The General Car Insurance Review [Rates, Coverages + Negatives]

Last Updated: September 2019

Disclaimer: We are not The General Insurance Company. This The General Car Insurance Review was created to help consumers understand critical facts about the company to determine if they are a top-ranked auto insurance provider.

This The General Review is approximately a 6-min read.

Throughout the review, we will cover several relevant and important considerations to keep in mind, such as potential discounts, how The General stacks up against the competition and the coverages offered.

In the fast-paced world, we live in today, we wanted to streamline the process by providing the links directly below.

Click any of those links to skip directly to any section of this review that you need or want further information about.

Our The General Car Insurance Review
The General Car Insurance History
The General Financial Strength Ratings
BBB Ratings and Complaints About The General
Coverages Available With The General
High-Risk Car Insurance With The General
Discounts Offered by The General
Cost of The General Car Insurance
Who Should Consider The General?
Rideshare Coverage With The General
Pros of Choosing The General
Cons of The General
Final Thoughts on The General Insurance Company

Lastly, before diving into the full auto insurance review for The General, we understand you may have limited time.

Below is a 2 Paragraph 45-second overview of The General Insurance Company.

The General is most known for helping high-risk drivers obtain midline rates on their car insurance.

The General does not offer many discounts and is not considered in the top ten for the cheapest possible car insurance companies you can choose.

Overall, The General makes the most sense for drivers needing SR-22 coverage or drivers who have been declined by several other car insurance providers.

Cheaper rates are available compared to The General and offered by companies backed by better reviews from consumers.

Regardless, be sure to compare rates with a half dozen car insurance companies near you to ensure you are getting the best possible price for your coverage.

That’s the easy way, to sum up, what you need to know about The General.

If you have those 6 minutes to spare and need further details, we recommend you continue below and read our full review.

Here is what you need to know.

Our The General Car Insurance Review

The General Automobile Insurance Company is typically referred to as “The General.”

I’m sure you have all seen the commercials with the famous catchphrase…

“For a great low rate, you can get online, go to The General and Save Some Time.”

The General originally began offering insurance back in the 1960s until 2012 when American Family Insurance acquired the General.

Currently, The General is primarily known for helping individuals obtain car insurance that would be considered “high risk” drivers.

Other options for car insurance in your area may offer better rates to a typical consumer but in some cases, low rates or even the ability to get car insurance in general as a high-risk driver can be difficult.

This would be The Generals Niche Market.

The General’s Car Insurance History

Like stated previously, The General has been around since the 1960s.

1963 to be exact.

At that time, The General operated under the name Permanent General Agency and soon after, changed its name to Permanent General Assurance Corporation (PGAC).

In 2016, The General landed NBA Superstar Shaquille O’Neal to become a trusted spokesman for most of the commercials and advertisements you see frequently broadcasted on television.

Currently, The General is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and has other physical locations in Louisiana, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas.

The General Financial Strength Ratings

The General’s financial strength is nothing of concern.

Currently, The General is considered an “A” Rated Company by A.M. Best Company, which is regarded as excellent.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that American Family Insurance Company is now the parent company of The General which is also backed by an “A” rating from A.M. Best and a company that continues to grow and capture more client’s year over year.

BBB Ratings and Complaints About The General

The General is not accredited with the BBB but is backed by an A+ rating.

However, something that stands out about The General is their overall 1-star rating from BBB reviews in addition to the number of complaints.

Overall, compared to other car insurance companies relative in size, The General does seem to rack up more negative feedback from consumers.

Coverages Available With The General

The General, like many top-ranked car insurance companies, are going to offer your baseline car insurance coverages.

These coverages include options such as collision coverage in addition to comprehensive coverages.

The General will also offer other popular coverages such as liability coverage, medical payments, and uninsured motorist coverage.

In addition to these coverage options, The General also offers the following coverages:

Rental Reimbursement- Optional additional coverage. Allows for you to get payments provided for rental car needs while your car is being repaired.

Deductible Waiver- This is available at an extra premium with The General.

This allows you to skip paying a deductible for damages that occur to safety equipment within your vehicles such as airbags or restraints in addition to windshields and glass.

Custom Equipment Charges- This will cover damages to added features to your vehicles such as fog lights, bed liners, sound equipment, and other custom upgrades up to a $5,000-dollar maximum.

