In 1894, a group of farmers in West Bend, Wisconsin, established West Bend Mutual Insurance to shield their assets and livelihoods from the threat of fires and other natural calamities. The insurance corporation began as a mutual business in which policyholders owned and managed the company.
West Bend Mutual’s growth surpassed their small home state of Wisconsin, extending to several states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio. Currently, these are the states wherein West Bend Mutual offers home, auto, condo, and renters policies.
West Bend Mutual Insurance claims to be determined to provide consumer-tailored assistance and establish a long-lasting connection with its clients. It intends to be at the forefront of the insurance sector by actively investing in technology, research, and development.
We’re here to get down to the truth. How well does West Bend Mutual cater to the changing desires of its clients? Are their offerings for inventive insurance options truly enough for their customers?
Keep reading to find out!
We’ll dissect this insurer piece by piece to give you the real scoop on their policy options, available discounts, and the premiums you can expect. Furthermore, we’ll dive into their customer reviews and get the inside story about their service quality.
West Bend Mutual homeowners insurance coverages
West Bend Mutual offers an insurance product called Home and Highway. This product automatically bundles your home and auto insurance into one neat policy. With this, insureds can have access to their insurance needs with a solidified solution. With Home and Highway, customers pay one deductible, and one premium, and only need to keep in touch with one agent.
With Home and Highway, West Bend Mutual offers you standard home insurance coverages from dwelling to medical payments and everything in between.
Plus, they offer a guaranteed replacement cost and one umbrella limit for your property. This means, for one, that your home, all of your other structures, personal property, and other coverages all have the same limit.
As sensitive as this sounds, their guaranteed replacement cost provides that these items and structures will be entirely repaired or replaced. This is regardless of reaching those blanket limits.
Home and Highway has 3 tiers of coverage available. Aside from these three levels of protection, West Bend Mutual also offers coverage for the personal property of seniors living in a facility, and college students living off-campus.
Protector
At no additional cost, these extra coverages are available:
- Automatic inflation guard protection
- Coverage for $5,000 of jewelry
- Additional green home repair
- Coverage for vet bills and the cost of adopting a new animal
- Covers $5,000 for condo or HOA assessments
Protector Plus
Available for a small increase in your premium:
- Sump pump overflow/sewer backup
- Open peril coverage for personal property
- Extra mortgage expense
- Identity theft protection
Protector Grand
Even more protection is available for another increase in your premium:
- $1,000 more coverage for sports equipment
- Waived travel deductible
- $500 more for refrigerated food loss
- $2,500 for golf cart protection
West Bend Mutual homeowners insurance premiums and discounts
West Bend strives to create a personalized experience. As a result, they work with local agents to get customers the professional opinions and services required. Usually, when an insurer works with various agents, it can be difficult to find an online quote tool. In this case, West Bend Mutual doesn’t have an online pricing tool that we can access.
The good news is, we can still tell you what you can expect from their premiums. Based on the states served, here are the average rates across all insurers for $250,000 worth of dwelling coverage:
State | Average Annual Premium |
Illinois | $1,066 |
Indiana | $996 |
Iowa | $1,106 |
Kansas | $1,737 |
Kentucky | $1,506 |
Michigan | $794 |
Minnesota | $1,035 |
Missouri | $1,308 |
Nebraska | $1,795 |
Ohio | $752 |
Wisconsin | $644 |
Fortunately for those living in the more expensive states for home insurance, West Bend Mutual’s customers continue to talk about how their rates are competitive and fair. Several of their customers are happy with their rates, claiming they’re much lower than their competitors.
More good news: West Bend Mutual has a couple of discounts available to help customers get more bang for their buck. These include:
- Multi-policy discount: save money when you have more than one insurance product with West Bend Mutual.
- Claims-free discount: receive a discount for going several years without filing a claim.
- Age discount: receive a discount for being over a certain age threshold.
- Payment discount: save money when you set up automatic payments or pay your premium in full.
West Bend Mutual’s claims process
At any time of the day, customers can rely on West Bend Mutual’s claims department to provide them with the necessary support in reporting claims and receiving aid.
To report any kind of claim swiftly, simply contact West Bend’s 24/7 DirectConnect® service directly via phone at 1-877-922-5246. You can also report a claim via email at directconnect@wbmi.com. Other claims methods include faxing the same information to 1-800-459-4520 (or 1-262-335-7000) or contacting your independent agency.
The claim assistance app provided by the company allows users to track claim progress, view policy information, and check on repair status. While it does not allow for claim filing, the app offers the convenience of uploading pictures and accessing important details throughout the entire claims process.
Admittedly, West Bend has several options at the ready for the filing and processing of your claim. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to make their claims flow any quicker.
One customer recalled how they had to wait nearly 2 years to have their claim thoroughly processed. Waiting this long to return to your home may make a person feel like their family and well-being are not important to this company.
Of the few complaints listed with the NAIC for West Bend Mutual’s homeowners insurance, their claims process was the majority topic. Unsatisfactory settlements and offerings were the biggest problems, followed by delays and adjuster handling.
What customers think about West Bend Mutual
Despite their ugly complaints about claims, customers seem to thoroughly enjoy their customer service. The NAIC only registered a complaint index of 0.27 for West Bend Mutual’s homeowners insurance in 2022. This is below the national average for complaints.
According to the internet, their customers are pretty split. Out of 387 reviews on Google, they currently have 3.7 stars (as of April 2023). For every review reveling in how grateful they are for excellent service, there is one more explaining how they feel failed by West Bend Mutual for terrible service.
West Bend Mutual financial stability ratings
Since 2010, West Bend Mutual has been an A+ accredited company by the BBB. They’ve been able to close 13 complaints in the last 3 years. Similarly, AM Best has given them a solid “A” rating for financial strength, and an “a+” rating for long-term issuer credit.
Weiss Ratings has bestowed a “C-” upon West Bend Mutual as a financial stability rating. This just means they consider this insurer to be among the lower third of companies that offer fair financial security in a currently stable state.
They do believe, however, that in an economic downtown, they may encounter difficulties staying afloat. This may be why Demotech has yet to rate this company.
Final verdict
Overall, West Bend Mutual is a strong election for home insurance. Customers report affordable premiums and there is low number of complaints as reported by NAIC.
Those who prefer a quicker, easier way to get a quote or choose their own coverages may need to look elsewhere. Otherwise, this insurer may be a wise choice for you. This may especially be the case if you prefer to work with an agent and need to have your auto and home policies bundled.
West Bend can provide you with decent coverage and unique options that will conform to your needs. If you’re in one of their servicing states, it might be worth looking into them.