance claims.

The claims office is located in Minnesota, but there are claims representatives available in every state that the company serves to help with local claims.

Like most companies, Western National has preferred vendors for repairs, but policyholders are free to choose their own vendor or repair facility if they’re in an accident or their vehicle is damaged in another covered event.

There is no information on the site regarding how claims are handled by the company, but it likely follows a common process of reporting, investigating by the company, and settlement.

The insurer offers a Catastrophe Center on their website to help customers with claims during a major natural disaster or other catastrophes.

Are there consumer complaints against the company?

The company is not BBB accredited but does have an A+ rating with the BBB. They have a very low complaint volume — the BBB shows only three complaints in the past three years with one of those in the past 12 months. For a company the size of Western National, this is a very low number of complaints.

This also mirrors the general lack of complaints elsewhere online — there seem to be very few reviews at all. The odd complaint about claims service can be found, but overall there are few reviews and nothing to raise major red flags over.

For a large super-regional company serving so many states, the lack of complaints is very encouraging. Overall, the image is of a solid company with no major customer service issues to report.

What is the company’s financial strength rating?

Rating Company	Grade	Financial Outlook
AM Best	A+	Stable
Fitch	N/A	N/A
S&P	N/A	N/A

What’s the bottom line?

The Western National Mutual Insurance Company offers a strong lineup of products for both individuals and businesses. They have a long history and a strong reputation accompanied by an apparent solid customer service base.

Without a rate quote, it’s difficult to come to a conclusion as to how much value is offered by this company, however the information available gives the appearance of a reputable and recommendable company, which may be worth paying a little more for. For those who would rather talk to one of the agents or do not mind taking a little extra time to contact one for a quote, Western National is well worth a closer look and a comparison rate.

The Western National phone number is 952-835-5350.