Roadside Assistance- Covers needing towing due to flat tires, running out of gas or having a dead car battery.

These coverages are nothing out of the ordinary, and plenty of auto insurance companies offer the same.

This isn’t necessarily where The General is recognized as a specialty auto insurance provider.

The General is most known for high-risk car insurance.

Here are the details.

High-Risk Car Insurance with The General

Many high-risk drivers often find themselves struggling to get car insurance coverage with some of the other popular car insurance companies.

This can be due to prior accidents, moving violations such as speeding tickets, and even driving under the influence violations.

However, The General is a great insurance company to run rates with if you fall into these categories.

They are known to be one of the better car insurance companies you can choose if you have a long history of bad marks on your driving history.

Additionally, The General also offers SR-22 car insurance coverage.

This is another specialty car insurance coverage that not all companies currently offer.

Overall, even factoring in poor reviews and midline car insurance rates, if you can’t obtain car insurance with a local agent near you, consider running your rates with The General to see what’s possible.

Discounts Offered by The General

Discounts happen to be another area where The General doesn’t stand out from the crowd too much.

Currently, The General offers the following discounts on car insurance:

Increasing Deductible- This is a fancy name for a standard option with all car insurance providers.

Many car insurance companies such as State Farm Insurance, Geico Insurance Company, and even Allstate offer the same ability.

You are merely telling the insurance company you are willing to pay more if an accident does occur in exchange for lower premiums.

The General just happened to give it a catchy name but has nothing special here.

Homeowners Bundle- Available if you own a home. You don’t have to have homeowner’s insurance with The General to qualify for this discount.

You simply need to home which is fairly unique compared to other car insurance companies.

Multi-Car Discount- Available if you bundle 2 or more vehicles with The General.

Paid in Full Discount- Available to consumers who pay the entire years first-year premium as opposed to paying monthly for their coverage.

Switching from Another Insurer Discount- Available if you switch to The General and have been with a previous insurance company for 5 years or longer.

In our opinion, this is a weak lineup of discounts.

Plenty of options for car insurance are available that can blow these discount options out of the water.

It’s not necessary to bring a negative light on The General but to simply advise consumers that more savings are available with other great rated auto insurance providers.

Cost of The General Car Insurance

In this area of the review, The General can either be considered below average or one of your only options for affordable coverage.

Here’s the deal.

If you are struggling to get approved for car insurance with other companies, The General is one of the most likely to accept you and not at terrible rates.

However, compared to other car insurance providers, if you have a clean driving record, you should be considering other companies for your coverage.

The following list of car insurance providers would be considered cheaper alternatives for coverage compared to The General.

Who Should Consider The General?

We like it when the car insurance provider makes our job easy for us.

High-risk drivers should consider purchasing car insurance with The General.

Even in those situations, you still may have better options for coverage.

If you are not a high-risk driver, we highly recommend shopping around and considering other options.

Plain and simple.

Rideshare Coverage with The General

Rideshare coverage is not currently available with The General.

Considering that they specialize in high-risk drivers, it’s unlikely to see this coming soon.

However, additional car insurance is imperative for uber and lyft drivers.

If you fall into this category, consider companies such as Nationwide or State Farm who have large coverage areas for rideshare drivers.

Pros of Choosing The General

In all honesty, most car insurance companies have unique strengths that make it easy to relay to the consumers in reviews.

However, For the General, the advantages are a bit more limited.

Nonetheless, here’s what we believe to be the best perks of choosing The General:

Strong Financial Strength and In Business Since 1963
Fairly Innovative Mobile App
High-Risk Drivers Can Be Accepted

Cons of The General

Switching gears, here is what we would consider the most significant downfalls of working with The General:

Higher Cost Insurance Compared to Most Companies
Limited Discounts for Consumers
Poor Reviews and Ratings from Consumers

Final Thoughts on The General Insurance Company

Regardless of your particular situation, comparing rates with a half dozen car insurance companies is your best plan of action.

Money can easily be left on the table when you opt to skip this.

When it comes to choosing The General, our final advice would be to at least run a rate with them to see where you land.

If it’s cheaper than your current provider, consider the switch but most likely, if you are not a high-risk driver, you should be looking elsewhere.

Good luck in finding the best rates for your car insurance.